Introduction

Mentoring is a global phenomenon. Even though the concept of ‘mentoring’ exists in different national and cultural contexts and is performed in a variety of ways, it is nevertheless a contested practice (Kemmis et al., 2014). The incoherent way of naming, framing and defining ‘mentoring’ has been discussed in the literature, in that different concepts, such as mentoring, coaching, supervision etc., have been used to describe the same phenomenon (cf. Gold, 1996; Sundli, 2007; Mullen, 2012;). For instance, Mullen (2012) writes that: “While some theorists think of coaching as a type of mentoring, others see the exact reverse – that is, mentoring as a type of coaching” (p. 9). Further, in the educational field a clear line is seldom drawn between ‘mentoring’ practiced in  initial teacher training and the ‘mentoring’ of newly qualified teachers. This may mean that the same phenomenon is described in different ways, or that different descriptions are applied to the same phenomenon.

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to problematize how the concept of ‘mentoring’ is used in the literature to address the ‘phenomenon of mentoring’.

Perspective(s) or theoretical frame­work

In this study, a sensemaking perspective is used to acknowledge the processes of sensemaking and negotiation of meanings. According to Weick (1995), sensemaking involves three specific elements: a frame of past moments and understandings, cues of the present moment of experience and a connection in-between, Accordingly, ‘the content of sensemaking is to be found in the frames and categories’ (p. 111) that summarize past experiences. Thus, how the concept of ‘mentoring’ or the ‘phenomenon of mentoring’ is made sense of in individual or specific contexts is a result of negotiations of meanings.

Methods and data

The data for this conceptual paper comes from strategically chosen journal articles as examples of how the concept of ‘mentoring’ is used in different national and cultural educational contexts. A content analysis is performed to identify the various meanings of mentoring and the contexts in which it is used (Miles, Huberman & Saldaña, 2014).

Arguments and con­clusions

The analysis shows that major challenges in (accurate) sensemaking can be due to:

(a)   language transformation (notions and concepts from one language are transformed into another language, most often into English, which can result in a change of meaning)

(b)  context transformation (sensemaking of context specific circumstances may be difficult)

(c)   context insensitivity (mixing up different ‘mentoring contexts’)

(d)  phenomenon insensitivity (mixing up different phenomena, e.g. ‘coaching’, ‘mentoring’, etc.

In certain contexts, some of these issues may be of minor relevance, whilst in others they may be vital for achieving (accurate) sensemaking.

The paper draws attention to the importance of acknowledging linguistic, conceptual and contextual dimensions of ‘mentoring’ in the sense-making process in order to achieve stringency and coherence in research, for instance when research overviews are conducted to frame own research.

References:

Kemmis, S., Heikkinen, H., Fransson, G., Aspfors, J. & Edwards-Groves, C. (2014).  Mentoring of new teachers as a contested practice: Supervision, support and collaborative self-development. Teaching and Teacher Education. Vol. 43, 154–164

Miles, M.B., Huberman, A.M. & Saldaña, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: a methods sourcebook. (3. ed.) Los Angeles: Sage.

Mullen, C.A. (2012). Mentoring: An Overview. In S.J. Fletcher & C.A. Mullen (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Mentoring and Coaching in Education (pp. 7–23). London: SAGE.

Sundli, L. (2007): Mentoring – A new mantra for education? Teaching and Teacher Edu­cation. 23(2). pp. 201–214.

Weick, K. (1995): Sensemaking in Organisations. Thousand Oaks. California: Sage Pub­lications.

In this paper, the notion of ‘adequate digital competence’, as it is used in the 2017 Swedish strategy for digitalization of the school system, is in focus. Based on a close reading of the strategy, three dimensions are formulated for discussion: time, context, and interpretation. These dimensions open a more general discussion about the content of policies regarding digital competence. The notion of striving for an ‘adequate digital competence’ for children, students, teachers, school leaders, and other school staff is loaded with a variety of possible meanings. The strategy provides guidance in some aspects, but leaves a lot to local enactment of the strategy.

Mentoring is a global phenomenon. Even though the concept of ‘mentoring’ exists in different national and cultural contexts, and is performed in a variety of ways, it is nevertheless a contested practice (Kemmis et al., 2014). The incoherent way of naming, framing and defining ‘mentoring’ has been discussed in the literature, in that different concepts, such as mentoring, coaching, supervision etc., have been used to describe the same phenomenon (cf. Gold, 1996; Sundli, 2007; Mullen, 2012).

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to problematise how the concept of ‘mentoring’ is used in the literature to address the ‘phenomenon of mentoring’. I first discuss how the concept of mentoring can be used in different contexts and then conduct an in-depth analysis of how the results from one specific article (Aspfors & Fransson, 2015) are used by others. More precisely, I analyse how this article is cited and quoted by other scholars.

