Canadian Children Child Study

Fall / autOMne 2013 21 Vol. 38 No. 2

The mentoring needs of novice early 
childhood educators are identified 
within the British Columbian context, 
where graduates do not receive formal 
mentoring. Following a description 
of the problem, a literature review is 
provided on the following themes: 
how mentoring facilitates a culture of 
learning; characteristics of successful 
mentors; and the mentoring process. 
Examples are drawn from mentoring 
programs in New Zealand and 
Worcester, England. Leadership 
implications are discussed with 
an emphasis on future research 
on mentoring in early childhood 
education.

Diploma programs that prepare early 
childhood educators for their profession 
can provide an excellent introduction to 
theory and practice; however, graduates 
often explain that they need support during 
their first year of work (Rodd, 2006). 
Like first-year elementary and secondary 
school teachers, early childhood educators 
report that a mentoring model where they 
connect with an experienced educator 
would be most effective as they transition 
into the role of a professional early 
childhood educator (Brindley, Fleege, 
& Graves, 2000; Whitebook & Sakai, 
1995). When asked what would help to 
increase their confidence, competence, 
and professionalism, novice teachers 
identified mentoring as their first priority 
(Ontario College of Teachers, 2006). 
Moreover, novice teachers recognized the 
benefits of mentoring as “collaboration, 
feedback, observation, and sharing 
with experienced colleagues” (p. 8); 

experiences like these can help educators 
to avoid feeling overwhelmed, isolated, 
and uncertain (Feiman-Nemser, Carver, 
Schwille, & Yusko, 1999; Noble & 
Macfarlane, 2005). Novice educators 
involved in a mentoring program through 
the University of Worcester benefited 
from “support in the workplace, layers of 
mentoring support, relationship building, 
and interactions and communication” 
(Murray, 2006, p. 73). In contrast, early 
childhood educators in British Columbia 
are not involved in a formal mentoring 
program, and are potentially left on their 
own during a critical time in their careers 
when mentoring might be beneficial. The 
purpose of this article is to determine 
how mentoring might assist or ameliorate 
the stresses associated with beginning 
educators. The mentoring process will be 
discussed, with examples from programs 
in New Zealand and Worcester, England. 
Finally, leadership implications for 
establishing formal mentoring programs 
will be shared. 

Context

Early childhood education programs rely 
on relationships between the student, 
the early childhood education instructor, 
and the sponsor educator. The early 
childhood education instructor teaches 
in a postsecondary institution and the 
sponsor educator works in the community 
alongside the student, supporting the 
student in their practicum by modelling 
skills, observing the student, and providing 
feedback. The early childhood education 
instructor and sponsor educator spend 
many hours with the early childhood 
education student, discussing matters of 

pedagogy and issues of practice, such as 
how to guide children’s behaviour (Rodd, 
2006). With the assistance of the sponsor 
educator and the instructor, the student 
takes on increasing levels of responsibility. 
The student is given feedback on a 
consistent basis and is supported in 
making any necessary changes to their 
practice. When early childhood education 
students graduate and begin working, 
these relationships change, and at present 
in the province of British Columbia, there 
is no defined structure to support novice 
early childhood educators. 

When attempting to understand the needs 
of novice early childhood educators, it can 
be helpful to draw on theories of educator 
development. Katz (1972) proposed 
a theoretical model for the stages of 
early childhood educators (see Figure 
1). The first stage, survival, as its name 
suggests, is where the educator simply 
tries to get through the day or week, and 
this can last up to one year. Katz wrote, 
“During this period the teacher needs 
support, understanding, encouragement, 
reassurance, comfort and guidance. 
She needs instruction in specific skills 
and insight into the complex causes of 
behaviour—all of which must be provided 
on the classroom site” (p. 4). What is key 
here is the on-site support the novice early 
childhood educator requires, making it 
important that the mentor is physically 
nearby to assist the novice in daily 
situations, such as how to guide children’s 
behaviour, form connections with family 
members, and plan programming based 
on children’s needs and interests. 

Laura Doan is a lecturer in the early childhood education program at Thompson Rivers University, where she has taught for the 
last twelve years. She is a doctoral candidate through the University of Calgary, where she is studying leadership in postsecondary 
contexts. Research interests include the mentoring needs of novice early childhood educators, training needs of early childhood 
education mentors, and leadership in the field of early childhood education. Email: ldoan@tru.ca

  Mentoring: A Strategy to Support Novice Early 
Childhood Educators 

Laura K. Doan



Canadian Children Child Study

Fall / autOMne 2013 22 Vol. 38 No. 2

Figure 1. The four stages of the Katz 
model, modified from Katz (1972). 

