Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Mentoring Early Career Special Education Teachers

2009; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 53; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/000494410905300307

2050-5884

Ian Dempsey, Michael Arthur‐Kelly, Breda Carty,

Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

For some time, special education has been plagued by shortages of qualified teaching staff and by high turnover rates for these staff. While several factors—external, employment and personal—are largely responsible for this situation, the research demonstrates that the initial professional experiences of early career teachers are closely associated with their longevity in the field. This paper reviews the literature on mentoring support for beginning teachers, mentoring models and the use of information technologies in mentoring support. The paper concludes with recommendations for methods of support for Australian early career special-education teachers.