Zacharoula Kontogianni, Εfthymios Valkanos, Maria Sytziouki, Iosif Fragoulis, Marios Koutsoukos
University of Macedonia, ASPETE, Helenic Open University
This research aims to investigate the perceptions of kindergarten principals in the regional unit of Thessaloniki regarding the expected benefits for newly appointed teachers, mentors, and educational organizations. By conducting qualitative research, the perceptions of 15 kindergarten principals were explored using the research tool of semi-structured interviews. The interviews revealed that the heads of nursery schools identified, as the most important benefits for newly appointed teachers, the improvement of teaching methodology and the widening of the circle of social contacts through the cultivation of communication skills, as well as the understanding of the formal and informal culture of the educational organization. The supervisors themselves as mentors value key benefits the enrichment of knowledge and the renewal of teaching methods as a result of their interaction with their mentors as well as the improvement of communication skills. For educational organizations, the benefits seem to be linked to the benefits of the mentored and relate to the functioning of the organization as a learning community, the achievement of objectives, and the improvement of the quality of the work produced, while the improvement of communication levels works to the benefit of working relationships between the parties involved.
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