Abstract
During these uncertain times we are living in, the inner workings of a school must be adapted to reflect an alternative to face-to-face teaching. This led me to believe that mentoring strategies should also be adapted or redesigned to reflect the new age of teaching. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced principals and school managements to search for alternative ways to mentor staff in order to cope during these trying times. This research will provide insightful mentoring ideas that could be utilised to resuscitate mentoring strategies for teaching staff. In my experience, I have found that there has been a stagnation in implementing mentoring strategies. This led new teachers to feel overwhelmed with the environment they teach in, whilst others experienced a lack of motivation. After speaking to several individuals that hold managerial roles, I have come to notice that there is a lack of knowledge on how to implement mentoring strategies. Furthermore, I realised that most of the individuals I have spoken to still use outdated strategies to mentor staff. This motivated me to explore the extent to which managements implement mentoring strategies and how it supports the modern-day teacher. With the accumulation of the above knowledge the research problem of the study can be outlined as follows: How can mentoring strategies be adjusted to support teachers in the current teaching climate? The findings of this study indicate that mentoring has a profound effect on the quality of teaching and that mentoring strategies such as induction programs, professional development session, time management support and assisting staff with their health and wellbeing should be prioritised. Based on my findings it is recommended that when mentoring policies are put in place, that both management and teachers have a say in drafting such policies. Furthermore, both the school and the community’s needs should be considered when selecting which mentoring strategies to implement. Finally, school managements should provide teachers with platforms to enhance their teaching experience. KEYWORDS Current climate, Digital literacy, Mentoring strategies, Mentor and mentee, School management.
M.Ed. (Educational Leadership and Management)