Date

4-17-2024

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Education (PhD)

Chair

Constance Pearson

Keywords

mentorship, dyad, attrition, educator, development, community, support, mentor, leadership

Disciplines

Educational Leadership | Leadership Studies

Abstract

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the impact that mentorship had on the retention of ten participating educators working at various post-secondary educational institutions. The theory guiding this study was Dansereau’s leader-member theory guided as it pertained to the interactions between a dyadic relationship such as the one represented by one-on-one mentorship. The central research question for this study asked about the mentorship experiences of educators in higher education who have been in the field of education for five years or more. This study used transcendental phenomenological to study the essence of the experiences of 10 educators at post-secondary organizations around the United States. This population of participants was a volunteer-based, convenience sample. The setting for the study was completely virtual, and the researcher utilized Microsoft Teams and secure email to transmit and share information. The data collection methods included interviews, questionnaires, and journal prompts. The analytical approach for the data collected focused on bracketing the researcher out of the experiences prior to coding for similarities and prominent themes. The findings of this research suggest that mentorship may have a positive impact on educator retention at the post-secondary level when effective mentorship practices are consistently implemented over time.

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