Mentoring social work adjunct educators: A collaborative autoethnography provides a blueprint for support

Abstract

Sessional academics are often employed on a part-time, contract basis as casual (e.g. adjunct) teaching staff. Internationally, universities benefit from the expertise and experience of these educational team members. However, there is a lack of research in the literature identifying how to support them. This article attempts to bridge this gap by presenting the mentoring (e.g. faculty development) experiences of three social work educators. Drawing from queer theory, we utilized collaborative autoethnography and inductive analysis resulting in three themes: (1) mentoring building blocks, (2) mentoring blueprint, and (3) mentoring strengths and challenges. Finally, broader implications are discussed.