Mentoring as complementary identities : an auto-ethnographic study of the relationship between youth mentoring and teacher mentoring in teacher education

Abstract

Youth mentoring and teacher mentoring tend to be discussed as separate matters, and limited research has been conducted to examine the relationship between these two types of mentoring. This autoethnographic study aims to explore the identities of mentor and mentee as well as the mentor-protégé relationship in the context of youth mentoring and teacher mentoring, and to take a closer look at the relationship between these two types of mentoring contexts. By reviewing and analyzing the blog entries, reflective notes and journals which record my personal experiences of mentoring, and by interviewing my mentoring partners, it is found that although identities of mentor and mentee and the mentor-protégé relationship in the two contexts showed different features, cross-context influences were found. The youth mentoring experience can be embodied in the teacher mentoring context, and vice versa. Implications for youth mentoring, teacher mentoring and cross-context mentoring practice are then suggested.