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Experiential Learning
The phrase “experiential learning” is used to refer to “service-learning, internships and applied projects, as well as less-structured experiences that can be reflected upon and assessed from a learning standpoint” (Washbourn, 1996). All the types of experiential learning use methods of doing work in real-work settings to support learning. In the current study, experiential learning refers to service-learning as encapsulated in the mentoring programme offered to school principals, who are also referred to as “educational leaders”. Experiential learning will also be explained in terms of what participants will be learning from their previous and current encounters in life, also termed “life experiences”.
Experiential learning refers to “a process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience (Kolb, 1984) and knowledge is a product from the combination of grasping and transforming experience”. Kolb (1984) views the learning process “as one where people move between the modes of concrete experience (CE) and abstract conceptualisation (AC), and reflective observation (RO) and active experimentation (AE)”. The study used this theory to reflect on the learning experiences of participants during mentoring relationships. In this study, as Kumar, Shenoy and Voralu (2012:403) state that “experiential learning is seen as a practice of making sense from direct experiences”. In the experiential learning process, the learner constructs knowledge, skills and values directly from experience within the contexts he or she finds himself or herself. The study participants acquired these experiences in their schools and communities and through interactions with their mentors and their peers. Their previous experience of leadership, as modelled by their previous leaders and peers in their schools, serves as a very important source of their leadership knowledge. Sharlanova (2004:36) states that experiential learning as a theory confirms all the main aspects of active learning and has a variety of use including helping participants, in this case mentors and mentees, to realise themselves.
Rationalefor Educational LeadershipDevelopment
“Training and developing principals should focus not only on the basic characteristics of their work and the problems of their daily lives in schools, but also on those leadership abilities that promote effective schools” (Peterson, 1986:153). Educational leadership development is currently one of the policy imperatives in improving schools and ensuring that curriculum delivery in schools is prioritised and that learners achieve academically. Principals are instrumental in ensuring that schools operate effectively and efficiently and that learners achieve academically. In view of this, the mentoring programme was introduced in 2007 by the Department of Education to enhance the leadership knowledge and skills of school principals. Programmes such as mentorship for educational leadership development have the potential to strengthen district and school cultures, modifying educational practices and building collaborative processes (Manna, 2015:15).
Today, educational leadership development involves more than just developing principals who are believed to have certain desirable skills. Educational leadership is approached as a social process that engages everyone. In line with this way of thinking, everyone in an educational institution and in schools is to be considered an educational leader. Therefore, the goal of educational leadership development should be to turn a group of individuals in a particular organisation or work environment into a team. In the educational context, this group of individuals includes teachers and the senior management team, including the principal. In order to truly make a difference in an organisation or business, both the individual leader and collective leadership development need to be taken into consideration when establishing training procedures (Day, 2000).
Advantages ofQualitative Research
In the context of this study, adopting a qualitative methodology was to the advantage of the researcher in answering the research question. This methodology applied semi-structured interview questions in order to ascertain the assumptions and experiences of the participants. This method also assisted in revealing how participants made sense of their lives, what they said they believed, what they did, how they expressed their feelings and the explanations they had for their feelings and knowledge. During the mentoring relationship, mentors and mentees were expected to make sense out of their experiences and in doing so created their own reality. They were then able to share these experiences and realities.
“A qualitative research methodology benefits this study since it is inductive, meaning that it is oriented towards unearthing and process, has high validity, is less concerned with generalisability, and is more concerned with a deeper understanding of the research problem in its unique context” (Tuli, 2010:100). The intention of qualitative research “is to scrutinize a social situation or relations by allowing the researcher to enter the world of others and try to accomplish a holistic rather than a reductionist understanding” (Bogdan & Biklen, 1998). Unlike quantitative research, qualitative research “focuses on describing and understanding phenomena within their naturally occurring context, aiming at developing an understanding of the meanings imparted by the participants” (Maree, 2007:51). The other important use of a qualitative method is that “description is an integral feature, and such description provides depth and meaning to theoutcome of the study”.
