Designing a Program for Mentoring Disengaged Teachers

Designing a mentoring program in an organization is important. In school, we often encounter the problem of having disengaged teachers, and this problem needs to be addressed.

Immediate, attention and solution to this problem is essential because with this attitude of teachers, it will not only affect their behavior towards work and their relationship with their students but also it might be the cause of teacher’s shortage if the teacher decided to leave their profession and venture into something else.In order to solve this problem, mentoring can provide a great help especially in school that I am currently teaching.In a school wherein we can observe teachers who are disengaged, we need a good mentor who will serve as guide and enlighten them about their profession their role as a teacher and their purpose in school and someone who will encourage them to accept the profession and stay were they are right now.“According to Peterson (1989), a mentor, historically is: 1) a loyal friend, someone who serves as a confidant and as an adviser: 2) a teacher, or someone who guides, coaches and serves as a role model; 3) someone we trust in educating and caring for others; 4) someone who is knowledgeable, advanced or has an expertise, and someone who are capable of attracting and nurturing a person who has the talent and ability; 5) someone who is willing to impart his or her knowledge in a non-competitive way; and someone and someone who represent skills, knowledge, virtue as well as accomplishments” (Binhi, 2003;  Sherk, 2002).“The four essential characteristics that a good mentor of beginning teachers should possess are as follows: 1) He must be committed to the mentoring role; 2) He should be a model of continuous learning; 3) He must show acceptance to the beginning teachers; and 4) He communicates hope and optimism” (Bhindi, 2003; Rowley, 1999).“According to Bond (1999), mentoring refers to the various activities of an organization which include peer support groups, community alliances, mentoring circles as well as spot mentoring.

To each of these activities enumerated, it is essential to facilitate change through encouragement, support, beliefs in the potential of others, pushing, challenging, listening, guiding, training, providing opportunities and alternative views, advising, opening doors, inspiring a vision, leading by example, empowering as well as in being non-judgmental” (Bhindi, 2003).Contextual Background of the Workplace of the ResearcherI am currently working at a secondary school which is located in Saudi Arabia. Our school organization staff consists of dean, sub-dean, school manager, consultant, a total of 32 teachers and 550 students, wherein 25 are international student.Our school is right now headed by a good manager, who is good in managing the school, and very approachable.

He manages the school very well. Whenever problems are encountered or any circumstances which are related to the school or the students’ problems, the school manager addressed the problem immediately in order to prevent it from getting worse. As problems arises, immediately he calls for a meeting to discuss whatever the problem encountered by the school to discuss it and to find solutions for it.One of the usual problems we encountered in most secondary schools like our school is the presence of disengaged teacher in the campus.

In school, sometimes we encountered teachers who are not happy in their profession as well as not satisfied in their work, and behaves negatively to her co-workers as well as their students. These are the characteristics of disengaged teachers. These problems must be addressed immediately in order to solve it.In order to adjust to these kinds of situations as well as to solve the problem of disengaged teachers in secondary school that I am currently working at, this study was done in order to design a program for mentoring disengaged teacher.How to Identify Disengaged TeachersIn school, we can identify disengaged teachers by their behaviors. We can say that teachers are disengaged if they show lack of meaning, interest or focus in the activities at school.

They spent their time at school in a non-productive way. They have no goals and their behaviors towards their colleagues as well as all the people in school, including their students are negative (Halpin, 2008).This can be measured by using the Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire for Secondary School (OCDQ-RS). As part of the faculty meeting the subtest of OCDQ-RS can be administered. In this test the anonymity of the respondents (the teachers in the workplace) are guaranteed. The teachers are not asked to sign on the questionnaire.

Mentoring ProgramIn our school in Saudi Arabia, we can design a mentoring program for disengaged teacher by encouraging the teachers to attend a training workshop. But first we must properly select a mentor for the program.“A mentor may be an experienced teacher, a former principal and a teacher adviser who will serve as the role model. An effective mentor that we must select, are those who possesses the four characteristics of a good mentor which are discussed at the beginning of the study.

“A good mentor must be committed to the mentoring role, a model of continuous learning, show acceptance to other workers in the workplace and someone who communicates hope and optimism” (Bhindi, 2003).“In designing mentoring program, it is possible a combination of models could be selected. Like for example one can prefer to have paid mentors and others are volunteers. Moreover, an organization could also have one effort that is formal, while still encouraging an informal mentoring” (Sherk, 2002).But because it is very expensive to have paid mentors, I suggest that a need for volunteered mentor is much better. In order to encourage the mentors to volunteer they must be given incentives.

Because in training, it demands commitment in time as well as in effort.  As part of the policy, incentive must be given, since in training it demands commitment in time as well as efforts. These may be given in for instance as discount in workload, conference opportunity and even a small honorarium is also possible. Experienced mentors, Department Head, education authorities or an external agency can provide the trainings needed (Bhindi, 2003).

In the school where I am currently working, I have decided to use the formal mentoring program, wherein the participants will attend a training workshop. The mentors are volunteered experienced teacher who will be given an honorarium in exchange for their efforts, participation and contribution for the success of the workshop.When formulating mentoring programs for beginning teachers, these questions are relevant and useful (Bhindi, 2003):1) “In mentoring programs will it be voluntary or mandatory participation?”2) “Occurrence of mentoring activities should be how frequent?”3) “To provide time for mentoring what is the best way to do?”4) “In terms of the relationship between mentor–protégé, how will we ensure that it remains confidential?”5) “How long will the mentors serve?”6) In a mentoring program, how long will the protégé participate?” and7) “In our schools, in order to make mentoring possible, what operational changes are needed to be made?”Should We Need to Evaluate the Them after the Program?After the program it is possible to evaluate them in order to test if their behavior towards their work has improved, and to assess if the program has been effective. This can be done by again using the Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire for Secondary School (OCDQ-RS). This questionnaires should be answered again by the teachers to see if the disengaged teachers before have improved.