New teachers, mentoring and the discursive formation of professional identity

This paper considers the implications of mentoring for the discursive formation of professional identities of newly graduated teachers. The site for this analysis is the Teacher Mentoring and Induction Program, in Victoria, Australia. The paper draws attention to the effects of mentoring as conceived in this context on the construction of new teacher identities, the close relationship between professional standards and mentoring, the relationship between mentoring and the performative culture of schools, and what it means to be ‘a good teacher’ within this culture. The aim is to reposition mentoring as a product of its contexts and times, and in so doing contribute to the development of a more theoretically informed and critical platform from which to conduct research into its effects and benefits.