Investigating mentoring as a form of social learning for school principals

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Mentoring as a professional development strategy forms an integral part of the AdvancedCertificate: School leadership that was introduced in 2007 by the National Educationdepartment as an entry qualification in the school principalship. The Advanced Certificate inEducation: School Leadership is aimed at capacitating school leaders to address thechallenges experienced by school principals.The primary objective of this study was to investigate whether the mentorship component ofthe course is experienced as a form of social learning by the candidates. To achieve thisgoal, open-ended questions were prepared and administered during semi-structuredinterviews with the school principals who have been mentored within the ACE programme.The interviews were conducted to ten (10) participants including principals, deputy principalsand heads of departments (school level) within the Gert Sibande District (MpumalangaProvince).The investigation highlighted that principals do indeed experience mentoring as a form ofsocial learning. This was confirmed by the statements given by the interviewed principals thattheir learning was based on learning from each other through observation and engagementas well as through their mentors. This learning is confirmed by Bandura's Social LearningTheory (1977) which suggests that learning takes place through observation and positivebehaviour of the mentor.Based on the findings, the main recommendations were that mentorship, as social learning,should be extended to all school leaders and ultimately to school educators, that a mentoringunit should be based at each district office, that the selection of mentors should be carriedout carefully so that protégés could benefit maximally and that the period of mentoring shouldgo beyond merely being a component of an academic course.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University