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Abstract
The study investigated mentees' (primary school teachers) perceptions about impact of mentoring on their professional development. The study further explored differences between male and female mentees 'perceptions about impact of mentoring on their professional development. Overall 313 mentees (Male = 139, Female = 174) participated in the survey. The survey was based on mentoring indicators given in the Mentoring Visit Form (MVF) used by the District Teacher Educators for the assessment of mentees. Mentees perceived that mentoring was sufficiently effective in developing their skills of writing diary, assigning homework, planning and presenting lessons, and interacting with students but ineffective in improving skills of using audio-visual aids, applying strategies of activity-based teaching, assessment strategies, and classroom management. Special workshops were recommended to enhance the mentees ' skills in the identified areas. Investigation about whether mentors neglect these areas while mentoring or they are themselves weak in above mentioned areas was also recommended.
Keywords: Mentees, Mentors, Mentoring, Mentoring Visit Form (MVF), Primary School Teacher (PST), Professional Development
Introduction
Teacher is called the change agent, who plays a fundamental role in nation building. Students' learning and achievements can be enhanced through quality teaching and a very strong challenge for Pakistan is to improve its teaching force. So, it is the dire need of the time that teachers' extension, preparation, and their professional development should be given importance (UNESCO-IIEP, 2004, p.5). Now-a-days, teachers' professional development is regarded as an essential part of teacher education (Doyle, 1990). It is also known as an important source to enhance teachers' professional competencies (Borko & Putnam, 1995). Ultimate function of teachers' professional development is to enhance students' outcomes (Darling, 1997; Guskey, 2000). Therefore, teachers should be aware of their continuous professional development for keeping their knowledge up to date about the changes emerging in the education system (Aminudin, 2012).
Many stakeholders can play their crucial role to improve teachers' effectiveness, but perhaps the head teacher and their colleagues can best guide for the teachers. Literature refers to this help and guidance to colleagues as 'mentoring' (Hdiggui, 2006). All over the world learning to teach is generally a well-known process that involves preparation of teachers, orientation and mentoring of teachers, on the job learning and continuous professional learning (Darling-Hammond, & Sykes,...