Teacher Mentoring in India and NEP 2020: An Overview

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” ― William Arthur Ward Teaching is regarded as the noblest profession on earth, everyone has regard and respects for this profession in spite the fact that the teachers have become less noble and a teaching career has become just another career choice. Often teachers have the dual role of teaching and developing the character of the child. The teacher has to play the role of the facilitator and mentor too. In the words of Malderez (2001), “The term mentoring describes the support given by one (usually more experienced) person for the growth and learning of another, and for their integration into and acceptance by a specific community.” Earlier the term “teacher mentoring” and induction were considered to be the same. According to Strong (2005), “Induction once was sharply defined in educational literature as referring to a broad spectrum of activities geared to novice teachers that included one-to-one mentoring and community orientation, but additionally encompassed peer study groups, team planning and teaching, and tele mentoring, mentoring through videoconferencing and Internet communication.” In NEP 2020, the role of teachers and their contribution in the field of education has been highlighted. According to this policy, for inculcating 21st-century skills, knowledge, and learning outcomes amongst students, teachers will be responsible for all this. There is not much discussion about the mentoring of teachers but if we will not take this issue seriously the results will be in reverse mode instead of expecting something good, it will do more harm. In the curricula of Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.), in schools there is compulsion of the pre-service training of teachers. But this is not enough for the growth of teachers as well as students. The training should be continued in their in-service professional development as well. The present paper highlights the importance of teacher mentoring in context of NEP 2020. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Keywords: Mentoring, Teacher Mentoring, NEP 2020