Origins of Mentoring (Socrates)

Mentoring is a process for the informal transmission of knowledge, social capital, and the psychosocial support perceived by the recipient as relevant to work, career, or professional development; mentoring entails informal communication, usually face-to-face and during a sustained period of time, between a person who is perceived to have greater relevant knowledge, wisdom, or experience (the mentor) and a person who is perceived to have less (the protégé)".(Bozeman 2007)

Mentoring has been used throughout Europe since times of ancient Greece, but the US began using mentoring in the 1970's to help organizations bring in new employees successfully.

Some organizations have paired new people with more veteran in a mentoring relationship. Getting good new employees to stay in their job is more likely under the circumstances where they have a mentor to "show them the ropes", give examples, learn the organization ecosystem. Kaye (2005) claims that the employees paired with a mentor are twice as likely to stay in the organization.

Training mentors is important, as their relationship with their mentee requires certain wisdom that is applied to new contexts over time. Mentoring is a broad term used to indicate a relationship where one is helping the other develop the whole person, and therefore, the relationship and values of trust are key in successful mentoring. (Daloz, 1990) Different techniques are used as appropriate to current mindset of the mentee and the mentor wisdom in its application. Many techniques used in modern organizations come from ancient cultures, especially the Socratic method. (Aubrey 1995)

The Socratic method (also known as method of elenchus, elenctic method, Socratic irony, or Socratic debate), is names after the classical Greek philosopher Socrates. This is a method relying on questioning as logic tests to stimulate inquiry, debate, and critical thinking. Discussion may often represent opposing viewpoints in order to lead each other to contradict their own argument, thus strengthening the other argument. (Jarrett, 1991) The questioner teacher asks many kinds of questions to guide students to discover truth. Questions are designed to test student knowledge, understanding, and to lead students to explore points of their argument, and ultimately to THINK about their argument and its' viability.

The Socratic Method is described as:

“There is no single, generally agreed upon, answer. There is noanswer. All answers are equally correct.” (Stevenson, 2001).

Our earliest known mentors are Socrates and Plato. Plato was a student of Socrates who began the "Academy" based on Socratic method after Socrates' death. The school operated for more than 900 years. (Dowling, 2004) “The Academy served as the model forinstitutions of higher learning until it was closed by the Emperor Justinian in 529 CE, almost one thousand years later.” (Beavers & Planeaux, 2004).The idea of teaching by questioning and argument was to develop critical thinking skills, deep curiosity, fearless questioning and answering. (Maxwell, 2008)

In many traditional classrooms, rote learning or Platonic model is used. In the rote model, students are taught that there is one right, correct answer that they must find to answer a question. The Platonic model encourages all answers as long as there is sufficient explanation and evidence given to support the proposition. (Stevenson, 2001)

Table of philosophical affiliations
http://www2.iastate.edu/~honeyl/621/philosophers.html

References
•Ullmann, Thomas Daniel; Ferguson, Rebecca; Buckingham Shum, Simon and Deakin Crick, Ruth (2011).Designing an online mentoring system for self-awareness and reflection on lifelong learning skills. In: 1stWorkshop on Awareness and Reflection in Personal Learning Environments. In conjunction with the PLE Conference 2011., 11-13 July 2011, Southampton, UK.
•Bozeman, B.; Feeney, M. K. (October 2007). "Toward a useful theory of mentoring: A conceptual analysis and critique". Administration & Society 39 (6): 719–739. doi:10.1177/0095399707304119.
•Daloz, L. A. (1990). Effective Teaching and Mentoring. San Francisco: Jossey Bass. pp. 20.
•Aubrey, Bob and Cohen, Paul (1995). Working Wisdom: Timeless Skills and Vanguard Strategies for Learning Organizations. Jossey Bass. pp. 23, 44–47, 96–97.
•Kaye, Beverly; Jordan-Evans (2005). Love 'Em or Lose Em: Getting Good People to Stay. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. p. 117. ISBN 978-1-57675-327-9.
Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring™, Third Edition
•Dowling, B., Powell, M. and Glendinning, C. (2004), Conceptualising successful partnerships. Health & Social Care in the Community, 12: 309–317. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2524.2004.00500.x
•Jarratt, Susan C. Rereading the Sophists: Classical Rhetoric Refigured. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1991., p 83.
•Sprague, Rosamond Kent, The Older Sophists, Hackett Publishing Company (ISBN 0-87220-556-8), p. 5.

