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University academics’ experiences of learning through mentoring

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Abstract

The use of mentoring for staff development is well established within schools and the business sector, yet it has received limited consideration in the higher education literature as an approach to supporting learning for academics. In this study located at one metropolitan university in Australia, an online questionnaire and one-on-one semi-structured interviews were used to explore academics’ experiences of mentoring, with a view to understanding the broader benefits mentoring might offer to the academic community. Findings from the study highlight that in an era where change is pervasive tertiary education providers should consider implementing mentoring as a valuable approach for supporting the work of academics. The academics in this research explained that through mentoring, they learnt how to build professional relationships and friendships; it helped them develop a sense of personal satisfaction; acted as a catalyst for career and leadership enhancement; expanded understandings of teaching and research and as a consequence of engaging in self-reflection it opened up new ways of thinking about their work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Arts, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia

    Trudy Ambler

  2. Learning and Teaching Centre, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia

    Marina Harvey & Jayde Cahir

Authors
  1. Trudy Ambler
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  2. Marina Harvey
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  3. Jayde Cahir
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Trudy Ambler.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Online questionnaire

Appendix 2: One-on-one interview questions

  1. 1.

    Please describe your involvement in the mentoring program (prompts may include: were they a mentor or mentee, did they have more than one mentor, how long did their mentoring relationship last, how many meetings)

  2. 2.

    Please describe your mentoring relationship (prompts may include: what types of issues were covered, quality of the relationship, how well did it work, power dynamics, regularity of meetings, availability, possible improvements)

  3. 3.

    What, if any, challenges did you experience during your mentoring relationship? (prompts may include: time constraints, availability, building trust, confidentiality, power dynamics)

  4. 4.

    What did you learn through your mentoring relationship?

  5. 5.

    What other benefits did you gain from your involvement in mentoring (not mentioned in question 4)?

  6. 6.

    If you were involved in the University’s Spectrum Mentoring what resources did you use? (prompts: mentoring Guide, workshop package, mentoring for L&T awards and grants, mentoring for research, generic mentoring, useful websites, useful newsletters, mentoring in the media, academic journals with mentoring focus)

    If you were not involved in Spectrum Mentoring what resources (if any) have you used that were helpful for mentoring?

  7. 7.

    What were the most useful mentoring resources for you? Why?

  8. 8.

    What were the least useful resources? How could they be improved?

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Ambler, T., Harvey, M. & Cahir, J. University academics’ experiences of learning through mentoring. Aust. Educ. Res. 43, 609–627 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-016-0214-7

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