Page 13 - Journal 89-3 Full

Impacts of Mentor-Mentee Pairing of Special

Educators in an Induction Program:

A Qualitative Case Study

By Cynthia Rollins Spangler

High rates of special-education-teacher attrition negatively impact teachers and students.
To address attrition and support new special education teachers, many school districts pair
mentor teachers with novice teachers (mentees). This qualitative case study identified factors
that special education mentors and mentees percieved as leading to a positive pairing in
an induction program and considered how candidate-mentor pairing impacts perceived job
satisfaction.

Background and Literature
he first years of a special education teacher’s career can be a very exciting time.
TThe teacher has studied for 4 or more years at the university level and may have
completed up to 1 year of student teaching. The new teacher is full of ideas and feels
ready for the workforce. However, the reality of the day-to-day life of a classroom
teacher rarely meets the idealized expectations of the novice teacher (Billingsley &
Bettini, 2019; Cornelius & Sandmel, 2018; Mitchell et al., 2020). This transition
from teaching theory to teaching practice can be very challenging and leads to a high
rate of attrition during the first years of special education instruction (Cornelius &
Sandmel, 2018; Mitchell et al., 2020; Nguyen et al., 2020), with up to 50% of special
educators leaving the profession in their first 5 years (Billingsley & Bettini, 2019).
With the continued problem of attrition of novice teachers in both general and
special education (Billingsley & Bettini, 2019; Cornelius et al., 2020), mentoring
of new teachers is essential in providing support with the hopes of increasing job
satisfaction and rates of retention (Cornelius & Sandmel, 2018; Kwok et al., 2021).
Mentors provide help not only in curriculum and instruction (Callahan, 2016; Wexler,
2020) but also in classroom management, navigation of school politics and culture,
and emotional support in those critical first years of transition from preservice to
full-time teacher (Kwok et al., 2021; Setlhako, 2019).
Induction is the intentional support of novice teachers (Kwok et al., 2021).
Induction programs have been shown to be effective in supporting novice teachers
(Chapman et al., 2021) and improving their self-esteem, early-career satisfaction,
resilience, and problem solving (Ewing, 2021). Studies have also shown induction
programs to impact positively the rates of retention of new teachers (Naidoo &
Wagner, 2020; Ruitenburg & Tigchelaar, 2021). Teachers who perceive that their
induction or mentoring program was effective have been shown to have more
perseverance and remain in the teaching field for a longer period of time when
compared to teachers in programs perceived as less effective (Williams, 2016).
Future research in the area of positive mentor/candidate matching has been
recommended (Kwok et al., 2021; Mitchell et al., 2020). A deeper understanding of
teachers’ perceptions of positive mentor-candidate pairings may result in improved
mentor-candidate pairings, a higher level of teacher-perceived job satisfaction, and
a lower level of teacher attrition.

Educators’ Choice 11