Katz (1972) went on to describe stage 2, 
consolidation, as a phase when educators 
are “ready to consolidate overall gains 
made during the first stage and to 
differentiate specific tasks and skills to 
be mastered next” (p. 5). This period is 
one where educators feel more confident 
and are able to focus less on themselves 
and more on the individual needs of the 
children. Katz described the third and 
fourth stages, renewal and maturity, 
as times when educators seek further 
professional development and ask deeper 
questions about topics such as philosophy 
and how change occurs. 

In 2007 the Early Childhood Educators of 
British Columbia wrote a report entitled 
Developing a Strategy for Professional 
Leadership where they reported that “a 
mentoring framework is needed to help 
people take steps to be mentors” (Gay, 
2007, p. 18). Additionally, it was suggested 
that Katz’s (1972) developmental stages 
of early childhood educators be explored. 
Furthermore, the Organisation for 
Economic Cooperation and Development 
(2005) has suggested that teacher 
development be viewed as a continuum, 
with teachers receiving support at the 
beginning of their career in addition to 
ongoing professional development. It 
is possible that mentoring could be a 
useful strategy in helping novice early 
childhood educators to successfully enter 
the profession. 

Mentoring in Early Childhood 
Education

In reviewing the literature on mentoring in 
early childhood education, the following 

themes have emerged: culture of learning, 
characteristics of successful mentors, and 
the mentoring process. These themes are 
elaborated below.

Culture of learning 
Successful mentoring can result in a culture 
of learning, where knowledge gain occurs 
for both the mentor and the novice. Rodd 
(2006) points out that the early childhood 
profession has “endorsed informal and 
formal mentoring as a key leadership 
strategy because it focuses on helping 
practitioners to realize their professional 
potential” (p. 173). Rodd (2006) believes 
that most early childhood educators feel 
enthusiastic about their work and are 
eager to help others by sharing “their 
own knowledge, understanding, practice 
and expertise” (p. 173). Researchers have 
found that mentoring supports professional 
growth (Rodd, 2006), is a strategy for 
professional development (Bellm & 
Whitebook, 1996), helps to promote 
attitudes of lifelong learning (Weaver, 
2004), and assists in rising above “some 
of the shortcomings of current approaches 
to training early childhood practitioners” 
(Rodd, 2006, p. 172). Additionally, there 
are opportunities for shared learning 
among staff groups as opposed to learning 
that is occurring between mentoring 
dyads exclusively (Murray, 2006), making 
mentoring an opportunity for professional 
development that could impact the whole 
workplace, resulting in increased learning 
and collegiality among staff (Weasmer & 
Woods, 2003). 

Characteristics of successful mentors
Rodd (2006) identifies the following 
characteristics of successful mentors: 
“empathy and understanding, an interest 
in lifelong learning and professional 
development, sophisticated interpersonal 
skills, cultural sensitivity, understanding 
of the role of mentor, and considerable 
early childhood expertise” (p. 172). Hurst 
and Reding (2002) found the following to 
be important mentoring characteristics: 
“authenticity, gentleness, patience, 
consistency, positive attitude, teachability 
and enthusiasm” (p. 19). Specific skills 
connected with successful mentoring are 

“active listening, effective observations, 
reflective conversations, awareness of 
different learning styles, and adult/teacher 
development” (Rodd, 2006, p. 173). 
Callan (2006) describes the mentor as a 
“bridge between the academic forum and 
the day-to-day experience encountered by 
practitioners in early years settings” (p. 
8). Additionally, novice educators benefit 
from modelling by the mentor (Weasmer 
& Woods, 2003). Ingersoll and Kralik 
(2004) found that some types of mentoring 
actions were more useful than others. 
These included working with a mentor 
from the same field, and having common 
planning time, opportunity to collaborate 
with other educators about instruction, 
and supportive communication from 
administrators.

The mentoring process
Mentoring occurs in a variety of forms, 
ranging from informal to formal and 
lasting a diverse amount of time. Mentors 
may be assigned to a particular novice or 
may be chosen by the novice themselves. 
In most cases, mentors are considered to 
have more experience than the novice, 
but it is possible for peers to mentor each 
other (Murray, 2006). In New Zealand, 
novice teachers are involved in a two- 
to five-year stage of induction before 
applying for fully registered teacher status 
(Aitken, Ferguson, McGrath, Piggot-
Irvine, & Ritchie, 2008). These novice 
educators, referred to as provisionally 
registered teachers (PRTs), are assigned a 
mentor who is involved in “the provision 
of emotional support and encouragement; 
giving general guidance and suggestions; 
providing summative feedback; 
promoting reflective questioning and 
conversation; supporting goal setting; 
and generally advocating for the PRT and 
her progress” (Aitken et al., pp. 25–26). 
During this time, the PRT is involved in 
a prearranged program of “mentoring, 
professional development, observation, 
targeted feedback on their teaching, and 
regular assessments based on the standards 
for full registration” (p. 1). The PRTs 
portrayed their mentoring experience 
with the mentor teacher as “vital to their 
profession and to the eventual completion 



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Fall / autOMne 2013 23 Vol. 38 No. 2

of their teacher registration” (p. 25). 