The digitalisation of educational contexts has changed the prac- tice of teaching and learning. In this, teachers have a key role in enacting digital technologies for this purpose and have different opportunities to do so. This article explores how digitalisation can affect teachers by focusing on: (a) how teachers manage to capi- talise on digitalisation; and (b) how digitalisation can affect and reconstruct their self-understanding. Two teacher colleagues of English as a foreign language (EFL) in the same teaching team are interviewed and observed. Drawing on the interplay between self-image, self-esteem, job motivation, and task perception, it is shown how the teachers’ self-understanding is played out and changes due to the call for digitalisation. Whereas one of the teachers has been able to capitalise on digitalisation in a way that has been beneficial both professionally and personally, the other has felt pressurised by it. A conclusion is that a limited or extended use of digital technologies should not be taken as an indicator of teaching quality.

This paper investigates what upper secondary school students regard as good or less good teaching using ICT. 367 Swedish upper secondary students in 2 schools responded to a web-based questionnaire. The students were asked to describe one of their teachers who used ‘ICT in a way that made them learn very well, and one who used ICT in a way that made them learn less well’ and to describe what these teachers did and why their teaching was understood as good or less good. 18 themes were identified, of which 17 were combined into eight overall counterpart themes and one non-counterpart theme. ‘Clarity’ was the most prominent theme, followed by ‘teachers’ ‘ICT skills’, ‘uses ICT in a good way’, ‘fun factor’, ‘puts information on the LMS’, ‘varies the teaching methods’, ‘demonstrates how to use ICT’ and ‘general pedagogical skills’. The results show that although the specific focus is on students’ views of their teachers’ use of ICT, general pedagogical skills are a major focus in the themes. Effectiveness is an explicit theme in terms of ICT adding value to teaching and learning, while ineffectiveness is an implicit underlying dimension in the themes relating to less good teaching. It is also evident that the students value the same teacher’s use of ICT in teaching differently.

Teacher standards are used in many countries, but it has been argued that there is a disconnection between the standards and teachers’ everyday practices. Mega-narratives about teachers' practices have been recognised as powerful for educational change and when implementing and legitimising standards. In this comparative study, the standards for newly qualified teachers in Australia, Scotland and Sweden are analysed in order to determine the extent to which they contain human elements, here framed as contextual professionalism, and/or paradigmatic knowledge (Olson and Craig, 2009. This comparison facilitates an exploration of how teachers' work is envisaged in the respective countries and what is expected or required from newly qualified teachers.  The results indicate that the Australian and Scottish standards emphasise paradigmatic knowledge in teaching, whereas the now abandoned Swedish standards emphasise contextual professionalism in teaching.

In Sweden, the digitalization of K-12 schools has been ongoing for more than 30 years. Several larger governmental initiatives targeting issues such as the one-to-one classroom and teachers’ development of digital competence have been carried out, but the outcomes have not been as positive as hoped for. In the research literature, there is growing evidence of the importance of long-term and well-anchored strategies, such as functioning information and communication technology (ICT) plans, as well as calls for a system approach to understanding the leadership needed for the digitalization of K-12 schools. There is also research highlighting the importance of applying multilevel analysis for understanding ICT implementation and educational change. In autumn 2017, the Swedish government suggested one such strategy for the digitalization of Swedish schools. One interesting aspect in the strategy is the aim indicating that students, teachers, and school leaders, as well as other staff members working in the schools, should develop what is called “adequate digital competence.” Departing from data gathered within a 4-year longitudinal Swedish research project investigating the advanced use of information technology (IT) in upper secondary schools, this paper focuses on educational IT strategists/managers that work on a municipality level and their role in the process of developing digital competence in schools. Through semi-structured interviews, three educational IT strategists working in three different Swedish municipalities provided their views about their work description, their functions as strategists/managers, and their understanding of digital competence. The first analysis shows clear variations regarding, for example, how the strategists formulate their own role in the ongoing digitalization of the school, as well as under which conditions they can carry out their work.

Purpose – To explore upper secondary school students’ voices on how ICT could structure and support their everyday activities and time at school.

Design/methodology/approach –11 group interviews were conducted with a total of 46 students from three upper secondary schools. NVivo PRO 11 was used for a qualitative content analysis.

Findings – The results show that ICT plays a central role in the students’ schooling, not in terms of “state-of-the-art” technology, but rather as ‘state-of-the-actual’, by for example supporting the writing process and for peer-support, digital documentation and storage.

Research limitations/implications – A relatively small number of students in three schools and three specific programmes make generalisations difficult.

Practical implications – Students’ perspectives on the ‘state-of-the-actual’ could influence teachers’ use of ICT in education, their professional development activities and the development of an in-school ICT infrastructure.

Social implications – The study could lead to a better understanding of students’ expectations and use of ICT at school and in everyday life. 

Originality/Value – The originality of this article is the focus on students’ voices about how the basic use and functionality of ICT could structure and support their everyday activities at school.