Adult Educators’ Views on Effective Mentoring in Greece: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

The aim of the present research is to record and investigate the views of the adult education educators on the effectiveness of the use mentoring in their pedagogy. The effectiveness is expressed in terms of the expected outcomes of the adult education process, as these are defined by the participants: occupational/professional, personal, and educational. A dynamic model of mentoring effectiveness is designed and applied in a qualitative research frame. More specifically a methodological tool for semi-structured interviews is used to 15 interviewees that formed a representative sample of adult educators. The transcribed texts collected were analyzed through content analysis. This analysis showed that the participants gave special importance to the need that the application of mentoring in adult education should be established and well organized. Even more, the effective characteristics of the mentoring variables were identified as well as the way they contribute to the effectiveness of adult education by using appropriate practices (cooperative and experiential) and adapting goals towards the improvement of the mentees. The complication of the mentoring process is pointed out in the research, as well as the importance of the participants’ roles, especially within the increased demands and difficulties of the contemporary society