Mentoring and Professional Learning in a Challenging World

Dear Colleagues,

Teachers today operate within rapidly evolving educational landscapes shaped by ongoing sociopolitical instability, shifting sociocultural agendas, increasingly diverse student needs, and teacher shortages. These demands were amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic, which necessitated rapid pedagogical innovation, digital adaptation, and heightened emotional support. Globally, teachers continue to navigate the tension between accelerated technological transformation and rising expectations for pedagogical innovation and accountability.

Mentoring has a long-standing history as a central mechanism for supporting teachers as they navigate the complexities of the profession and build their professional capacity. Recognized as a foundational element of teacher education, it provides essential guidance in bridging theory and practice during preservice preparation and the early stages of teachers’ careers (Orland-Barak & Wang, 2020). Reviews by Ellis et al. (2020), Orland-Barak (2014), and Castanheira (2016) consistently highlight the pivotal role of mentoring in teachers’ professional learning, positioning mentors as key developmental partners. Extensive research further demonstrates that high-quality mentoring fosters teacher identity formation, instructional competence, and professional resilience, while contributing to reduced attrition, enhanced wellbeing, and strengthened self-efficacy (Ellis et al., 2020; Goodwin et al., 2021; Luong, 2025).

The necessity of functioning in uncertain and rapidly changing conditions has exposed significant gaps in existing models of teacher professional learning and has generated the development of novel, context-responsive mentoring practices (Kaplan et al., 2025; Larsen et al., 2023 Pennanen et al., 2018; Tonna et al., 2017). The aim of this Special Issue, therefore, is to bring together manuscripts that illuminate how mentoring and professional learning are enacted, experienced, and reconstructed in challenging and dynamic contexts. Our aim is to gather a diverse collection of theoretical, empirical, methodological, and practice-based contributions that deepen current understandings, bridge research and practice, and offer new conceptualizations for supporting teachers in periods of uncertainty and transformation through mentoring practices.

Reference:

Castanheira, P.S.P. (2016). Mentoring for Educators’ Professional Learning and Development: A Meta-Synthesis of IJMCE Volumes 1-4. International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 334–346. doi: 10.1108/ IJMCE-10-2015-0030.

Ellis, N.J., Alonzo D. & Nguyen, T.M. (2020). Elements of a Quality Pre-service Teacher Mentor: A Literature Review. Teaching and Teacher Education, Vol. 92, No. 1, pp. 1-13.

Goodwin, A. L., Lee, C. C., & Pratt, S. (2023). The poetic humanity of teacher education: holistic mentoring for beginning teachers. Professional Development in Education, Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 707–724. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2021.1973067.

Kaplan, H., Israel, V., Al-Sayed, K., Alatawna-Alhoashle H. & Sultan el q’uran (2025). Autonomy-Supportive Mentoring’: mentoring from the perspective of self-determination theory. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, DOI: 10.1080/13611267.2025.2595942.

Larsen, E., Jensen-Clayton, C., Curtis, E., Loughland, T. & Nguyen, H.T.M. (2023). "Re-imagining Teacher Mentoring for the Future". Professional Development in Education, Vol. 51, No. 4, pp. 683–697.‏ https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2023.2178480.

Luong, G.Y. (2025). The effectiveness of mentoring, coaching, and induction practices for early career teachers: A scoping review. Teaching and Teacher Education, Vol. 163, 105065, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2025.105065

Orland-Barak, L. (2014). "Mediation in Mentoring: A Synthesis of Studies in Teaching and Teacher Education". Teaching and Teacher Education Vol. 44, pp. 180-188. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2014.07.011.

Orland-Barak, L., and Wang, J. (2020). "Teacher Mentoring in Service of Preservice Teachers' Learning to Teach: Conceptual Bases, Characteristics and Challenges for Teacher Education Reform". Journal of Teacher Education, Vol. 72, No. 1, pp. 7–12. doi.org/10.1177/0022487119894230.

Pennanen, M., Heikkinen, H.L.T. and Tynjälä, P. (2018). "Virtues of Mentors and Mentees in the Finnish Model of Teachers’ Peer-group Mentoring". Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 64, No. 3, pp. 355-371. doi: 10.1080/00313831.2018.1554601.

Tonna, M.A., Bjerkholt, E., and Holland, E. (2017). "Teacher mentoring and the reflective practitioner approach". International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 210-227.

Dr. Rinat Arbiv-Elyashiv
Dr. Ainat Guberman
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• mentoring
• professional learning
• professional development
• teacher education
• teacher induction