Beginning Preschool Teachers’ Views Toward Mentoring Programs in Turkey

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to reveal the view of preschool teachers who are in the first five years of the occupation about mentoring programs applied to them. To reveal the experiences and opinions of the teachers, the qualitative research design, phenomenology, was used. To determine the preschool teachers who are in the first 5 years of their occupation, criterion sampling from purposeful sampling methods was used. To achieve the purpose, the semi-structured interview form was applied to the teachers. The answers were analysed by using descriptive analysis approach. As a result, the teachers said that they have problems in communication and classroom management because both they are inexperienced and they are working with small age children. To overcome these problems, they develop their own ways mostly with trial and error. In addition, in the process of pre-service teachers’ education, they feel lonely. In the process, they do not take any help from any experienced teacher or any other helping resources. Also, they claim that the pre-service teacher trainings do not serve for the aim, and the process is just a formality. It is offered that teachers might be adapted to the profession with the help of special professional trainings and quality mentoring programs.