The role played by the heads of department in mentoring new educators

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to assess the role played by heads of department in mentoring the new educators in their respective subject departments. There were two major objectives in this study. Firstly, the study sought to examine the existence of mentoring programmes executed by heads of department to the new educators in schools. Secondly, the study sought to contribute to the notion that a mentoring programme enables these educators to become effective in their teaching. Data were collected from educators in different schools in Welkom, Odendaalrus and Wesselsbron, in the Lejweleputswa district, Free State province. The results have revealed that in schools, there is little or no existence of mentoring. However, the heads of department do in fact want to mentor new educators. These educators also want to be mentored in their subject departments. The problem lies with the lack of official introduction and execution of mentoring programmes at schools. It is therefore recommended from this study that new educators must not only be introduced to the school environment, but a continuous mentoring programme must be implemented by heads of department.