Teachers Mentors of Children: Teachers and Children Share Much of Their Day Together, And So Certainly have an Important Influence on Each Other. But are Teachers Mentors of Children? Do Teachers Perceive Themselves As Mentors‪.‬

I recently participated in a conference, sponsored by an organization dedicated to the prevention of child abuse, that focused on the mentoring of children and adolescents. The underlying assumption was that mentoring by a caring person, either adult, older youth, or peer, might help all children and particularly at-risk children, who are often vulnerable for child abuse. This assumption is supported by research on resiliency, which suggests that a caring adult can be a protective factor for children who are at risk. As an early childhood teacher educator, I naturally thought about the role of teachers and whether they are or can be mentors for children. Teachers and children share much of their day together, and so certainly have an important influence on each other. But are teachers mentors of children? Do teachers perceive themselves as mentors? Is the mentoring role compatible with the teacher's role? How does the teacher-student relationship overlap or differ from the mentor-mentee role? Are there benefits for children and teachers having a mentoring relationship? Most of the professional literature on teachers as mentors focuses on teachers mentoring other adult educational professionals, particularly new teachers entering the profession (Elliot et al., 2000; Enerson, 2001; Jones, 1986; Martin & Ashelman, 1999; Thornburg, 2001; Whitebook & Bellm, 1996). Much of the literature on children mentored in schools describes the use of adults from the community participating in the school as volunteer mentors of a t-risk children (Ryan, Whittaker, & Pinckney, 2002; Townsel, 1997). The roles of these community adults vary from offering guidance, having a special relationship, or tutoring their mentee children in academic subjects. Other articles describe projects in which teachers serve as mentors and often as academic tutors of individual children outside of the classroom (Abcug, 1991; Anderson & Blackwood, 2000; Donahue, 1996; Ellis, Small-McGinley, & DeFabrizio, 1999; Fehr, 1993; Hylan & Postlethwaite, 1998). Experience in school settings suggests that education professionals functioning outside of the regular classroom, such as a sports coach, activity adviser, or counselor, are often mentors for individual children. However, few articles describe the process of teaching itself as mentoring or study regular classroom teachers mentoring children within the classroom (Benard, 1997; Duff & Home, 1997; Parese, 2002; Shreffler, 1998).