Role of Mentoring System in Professional Development of Entry-Level Teachers

Abstract

The system of mentoring permits to eliminate the "gap" between the theoretical knowledge received by novice teachers during their university studies and the required qualification characteristics (described in the Russian Professional Standard for Teachers).This article presents the research data on the role of the system of mentoring in the professional development of young general education teachers.The data was obtained through a survey of entry-level and experienced teachers (490 participants) conducted in 6 regions of the Russian Federation in May-June 2016.According to the survey, most of the young professionals admit that more experienced colleagues can teach them a lot, but more than half of novice teachers believe that they "are often not up to date with current trends in pedagogy", and individual mentor assistance is not considered by novice teachers as a preferred form of professional development.The results of the survey showed that at present the institute of mentoring in the professional development has more importance for experienced teachers than for their young colleagues.