Mentoring and other consultations as a way to peer learning
Mentoring and other consultations as a way to peer learning

Author(s): Bohumíra Lazarová
Subject(s): Education, Pedagogy
Published by: Masarykova univerzita nakladatelství
Keywords: education; mentoring; consultations; peer learning;
Summary/Abstract: The previous chapters referred to selected activities that support learning processes in schools. In this chapter, attention will be paid to specific persons whose mission is to promote such changes in school that will lead to development of the main tasks: education and training. These are the experts who have been contributing to the development of quality of teaching through the work with adults–in particular teachers and school leaders. They support learning processes and, more generally, they advocate changes in culture of schools. Such people are often referred to as change agents (Erchul & Martens, 2010; Lapsley & Oldfield, 2001; Tomala, Schilling, & Trybus, 2013 and others). An agent, respectively change agent, is perceived as the one who acts and supports people and organizations in shifting their work in favor of higher quality and better results. His/her position in schools can take many forms – but abilities to initiate and manage changes are important (see e.g. Bolam, 1975). It is obvious that the people in the roles of change agents have various foci and specializations. These may be school leaders, teachers (Badley, 1986; Lukacs & Galluzzo, 2014), young students and the aforementioned internal and external cooperators and specialists such as facilitators, mentors (Thornton, 2014), educational consultants, coaches and researchers with the competence to work with data. This chapter focuses only on the work of consultants and especially mentors in schools since the subsequent research from the Czech environment concerns mainly their work.

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