International Teacher Education Conference 2014 1

International Teacher Education Conference 2014
Challenges Facing Teacher Educators’ Mentoring on Professional Progress of
Teachers in Nigeria
Ibli Eugene U. a Anyacho Ernest O b *
ª PROVOST, FEDERAL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, OBUDU CROSS RIVER STATE, NIGERIA
b
CHIEF LECTURER, FEDERALCOLLEGE OF EDUCATION, OBUDU CROSS RIVER STATE, NIGERIA
Abstract
The commitment of teacher educators to professional development of teachers in Nigeria is very minimal
especially after the teacher –trainees have graduated. Professional relationship between the training institutions
/teacher educators and those they trained are faint. Strong mechanism of monitoring what the graduates are
doing in the field and helping them face their challenges partially exists. Consequently great differences exist
between the attitude and commitment of the teacher-educators to professional ethics, and that of those who
graduated from them. This paper focuses on the factors that make mentoring on professional progress of
teachers by the teacher-educators difficult. Such factors include, some over/wrong assumptions, poor record
keeping and monitoring, political factors, the quality of the teacher educators that train the teachers, challenges
of professionalisation of teaching in Nigeria, poor funding of teacher-education, lack of policy guidelines or
legal frame-work on mentoring on professional development of teachers in Nigeria. Implications of the above
lapses on the fate of teaching profession in Nigeria are highlighted. The paper concludes with suggestions on
how to tackle the challenges.
Keywords. teacher-educator, teacher trainee, mentor, mentee, professionalisation, teaching practice, funding, continuous professional
development, teacher education institutions.
INTRODUCTION
Mentoring is one of the pristine methods of imparting knowledge .The ancient Greek used it as a ,means of
imparting social, spiritual and personal values to young men .According to Metros and Yang(2006) , mentoring
as we know it today is loosely modeled on the historical craftsman/apprentice relationship where young people
learn a trade by shadowing master artisan .It is a career development strategy whereby mentee or protegee
(learner) is made to learn or understudy the skills and knowledge of the master. The term mentor, according to
Penner (1997 ) stems from Greek mythology in which Odysseus entrusted the care and education of his child to
a friend named Mentor while the father was away on his adventures and travels .From that initial origin of the
word, mentoring has come to be used for a variety of relationships(Penner,1997). Some of its synonyms include
role model, coach, guide, sponsor, friend, and adviser”.He presented some sample definitions of mentoring as
follows:
Mentoring is a lifelong relationship in which a mentor helps a protégé reach her or his God-given potential
(Biehl, 1996).
Mentoring provides, first, an instrumental or career function (e.g., sponsorship, coaching, corporate culture
instruction), and second, an intrinsic or psychosocial function (e.g., serving as a model, a confidant, a friend)
(Cunningham, 1999).
Mentoring is a power-free partnership between two individuals who desire mutual growth. One of the
individuals usually has greater skills, experiences, and wisdom (Weinstein,1998).
The person offering the mentoring is usually referred to as a mentor, while the recipient or partner may be
identified as a mentee or protégé.
According to Garvey and Alfred (2003) mentoring is a learning partnership between a more experienced and
less experienced individual. Grossman and Rhodes (2002) described it as a process involving emotional
(friendship, acceptance, supports, etc) and instrumental information, coaching, advocacy, sponsorship and
relationship that becomes impactful overtime. Mentoring is an age long practice through which master trainers in
E-mail address: geneibli@gmail.com , eanyacho@yahoo.com
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