Abstract:
My research investigates whether peer mentoring can be an effective professional development strategy for mathematics teachers of senior secondary school classes. All the teachers involved are part of a Mathematics Enhancement Project set up by a team from the University of Auckland. The aim of the project is to improve participation and achievement of senior secondary students in eleven low socioeconomic schools. My research focuses on investigating the appropriateness, the practicality, the perceived usefulness, and the effects of different styles of mentoring. The different relationships represented one of three models: Intra-school mentoring; Inter-school mentoring; or External mentoring (with a university team member). Within these models, the mentoring pairs were autonomous. The theoretical framework for my study incorporates two paradigms, naturalistic inquiry and critical theory. The first gives a rich description of the phenomenon of mentoring, while the second exposes what is not seen and yet influences the mentoring relationship. Data collection included questionnaires, journal entries, and interviews. Five case studies were carried out with three female and two male teachers, some of whom had successful relationships and others who did not. My results show that peer mentoring is indeed an effective professional development strategy. The preferred model was mentoring within the same school, and most critical for success was building a good relationship. Also important was ongoing communication, being clear about their role, being committed, and having a well-defined structure for each relationship. These results largely confirm existing literature. However, my results also highlighted a feature not identified by earlier commentators. This was the effect of a developing community of practice amongst all the teachers in the project. The evidence I have shows that peer mentoring is effective and sustainable if a well functioning community of practice is established first. More research is required in this area, to identify the particular aspects of communities of practice, which enable peer mentoring to occur.
