The role of mentors in the professional biographies of good university teachers

  • Zelmira Alvarez
  • Luis Porta
  • María Cristina Sarasa

Keywords:

university, good teachers, biographies, professional itineraries, mentors

Abstract

This paper is based on the professional biographies of six professors identified as excellent by senior students in three programmes at the School of Humanities, Mar del Plata State University. In-depth interviews examined the teachings and practices these instructors encountered along their educational biographies in order to find traces of these experiences in their current lives. The aim is to disclose the subtle ways in which the past influences their academic present. The life histories retrieved reveal the importance of the actors’ mentors at the onset of their teaching and research at the university. Th e recovery of these memories allows the conceptualization of experts’ role in the education of novices, thus examining what is traditionally considered as the informal supervision of teaching assistants and junior researchers. In this way, we try to create a site at the university where it is possible to discuss mentors’ good practices.

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Author Biographies

Zelmira Alvarez

Profesora de Inglés y Especialista en Docencia Universitaria. Titular de las cátedras de Gramática Inglesa I y II y de Teorías del Sujeto y del Aprendizaje, Facultad de Humanidades, UNMDP. Co-directora del Proyecto “Formación del Profesorado IV: biografías de profesores memorables. Vida profesional, mentores y prácticas docentes”, UNMDP

Luis Porta

Doctor en Pedagogía. Secretario Académico de la Facultad de Humanidades, UNMDP. Profesor Asociado de la cátedra de Problemática Educativa. Director del Proyecto “Formación del Profesorado IV: biografías de profesores memorables. Vida profesional, mentores y prácticas docentes”, UNMDP

María Cristina Sarasa

Profesora de Inglés y Magíster en Docencia Universitaria. Titular de las cátedras de Historia Inglesa, Historia de Inglaterra y los EEUU y Comunicación Integral, Facultad de Humanidades, UNMDP. Integrante del Proyecto “Formación del Profesorado IV: biografías de profesores memorables. Vida profesional, mentores y prácticas docentes”, UNMDP

Published

2012-07-22

How to Cite

Alvarez, Z., Porta, L., & Sarasa, M. C. (2012). The role of mentors in the professional biographies of good university teachers. Praxis Educativa, 14(14), 42–48. Retrieved from https://ojs.unlpam.edu.ar/ojs/index.php/praxis/article/view/431