Hannu L. T. HeikkinenDepartment of Teacher EducationInstitute for Educational Research

University of Jyväskylä

In collaboration with: Rauno Huttunen, Merja Karjalainen and Marjatta SaarnivaaraIllu

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: Lea K

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Mentoring and Collaboration in Supporting Teachers’ Professional

Development Conference

Jyväskylä March 30th – 31th 2006

Experiences as a ”mentor”

• Working as a supervisor in teaching practice 1993-95

=> Licentiate thesis 1996:

Action research

”Promoting reflective dialogue in the supervision of teaching practice”

Experiences as a ”mentor educator”

• Mentor Education Module (22 ECTS) offered by the Open University of the University of Jyväskylä

• Multidiciplinary dialogue on mentoring:– Nurses, teachers, medical doctors, military officers,

priests, enterpreneurs, human resource developers in companies etc…

• The data: web discussions in a platform within two different trainee groups in 2003

• The mentors taking the module were from civic organisations and sign-language interpreters

Illu

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: Lea K

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“All texts on mentoring emphasise the development of the actors … but I’ve big expectations also myself, that is, I hope to develop myself as a mentor, human being and worker …. Mentoring is a relationship where both parties have committed themselves, take responsibility for their contribution and development, and there is authentic interaction.”

“All texts on mentoring emphasise the development of the actors … but I’ve big expectations also myself, that is, I hope to develop myself as a mentor, human being and worker …. Mentoring is a relationship where both parties have committed themselves, take responsibility for their contribution and development, and there is authentic interaction.”

Mentoring as an equal dialogue?

What Is Mentoring: A Traditional Definition

• a relationship where and older and more experienced worker enters into a mentoring relationship to support and facilitate the professional development of a younger and less experienced worker

=>The older worker has something to give to the younger one.

The Dilemma of Being a Friend or an Expert:

”a human being””a significant

other”

”an expert””a consultant”

Equal or not?

In what terms?

Three levels of equality:

1. existential equality• human dignity

2. ethical-juridical equality • rights and duties

3. epistemic equality• expertise

(Honneth 1996; Malinen 2000.)

1. Existential Equality

• the humanistic point-of-view:– every individual is unique and priceless– every human being is endowed with human

dignity

=> A SYMMETRICAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE MENTOR AND THE ACTOR

1. Existential Equality

Kirjaa lukiessani vahvistui toiveeni siitä, että mentorina minä riitän! Mun ei siis tarvii ponnistella eikä pinnistellä ollakseni jotain erikoisen ihmeellistä. Mun kokemukset ja elämä tällaisenaan on jakamisen arvoinen ja jollekin mahdollisesti avuksi. (verkkokeskustelu, Viittomakielentulkki.)

As I read the book I became convinced that I’m up to scratch as a mentor simply as myself. I mean I don’t have to struggle and strive to be something absolutely wonderful. My experiences and life are worth sharing as they stand, and they may help someone.(network discussion)

1. Existential Equality

2. Juridical-ethical Equality

”The student teacher wants to take a bicycle trip with the pupils on her own. But actually, I am the one who is responsible if something happens.”

2. Juridical-ethical Equality

3. Epistemic Equality

• Traditionally, the mentor is expected to know more and work better.

3. Epistemic Equality

• Traditionally, the mentor is expected to know more and work better.

3. Epistemic Equality

• Sometimes, it’s evident that the younger generation knows more about something.

• E.g. ICT skills

3. Epistemic Equality

• Sometimes, it’s evident that the younger generation knows more about something.

• E.g. ICT skills

3. Epistemic Equality

• knowledge of and expertise in a certain domain

• Pierre Bourdieu:– capitals and

fields– how to attain

epistemic capital in various fields

Capital

- a resource, quality or connections in a field

- different fields require different types of capital

(Bourdieu 1992; 1994)

Fields• A field is a socially structured space

where individuals struggle to accumulate a type of capital valuable in the given field.

• A field is a competitive arena where individuals struggle to gain access and to amass as much current capital as possible.

capital

economiccapital

symboliccapital

cultural capital

socialcapital

Examples of Cultural Capital

• cultural authority in the field of art

• scientific or scholarly authority in the field of science and scholarship

• sacred authority in the field of religion

• a mentor’s professional mastery of some expert domain

• a presentation giver’s authority in the field of academic conferences

The Mentoring Process: the Dialectics Between Struggling for and Distributing

Capital on the Field

• The field is not only a Bourdieuan battleground where people struggle to achieve a monopoly of the available capital.

• In mentoring, cultural capital is also voluntarily being distributed, but within a limited zone.

• Mentoring can be a dialectical process of entering into an alliance with someone and simultaneously competing with other people.

Equal or not? In what terms?

• Yes:

from a humanistic point-of-view; in terms of human dignity (human existence)

• Yes and no:

from a juridical and ethical point-of-view: in terms of rights, duties or moral responsibilities (ethics, legal issues)

• No:

in terms of knowing-how (episteme, experience)

So what?

• sometimes we meet rather naïve expectations on an equal dialogue which might even destroy the mentoring process

• the clarification of the differet levels of equality in the initial phase of mentoring might help the discussion

Literature

Bourdieu, P. & Wacquant, L. 1992. An invitation to reflexive sociology. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Bourdieu, P. 1994. In other words: Essays towards a reflexive sociology. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Heikkinen, H. & Hiltunen, A. 2005. Mentorointi on aikuisoppimisen mahdollisuus (Mentoring is an adult learning opportunity). Aikuiskoulutuksen maailma 81 (2), 16–18.

Heikkinen, H. & Huttunen, R. 2004. Teaching and the dialectic of recognition. Pedagogy, Culture and Society 12 (2), 163–173.

Heikkinen, H., Huttunen, R., Karjalainen, M. & Saarnivaara, M. 2005. Equality in mentoring relationship: in what terms? A paper presented in The Nordic Conference on Adult Education 2005. Turku, Finland, May 13th 2005.

Heikkinen, H. & Karjalainen, M. 2004. Educating mentors - A poetic way of understanding. In M. Pandis (ed.) Educational science in the axis of change. Tallinn Pedagogical University, 312-325.

Heikkinen, H. 2002. Tunnustuksen dialektiikka. Lyhyt oppimäärä (The dialectics of recognition. Short course). Opettaja 1–2, 11 January 2002.

Honneth, A. 1996. Struggle for recognition. The moral grammar of social conflicts. Oxford: Polity Press.

Malinen, A. 2000. Towards the essence of adult experiential learning. Jyväskylä: SoPhi