Peer and Faculty Mentoring in Doctoral Education: Definitions, Experiences, and Expectations

Abstract

Mentoring has long been recognized as an effective strategy for retaining and supporting doctoral students in their programs of study. In this qualitative investigation, we conducted three focus groups of protégés, peer mentors, and faculty mentors to explore definitions, experiences, and expectations of mentoring. Results indicated that the three groups had meaningful differences in all three areas of interest. These differences were consistent with emerging conceptual frameworks explaining adult learning processes and perceived needs. The frameworks involved “stages ” of mentoring and classifying the student’s preferred mentoring style along dimensions of pedagogy and andragogy. These frameworks suggest the need for clarifying protégé and mentor roles/expectations early and throughout the doctoral program. A high quality doctoral program involves a range of educational experiences that extend beyond coursework. While coursework can provide critical content and skills for leadership roles in special education, coursework alone may not be sufficient to motivate and retain doctoral students, provide them