{"title":"Becoming university qualified early childhood teachers: Studying with structured mentoring","authors":"Rebecca Andrews, Manjula Waniganayake, Fay Hadley, Iain Hay, Leanne Holt","doi":"10.1177/18369391241274801","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"University students studying to attain an early childhood teaching degree frequently face a triad of competing demands – study, work and personal – that affect their capacity to maintain studies to successfully complete their qualification. In the Australian government’s ten-year early childhood workforce strategy, mentoring was identified as a priority area. Mentoring during university studies boosts professional confidence in becoming a qualified teacher. In this study, framed through a Community of Practice, 56 mentees, 13 mentors, three academic mentors and four First Nations’ cultural advisors, engaged in a 26-week mentoring program. Findings indicate that mentoring from the beginning of university studies can ameliorate the triad of demands. However, a realistic consideration of the time available in relation to these factors is essential. This study offers evidence for funding mentoring programs to enable engagement in university studies and potentially boost the early childhood workforce, with implications for employers, universities and government.","PeriodicalId":46779,"journal":{"name":"Australasian Journal of Early Childhood","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Australasian Journal of Early Childhood","FirstCategoryId":"95","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/18369391241274801","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
University students studying to attain an early childhood teaching degree frequently face a triad of competing demands – study, work and personal – that affect their capacity to maintain studies to successfully complete their qualification. In the Australian government’s ten-year early childhood workforce strategy, mentoring was identified as a priority area. Mentoring during university studies boosts professional confidence in becoming a qualified teacher. In this study, framed through a Community of Practice, 56 mentees, 13 mentors, three academic mentors and four First Nations’ cultural advisors, engaged in a 26-week mentoring program. Findings indicate that mentoring from the beginning of university studies can ameliorate the triad of demands. However, a realistic consideration of the time available in relation to these factors is essential. This study offers evidence for funding mentoring programs to enable engagement in university studies and potentially boost the early childhood workforce, with implications for employers, universities and government.
期刊介绍:
The Australasian Journal of Early Childhood (AJEC) is Australasia’s foremost scholarly journal and the world’s longest-running major journal within the early childhood education and care sector. Published quarterly, AJEC offers evidence-based articles that are designed to impart new information and encourage the critical exchange of ideas among early childhood practitioners, academics and students. AJEC is peer reviewed by leading early childhood education and care academics, against quality-assurance guidelines to ensure that all articles promote best practice and disseminate high-quality information in the early childhood education and care sector.