This paper discusses factors that impacted on the long-term outcomes of a mentor training program for teachers that was designed to train experienced teachers to become mentors to beginning teachers to facilitate their progression in the first year of teaching. The program was developed in response to calls from the governments at both national and state levels for more formalised support for the transition for beginning teachers into the profession. Research literature identifies the significance of mentoring on the quality and retention of beginning teachers. This point is salient given the widespread teacher shortages and ongoing issues of attracting and retaining teachers in the profession. The mentor training program that provides the context for this paper was developed for experienced teachers working in the state-based teacher employing authority that employs over half the teacher workforce in one Australian state. Teacher educators from a university with a high profile on initial teacher education designed and delivered the mentor training program. The program ran from early 2014 through to the end of 2019 and over that time, with the participation of more than 4200 teachers.. Once teachers completed the two-day face to face mentor training, they were expected to return to their schooling contexts and design and implement a mentoring program that met the needs of the beginning teachers in their specific context.

The investment by the state government that instigated the program, was estimated to be more than A$15 million, with a further A$1 million allocated to the university for the program design and delivery. Due to the huge investment of fiscal and human resources, it was anticipated that there would be long-term impacts from the program evidenced as widespread mentoring programs in schools across the sector.

This paper draws on research conducted three years after the program ceased in which the teachers who completed the program were invited via email to participate in an online survey about the outcomes of the program and the factors impacting on those outcomes. The relevant ethics approval was obtained from the university prior to conducting the research. This paper reports on the 112 responses to the open-ended, short response survey question that invited teachers to identify the factors that had impacted, and how they had impacted, on mentoring since the cessation of the mentor training program. The responses were analysed using an iterative approach adapted from Braun and Clarke’s six-stage process. First, the responses were collated to facilitate the data analysis. Then, all responses were read and re-read repeatedly looking for key themes in the data. After this coding process, the researchers discussed the data collaboratively. The themes were reviewed and refined until consensus was reached.

The findings identified that, although the mentor training program was a system-wide initiative, there was an inconsistent response to mentoring in schools across the sector following the program. It was also revealed that mentoring initiatives taken up, or not, in schools were dependent on the leadership team in individual school contexts, rather than on systemic imperatives. Other key factors that impacted on mentoring related to time constraints and resourcing. These findings together with recommendations for future mentor training programs for teachers will be discussed in the presentation.

Keywords: Mentor training, mentoring, teacher professional development, beginning teachers, mentor preparation.