The relationship between the mentor and 
the novice educator is important, and 
building trust is a crucial first step (Ebbeck 
& Waniganayake, 2003). Some novice 
educators are reluctant to ask for help, 
despite the fact that they need it, making 
it all the more important for the novice 
to know that the mentor understands 
their needs and is there to support them 
(Liberman, Hanson, & Gless, 2012). One 
program in Worcester, England, uses 
the term professional critical friend to 
describe the mentor, one who provides 
“front-line peer support” (Murray, 2006, 
p. 64). The Worcester program is based on 
the premise that mentoring supports adult 
learning in the workplace by facilitating 
experiential learning, which helps the 
novice educator to “draw personal 
meaning and value” through the context 
of their work site (p. 64). The professional 
critical friend is typically a workplace 
colleague and may be a peer with the same 
qualifications as the novice educator. 
Novice educators select their own mentor, 
giving them the opportunity to choose a 
mentor they trust and feel comfortable 
with. One novice educator spoke about 
the support she received from her mentor: 

I have gone through the traumas. 
My mentors made me realise it was 
manageable. I might not have got to 
the end and was tempted to ‘throw in 
the towel’ at times. My mentor helped 
those times. There was a sense of 
family and community with the mentor 
and the college. (Murray, p. 75)

Mentoring practices differ depending on 
the interaction style of the mentor and 
the needs of the novice educator. Novice 
educators benefit from mentors who are 
responsive to both their needs as a novice 
educator and the context in which the 
mentoring is occurring (Murray, 2006). 
A critical element of the mentoring 
process and educator development is 
reflection, and mentors play a pivotal role 
in facilitating it (McCormick & Brennan, 
2001). Mentors and novice educators 
should meet regularly; during these times, 

the mentor can invite the novice to reflect 
on their daily practice with children, 
families, and educators. This reflection 
may include recognizing areas of strength 
and growth, and identifying goals. What 
is important is that, as the novice educator 
enters the profession, they are not alone 
(Murray, 2006). 

Leadership Implications

When early childhood educators are 
involved in mentoring, leadership ability 
is built within the profession; this is 
something that needs to happen for early 
childhood education to achieve the same 
professional status as other occupations 
(Rodd, 2006). Additionally, mentoring is 
one way to help novice early childhood 
educators “to perceive themselves as 
leaders in the profession” (p. 34), which 
some may be reluctant to do. Furthermore, 
there are opportunities for early childhood 
faculty in postsecondary institutions to 
explore and develop leadership capability 
through mentoring programs. Researchers 
who can partner with educators to develop 
and research a mentoring program 
can provide leadership by helping to 
bridge the gap between researchers and 
practitioners, which is of particular interest 
in early childhood education, where many 
educators do not embrace a research 
culture (Rodd, 2006). Puig and Recchia 
(2008) found that novice educators were 
feeling overwhelmed and desired further 
connections with their university faculty. 
They wrote, “Bringing new teachers and 
professors together through these forums 
of support creates meaningful connections 
between research and practice as well as 
teacher training and teacher work” (p. 
342). Maintaining relationships between 
faculty and graduates can be a benefit to 
all stakeholders in the early childhood 
education community.

Conclusion 

As novice early childhood educators 
enter the profession, they experience 
“survival,” as Katz (1977) described, a 
time when educators could benefit from 
hands-on support through a mentor in 

the workplace. Novice early childhood 
educators can gain support from mentors 
who demonstrate gentleness, patience, 
and a positive attitude, and are able to 
encourage reflective thinking (Hurst & 
Reding, 2002; Rodd, 2006). Furthermore, 
there are advantages for staff who become 
involved in mentoring, as a culture 
of learning can develop where early 
childhood educators learn together (Rodd, 
2006). Mentoring is a relevant topic for 
early childhood educators, and pursuing 
research on the mentoring needs of novice 
early childhood educators could lead to 
increased levels of workplace satisfaction 
for mentors and novice early childhood 
educators, including less burnout, greater 
understanding of leadership in early 
childhood education, and better quality 
care (Bella & Bloom, 2003; Rodd, 2006).

References

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& Ritchie, J. (2008). Learning to teach: Success case 
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Bella, J., & Bloom, P. J. (2003). Zoom: The impact of early 
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Bellm, D., & Whitebook, M. (1996). Mentoring for early 
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Brindley, R., Fleege, P., & Graves, S. (2000). A friend 
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Callan, S. (2006). What is mentoring? In A. Robins (Ed.), 
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