Flashbacks of Present English Mentors on Their Previous Mentoring Program Experiences.

Mentoring programs have received increasing attention in educational institutions since their contributions were acknowledged. Mentoring programs have been employed to pass on knowledge from mentors to mentees with a well-developed annual plan. These programs are prevalent in many different fields apart from education. There are numerous studies to measure the effects of mentoring on mentees. However, a gap in literature has been noticed to get the perceptions of present mentors who used to complete their mentoring programs as mentees. In this regard, 40 current mentors who are responsible for training teacher candidates in 15 countries used the flashback technique to illustrate their previous experiences as mentees. In this qualitative study, the data were collected through a questionnaire and an interview within 8 weeks. The former was conducted via Quizizz application, while the latter was carried out via Microsoft Teams virtual meetings. Both platforms were chosen for their convenience. The findings revealed that present mentors had mostly positive views on the programs. However, they stated that further efforts are required on shared responsibilities, the tone of criticism and reserving time to socialize. The findings of the study can have some implications for future mentoring programs around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]