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
1.1. Introduction
1.2. Educational Leadership
1.3. The purpose of Educational Leadership Development
1.4. Statement of the Research Problem
1.5. Rationale and Motivation
1.6. Research Aims
1.7. Contributions of the study to the literature
1.8. Research Questions
1.9. Definition of Key
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEWONMENTORINGANDEDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
2.1. Introduction
2.2. Rationale for mentoring
2.4. Theoretical Framework
2.5. Mentoring
2.6. The Mentoring Relationship
2.7. Factors influencing Mentoring Relationships
2.8. The Roles andResponsibilities of the Mentor
2.9. The Roles andResponsibilities of the Mentee
2.10. Benefits and Limitations of Mentoring Relationships
2.11. Types of Educational Mentoring
2.12. Mentoring as an Educational Leadership Development activity
2.13. Professional Learning for Mentors
2.14. Mentoring as a Reciprocal Learning process
2.15. Conditions for an Effective Mentoring Programme
CHAPTER 3 LITERATURE REVIEWONMENTORINGPROCESSESAND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
3.1. Introduction
3.2. The Constructivist Model of Mentoring
3.3. Formal and Informal Mentoring
3.4. Learning as a concept
3.5. Learning as an aspect of Mentoring
3.6. Development of Reflective Practice through Mentorship
3.7. Experience
3.8. Experiential Learning
3.9. Characteristics of an Experiential Activity or Method
3.10. Implications of Experiential Learning Theory for Mentoring
3.11. The nature of Leadership Experience
3.12. Levels of Leadership Experience
3.13. Leadership Efficacy andLeadership Experience
3.14. Leadership Self-Awareness
3.15. Adult Learning
3.16. Reflection
CHAPTER 4 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
4.1. Introduction
4.2. Theoretical stance
4.3. Ontology
4.4. Epistemology
4.5. Research Design
4.6. Qualitative research
4.7. Attributes of Qualitative Research
4.8. Advantages of Qualitative Research
4.9. Scope of the Study
4.10. Population Sampling
4.11. Data Collection4.12. Ethical Issues
4.13. Credibility
4.14. Transferability
4.15. Dependability
4.16. Confirmability
CHAPTER 5 THE LEARNINGEXPERIENCES OFMENTEES AND MENTORS INTHE MENTORING PROGRAMME
5.1. Introduction
5.2. Mentoring
5.3. The Recruitment of Mentors and the Selection of Principals for the Mentoring Programme
5.4. Knowledge of Mentorship and Experiences brought by participants to the Programme
5.5. Learning Expectations which participants had of the programme.
5.6. The “Eye-on-the-face” Experiences of participants
5.7. Mentoring Relationships
5.8. The Contributions ofMentorship towards Leadership Development
5.9. Changes noticed at the schools after the Mentorship Programme
5.10. The Contributions of Mentoring to the Professional and Personal Growth of the participants
CHAPTER 6 THE APPREHENSIONOFEXPERIENCE WITHINTHE MENTORINGRELATIONSHIPS: CONCRETE EXPERIENCES ANDABSTRACT CONCEPTUALISATION
6.1. Introduction
6.2. Concrete Experience
6.3. Abstract Conceptualisation
6.4. Theoretical Implications for participants’ Learning Experiences
6.5. Themes which describe the Phenomenon
CHAPTER 7 KNOWLEDGETRANSFORMATIONDIMENSIONOFEXPERIENTIAL LEARNING: REFLECTIVE OBSERVATIONANDACTIVE EXPERIMENTATION
7.1. Introduction
7.2. Reflective Observation
7.3. The biographical information of the principals (mentees) and their summative reflections
7.4. Active Experimentation
7.5. Experiential Learning and Educational Leadership Development
7.6. Theoretical Implications for participants’ Learning Experiences
7.7. Mentors’ and Mentees’ Conceptualisation of the Mentoring Phenomenon
7.8. Participants’ conceptualisation of experience
7.9. Participants’ Conceptualisation of Reflection
7.10. Participants Conceptualisation of Learning
CHAPTER 8 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT,MENTORSHIP AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING:CONCLUDINGSUMMARY
8.1. Introduction
8.2. Summary
8.3. Personal Reflection
8.4. Significance of this study
8.5. Limitations of the study
8.6. Recommendations
8.7. Possible further studies
