Mentoring Early Childhood Professionals

Past research has documented the benefits of mentoring programs to the participants' personal and professional development, yet little is known about the reciprocal nature of the relationships between mentors and protégés. This study examined the mentor-protégé relationship through the voices of 12 participants over the nine-month period of a special project. Data collected from the participants through individual interviews and small-group meetings focused on documenting and understanding the benefits of mentoring, the difficulties within the mentor- protégé relationship, the factors that influenced the relationship, and the ways that the relationship evolved and changed. Common themes emerged from the analysis of the data, which highlighted the impact of terminology, distance, time constraints, place of employment, and length of the mentoring experience. The findings provide educators with an insider's view of the mentoring experience, and offer information about successful strategies that can be used to enhance the professional development of both the beginning and the experienced teacher.