Teacher Mentoring Programme: A Vehicle to Support Professional Development for Improving the Quality of Education in Districts of Sindh and Balochistan of Pakistan
In general practices, it is noticed that there is greater improvement in teachers' performance if they refresh themselves by attending different professional development programmes. They start rethinking about their role as effective teachers and how to support novice teachers. In order to support the novice teachers and develop them professionally, there is a need of quality teacher education programme. Literature reveals that "teacher mentoring programmes have dramatically increased since the early 1980s as a vehicle to support and retain novice teachers. The vast majority of what has been written about mentoring has focused on what mentors should believe and do in their work with novice teachers. The professional literature typically describes the benefits for novice teachers" (Odell and Huling, 2000). By keeping in mind the importance of shared literature and significant contribution of the Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development (AKU-IED) offered Certificate in Education: Primary Education Programmes (Mentoring Focus) under the Education Sector Reform Assistance (ESRA) project to improve the quality of teacher education.
This paper presents some of the strategies used during the mentoring programmes, especifically focused on developing the participants' skills of 'mentoring' to provide facilitation, support and help to motivate less experienced selected primary teachers of cluster schools to reach their true potential. The series of programmes developed participants as effective teachers for their classrooms and as mentors for their Learning Resource Centres (LRCs) at union council level through reflective practice and critical thinking. This paper also describes the mechanism of professional support to develop other primary school teachers (mentees) for their professional growth through Cluster Based Mentoring Programme (CBMP) and impact on their classroom teaching. Consequently, the growth of mentees created friendly and enjoyable supportive learning environment in their classes where children enhance their learning abilities. These facts showed quality of CBMP which, in turn, improves the quality of Primary Teacher Education.
Hence, the graduates of Certificate in Education: Primary Education (Mentoring Focus) programmes are supporting their mentees professionally for improving the quality of teachers education in selected districts of Sindh and Balochistan of Pakistan. Furthermore, the paper also highlights the experiences of the instructional team during teaching, followup field visits, anecdotal records of feedback sessions, participants' reflections and interviews provided as evidences of how mentoring programme became a vehicle to support professional development for improving the quality of education.