Improving Teaching and Learning Through Mentoring

Mentoring is as universal as any other meaningful trusted relationship. Mentoring is needed in just about every discipline: education, health, medicine, aviation, engineering, actuarial science, performing arts, to mention a few. In any good mentoring relationship there are development opportunities for both mentee and mentor. This book assumes that the mentoring relationship is understood and accepted by both parties in a formal or informal manner. After defining mentoring in Chapter 1 we provide the theoretical framework necessary for understanding key issues involved in mentoring in Chapter 2. The last chapter presents a number of tried-and-tested strategies for mentoring. A relevant quotation from the public domain appearing at the beginning of each section is meant to provide food for thought and better facilitate internalising the innovative ideas presented in that particular book section. Relevant shareware graphics, operating under the Creative Commons Copyright licenses serve as stimulants for further engagement. Carrying pseudonyms for confidentiality and anonymity, stories from the author’s own students detail their personal experiences with mentoring.