The Induction and Mentorship of New Practitioners in Early Childhood Education Centres: The South African Context

The purpose of this paper is to emphasise the value of inducting and mentoring new practitioners in Early Childhood Education centres. Early Childhood Education centres are usually located in meaningful buildings. Centres care for more children than the family can provide for. They are usually divided into groups or classrooms of similarly aged children. Child care centres typically have many practitioners who are overseen by a centre manager or a director. Induction and mentoring are components of professional development aimed at enhancing the educational support system for all ECEC practitioners, particularly those who have recently been hired. Because centre managers are responsible for the growth and performance of their children, they should equip practitioners with support measures to help them improve child development and performance. Because most mothers work full-time, usually out of financial necessity, they require regular child care. For these mothers the question is not whether to use day-care, but how to choose among the available options in a way that is best for the child. Quality child care is more beneficial to children than staying at home. As a result, the purpose of this study is to look at conceptual frameworks as well as new approaches of educating and supporting practitioners to facilitate ECE learning excellence. More experienced personnel (mentors) should provide induction and mentorship, guidance, advice, and information to practitioners for career growth and enhanced performance. Findings reveal that induction and mentorship are important to pass along information, skills, and competence to practitioners who may not have had official training in these areas. Based on the appropriateness or inadequacy of the design of practitioner induction and mentoring programs, more study on the influence of induction on performance and practitioner turnover may be conducted (Ingersoll & Strong, 2011). Transformation and practitioner retention should be the goals of induction and mentorship. [For the complete Volume 22 proceedings, see ED656158.]