Being A Protege: An Autoethnographic View of Three Teacher Education Doctoral Programs

Published: 
August 2008

Source: Mentoring and Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, Volume 16, Issue 3, August 2008, p. 246 - 262

Those in professional and academic fields generally perceive mentoring as a positive relationship that enhances the lives of proteges. Kram (1985) posits that such relationships between dyads in organizational life are an evolutionary, developmental process.
The purpose of the paper is to investigate proteges' perspectives on their mentoring relationships within doctoral programs. The authors ask to lessen the insurmountable distance between writers and readers that is often associated with a traditional research study. Therefore, they employ an autoethnographic approach to research writing. The authors share their journey after having studied the mentoring relationships within their own doctoral programs.
Qualitative data collected over a two-year period consist of journal entries, email correspondence, and phone conversations.
This study offers insight into the mentor-protege relationship and processes. It also provides implications for practice for proteges and mentors, as well as future research directions.

Updated: Jan. 28, 2009
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