Mentoring and its implementation. Most international studies define mentoring as a process in which a more experienced teacher shares his/her expertise with another teacher who is less experienced to facilitate the latter’s adjustment to a new workplace (Xxxxxxxx & Xxxxxxx, 1988; Trubowitz, 2004; Tareef, 2013; Xxxxxxxx-Xxxxxxx, 2003). The data obtained in this study demonstrates that respondents share this view as well. They believe that participation in mentoring programs facilitates new teachers’ induction and enables their ongoing professional development. Numerous studies confirm this point of view that mentoring is an effective tool for the enhancement of teaching expertise and new teachers’ acclimatization (Xxxxxxxx et al., 2003; Xxxxxx, 2013; See, 2014; Xxxxxx, 2009). In two schools that have been studied, mentoring programs have a number of similarities and differences. One of the first common features is that in both schools mentors are assigned from the top i.e. by the deputy principal or principal. In other words, participation in mentoring programs is encouraged by the senior management team. Although a few participants from School A stated that if any teacher demonstrated an altruistic desire to share his/her experience and become a mentor for colleagues, the school would support such initiative, neither mentors nor mentees reported that in their school mentors were assigned in accordance to their free will. This shows that the matching of mentors and mentees is done by the school management rather than by the mentors and mentees themselves. Xxxxxx and Xxxxxxxx (1999) argue that the form of mentoring in which mentor appointment depends on individual choice of parties is professional mentoring. In contrast to School A that has no documents regulating mentoring programs, School B has a school policy on mentoring which reflects the aims of mentoring programs, the mentor selection procedure, mentors and mentees’ rights and responsibilities. Such programs are referred to as formal mentorship and become “a compulsory and core component within an organization’s staff training programs” (Xxxxxx and Xxxxxxxx, 1999, p.4). Therefore, despite the fact that both schools have many similarities in terms of what is aimed to be achieved from mentoring program, there are some differences in the way mentoring is seen, approached and implemented in these schools. Another similarity between the two schools emerged from the findings, and which is in line with international studies, is functions per...
