Mentorship as a tool for quality assurance in teacher education: the case of Zambia

Abstract

The core issue of this article is to argue for a new perspective on the need for mentorship of novice lecturers in teacher education as a tool for ensuring quality assurance. The article explores, identifies and considers various and pertinent explicit or implicit aspects of novice lecturer mentorship in teacher education. The first part of the article argues that formal mentorship of novice lecturers in teacher education can help in promoting the newcomer’s career advancement, personal growth and development and education through a person-centred approach.The areas in which novice lecturers need mentorship include: pedagogy, assessment tools, designing appropriate curricula, research, publications, presenting conference papers, professional ethics, and so on. The next section of the paper addresses the multiple challenges novice lecturers face which, if not managed and controlled, they can lead to substandard performance among novice lecturers. One of the most important challenges that can impact on the quality of teaching is the lack of pedagogical skills. It is therefore essential that novice lecturers are given maximum support and encouragement by their seniors. The final section of the paper describes the need for the institutionalisation of mentorship. Strategies include capacitating potential mentors through training, reducing the workload of senior staff and offering monetary and other incentives. The author concludes that mentoring is the best tool for supporting the quality of performance of novice lecturers.