Editorial

Citation

Hobson, A.J. (2014), "Editorial", International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, Vol. 3 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMCE-01-2014-0002

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, Volume 3, Issue 1.

In this, my first editorial for the International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education (IJMCE), I wish to state that it was an honour to be invited last year to become the new editor of the journal. I would also like to acknowledge the outstanding contribution of IJMCE's founding editor, Dr Sarah Fletcher, in establishing what is fast becoming the place to publish and source internationally excellent research and practitioner papers on mentoring and coaching in education.

Since taking on the editorship in April 2013 I have overseen the publication of Vol. 2 Issue 2, Guest Edited by Professor Peter Tomlinson, and the Special Issue “Extending the research agenda on mentoring in education” (Vol. 2 Issue 3), Guest Edited by Professor Frances Kochan. I very much enjoyed working with both Peter and Fran, and wish to thank them for their valuable contributions to the development of IJMCE. I wish too to extend my sincere gratitude to all the reviewers and Editorial Advisory Board members who have given their valuable time to support IJMCE and those seeking to publish in the journal. Without their support, this and the other excellent issues published to date, and those forthcoming, would not be possible.

Before briefly outlining the collection of papers in the current issue, I would also like to introduce Dr Janette Long (Australian Catholic University) as IJMCE's new Co-editor, and Pat Ashby as IJMCE's new Associate Editor. I have long admired Jan's work since reading and citing her seminal 1997 paper on the “The Dark Side of Mentoring” several years ago. I am delighted that she accepted the invitation to become co-editor, and I look forward to working and sharing senior editorial duties with her. I first worked with Pat Ashby in 2001, when we were both employed by the National Foundation for Education Research (NFER). As well as co-authoring a number of papers and research reports with her, I have also been privileged to benefit from Pat's keen editorial eye when I have asked her to proofread other work. I wanted the authors of all papers which successfully negotiate the main part of IJMCE's review process to enjoy such a benefit, and now they will. I am grateful to IJMCE's Publisher, Mark Moreau, for supporting the appointment of Jan and Pat, and to Sophie Barr, IJMCE's Managing Editor, for her tireless work behind the scenes.

The current issue begins with the wonderfully entitled paper “Mentors, tormentors and no mentors […]”, in which Laura Lunsford addresses a major gap in the evidence base relating to the mentoring of scientists. Reporting findings from an interview study with 23 Australian scientists, the paper augments the existing literature on dysfunctional mentoring relationships. In addition, it identifies a “window of time” within which mentoring support appears to be especially important for scientists, highlights specific behaviours that support career development in science, and reveals how some scientists learn to mentor others. In the following paper, Kate Thornton explores the educational leadership capacity of mentors working with new teachers in California. Findings from this mixed method study, notably those highlighting factors which support and hinder the development of educational leadership capacity, will undoubtedly be of interest to readers and educationists in other contexts. Next, Sakamoto and Tamanyu report findings from a study of a four-year mentorship programme in Tokyo which was designed to support graduate students’ transition into academia. Drawing on sociocultural perspectives and self-efficacy theory, the authors argue that graduate students must not be left to operate on the periphery of academia. They identify particular types of mentoring, involving appropriately scaffolded active participation in scholarly activities, which led to increased mentee confidence in becoming a scholar.

In the fourth paper of the issue, Sciarappa and Mason discuss an empirical study which examined the perceived efficacy of a national principal mentor training program in the USA, notably via a survey of new principals who had been supported by the trained mentors. The study highlights the importance of mentors not merely focusing on technical knowledge and skills, but also providing emotional support to new principals. Mentor training programmes thus need to support mentors in cultivating appropriate skills, such as effective listening. In our fifth paper, Celoria and Hemphill report findings from their qualitative examination of the practice of new principal coaching in (Californian) schools from the coaches’ perspective. Their findings identify process-oriented coaching as a valuable support mechanism for new principals, particularly during their first year in the role, and suggest the need for new approaches in principal mentoring programmes. The authors call for further research on specific process tools in coaching to promote reflection and inquiry. Arguably, one such tool is offered (though in the context of a peer coaching programme for teachers) by the final paper of this issue. Here, Rivera-McCutchen and Scharff Panero explore the peer instructional coaching component of a leadership development programme, the Scaffolded Apprenticeship Model (SAM), and show that the use of low-inference verbatim transcripts by skilled coaches can encourage teachers to be more reflective about their teaching in ways that are likely to positively impact their effectiveness and thus student outcomes. The study suggests that low-inference verbatim transcripts are a promising coaching tool which might profitably be employed – and further studied – in other contexts.

I hope that you enjoy the issue and that you will learn as much from its constituent papers as I have done.

Andrew J. Hobson