Mentoring in Higher Education

Case Studies of Peer Learning and Pedagogical Development

Clare Woolhouse, Laura Nicholson, Clare Woolhouse, Laura Nicholson

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9783030468897
• eBook ISBN:
  9783030468903
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Educational Psychology

This book explores the role and importance of mentoring as a form of collaborative learning in higher education. While mentoring has become increasingly popular, the definition itself can remain broad and potentially nebulous, and could be applied to a variety of endeavours. The chapters engage with case studies and empirical research from across the globe that respond to concerns raised within a range of cross-disciplinary fields, providing important clarity as to the role of mentoring within higher education. Offering clarity and precision as well as robust qualitative data, this book will be of interest and value to scholars of mentoring in higher education as well as those engaged in mentoring themselves.

© The Author(s) 2020

C. Woolhouse, L. Nicholson (eds.)Mentoring in Higher Educationhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46890-3_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction

Clare Woolhouse¹ and Laura J. Nicholson¹

(1)

Faculty of Education, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK

Clare Woolhouse (Corresponding author)

Email: [email protected]

Laura J. Nicholson

Email: [email protected]

End Abstract

This text is positioned within the cross-disciplinary field of mentoring in higher education (HE) and highlights the key themes that emerge in relation to the pedagogy of mentoring and the potentials of peer learning. In selecting the chapters for this book, the editors felt that it was important to frame the issues around the practice of mentoring within HE specifically, whether it be between students and tutors, students and their peers or between professional colleagues. Therefore, the chapters explore these various forms of mentoring via philosophical pieces, case studies and empirical research conducted within individual settings drawn from different national contexts, while linking to the globalised context in which the various authors work.

The text adopts a clear and targeted focus on mentoring in HE. This is important for exploring the place, role and importance of mentoring as a form of collaborative learning that responds to the social justice aims of enhancing equitable practices. The content also responds to the existing literature to address concerns raised within a variety of cross-disciplinary fields including HE studies, mentoring and coaching, vocational, life-long and professional learning. With this in mind, the text will be of interest to students of HE, particularly on vocational courses such as teaching or nursing, or those studying education more broadly, as well as to academic colleagues working within HE settings. What follows is a brief section defining the key terminology used within the book, an outline of the purpose and structure of the book, and finally a summary of the chapters contained within.

Defining Key Terms

Mentoring has been described in many ways and has often been aligned with processes that involve the development of good communication and close professional relationships such as coaching, counselling, advising and teaching (Klasen & Clutterbuck, 2002). While Galbraith (2001) concentrates upon the differences in age, status and experience between mentor and mentee, other writers have given more attention to the reciprocal nature of the relationship that can be developed within the mentoring process (e.g., Addington & Graves, 2010). For example, Faure (2000, p. 23) defines mentoring as “a relationship that meets a development need, helps develop full potential, and benefits all partners; mentor, mentee and the organization”. Taking a similar stance, Collins (2009, p. 80) states that “mentoring is a protected relationship in which learning and experimentation can transpire; potential skills can be developed, and in which results can be measured in terms of competencies gained”. Thus, it would seem that mentoring can be identified as a form of educational process concerned with the personal and professional development of individuals through intentional and strategic relationships that will ultimately also benefit the organisations within which individuals work. This can traverse groupings based on age, knowledge and skills or status (such as student and tutor) within education settings, but not always.

This interpretation fits with the ideas and practices explored within this text, although, as demonstrated in a number of chapters, mentoring within HE settings can materialise specific characteristics in situ and often adopts a peer approach. This can be between students (see Chaps. 2, 3 and 4) or between individuals with similar status or professional roles who share their knowledge, skills and pedagogical experience in a more reciprocal manner to support each other’s professional development (see Chaps. 10, 11, 12 and 14). This focus on peer support particularly echoes existing literature and research conducted with staff working in vocational faculties within HE such as education (Cullingford, 2016; Harvey, Ambler, & Cahir, 2017), health (Clement & Welch, 2018; Cullen et al., 2017; Hafsteinsdóttir, van der Zwaag, & Schuurmans, 2017; van der Weijden, Belder, Van Arensbergen, & Van Den Besselaar, 2015) and social care (Katz, Elsaesser, Klodnik, & Khare, 2019; Leedahl et al., 2019).

Why a Book About Mentoring in Higher Education?

While the work of mentoring , and particularly vocational mentoring, occurs across the education and employment sectors, it can be framed as an essential “lifeline” for professionals and their students working within the current HE context. Over the past 20 years, there has been a drive for HE in different national contexts to submit to the “neoliberal turn” which has infiltrated different forms of education demanding regulation, measurement and efficiencies (Ball, 2015, 2016). To address this, many HE academics have sought to carve out opportunities to explicitly counter this neoliberal trend by developing identities and practices that are not framed in terms of the audit and performativity culture (Leathwood & Read, 2013). One route for this has been the expansion of informal and formal collegial support and mentoring (Arthur, 2016; Goodsell Love, 2012). In the context of HE, collegial mentoring can provide space for colleagues to work together rather than in competition, to learn and develop as tutors and researchers in ways that can maintain a sense of integrity and academic freedom. As noted by Lander and Nicholson (Chap. 13) and Maxwell and Duckworth (Chap. 15), this approach can provide space for a reciprocal sharing of knowledge, offer experiences for enhancing personal growth and fulfil collective purposes such as social justice aims as well as professional development (see also Duckworth & Maxwell, 2015; Kroll, 2017; Woolhouse, Albin-Clark, Shirley, & Webster, 2019).

As detailed within a number of chapters in the first section of this text, mentoring is not a practice that is contained or boundaried, and mentoring as a practice has also become a more integrated part of HE students’ experiences at undergraduate and postgraduate levels (Crisp, Baker, Griffin, & Lunsford, 2017; Darwin & Palmer, 2009; Hansman, 2016; Murphy, Haller, & Spiridakis, 2019; Sheridan, O’Sullivan, Fisher, Dunne, & Beck, 2019). Indeed, in the various chapters, different models of mentoring emerge depending on the groups of individuals involved and the particular contexts in which they are situated. For example, Pye, Williams and Dunne (Chap. 3) describe their design of academic peer mentoring for students, which echoes some of the key factors outlined by Ball and Hennessy in their models for mentoring (Chap. 2). Building on these ideas, the various authors seek to offer a philosophical engagement with mentoring as a concept and share a range of pedagogically framed case studies to demonstrate the breadth and depth of current mentoring and peer-learning practice in HE. For example, Colvin and Ashman (Chap. 4) outline a large peer mentoring scheme in Utah, USA, that shares some similarities with the approach detailed in Chaps. 2 and 3. Stewart et al. (Chap. 10) consider HE peer mentoring in Kentucky, USA, with a focus on professionals involved in academic research that has resonance with Woolhouse and Nicholson’s work that addresses UK practice (Chap. 14). To compliment these, Boehr et al. (Chap. 11) offer th...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Introduction
• Section I. Mentoring with Undergraduate Students in Higher Education
• Section II. Academic Mentoring in Higher Education Contexts
• Back Matter