Self-Organized Learning, Informal Learning Online, Further Reading

Thoughts about self-organized learning in SL/ELLI:
Learners must manage their own organization. We can create an environment conducive to self-organization. Self-organized learning falls into the scope of informal learning, wherein students take actions and responsibility to learn.

"Informal learning should no longer be regarded as an inferior form of learning whose main purpose is to act as the precursor of formal learning; it needs to be seen as fundamental, necessary and valuable in its own right, at times directly relevant to employment and at other times not relevant at all." (Coffield 2000:8)
The Necessity of informal learning by Frank Coffield, The Policy Press, 2000.
Coffield, F. (2000) The Necessity of Informal Learning, Bristol: The Policy Press. 80 + iv pages. Useful collection of material arising out of ESRC Learning Society Programme. Includes Coffield on the significance of informal learning; an excellent piece by Michael Eraut on non-formal learning – implicit learning and tacit knowledge in professional work; Field and Spence on informal learning and social capital; Barron et al on implicit knowledge, phenomenology and learning difficulties; Davies on the impact of accreditation; and Fevre etal on necessary and unnecessary learning.

"Too much schooling kills off a desire to learn...Schools and universities should become more like hubs of learning, within the community, capable of extending into the community..."
"More learning needs to be done at home, in offices and kitches, in the contexts where knowledge is deployed to solve problems and add value to people's lives". (Leadbeater 2000:111-112)
Leadbeater, C. (2000) Living on Thin Air. The new economy, London: Penguin.

Much learning takes place beyond the school walls, and the notion of informal learning can be replaced by the notion of lifelong learning. Learning is ultimately the important piece, but education is a societal process that has value and involves commitment and intention to learn specific topics. Education is an important function of society toward furthering the well-being of its citizenry. Reform in this process of education should judge on those merits.

The fundamental processes of understanding tacit knowledge, unpacking it to determine its origins, and repacking the expertise into tacit knowledge, looking at situated learning, all have relevance in our understanding and development of informal learning and education. Self-education, as a part of the informal process, requires people to be both learners and teachers, and thus constructors of knowledge. Self-educators often self-organize into communities sparked by dialogue and debate about their chosen topics. As educators, we should look at building relationships and interactions that encourage community participation and taking responsibility for our actions in the world.

Dreyfus, H. L. and Dreyfus, S. E. (1986) Mind Over Machine. The power of human intuition and expertise in the era of the computer, Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Other Resources to read on self-organized learning:
Designing a Self-Organized Conversational Learning Environment.
Authors: Coombs, Steven J.; Smith, Ian D.
Descriptors: Constructivism (Learning); Criteria; Educational Environment; Educational Theories; Instructional Design; Models
Source: Educational Technology, v38 n3 p17-28 May-Jun 1998
ERIC Ed Record Details - EJ567618 ISSN-0013-1962
Introduces concepts underlying the conversational science model of self-organized learning, and explains how it can influence the systems-thinking design of tools and educational procedures. Outlines person-based learning and comparative-learning models and discusses the context of person-based learning theory, the conversational learning model, constructivist tools for conversational learning environments, and conversational design criteria. (PEN)
http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ567618&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ567618

Learning To Change. A Resource for Trainers, Managers and Learners Based on Self-Organised Learning.
Authors: Harri-Augstein, Sheila; Webb, Ian M.
Descriptors: Adult Education; Adult Learning; Change Strategies; Educational Psychology; Foreign Countries; Independent Study; Learning Processes; Learning Strategies; Organizational Change; Organizational Development; Performance Contracts; Program Development; Program Evaluation; Staff Development
ERIC Record Details - ED410430
This publication shows step-by-step how trainers may use self-organized learning (SOL) to achieve real and lasting change within an organization at all levels. Each of the eight chapters begins with an "agenda board" outlining the contents and ends with a section featuring suggested activities for developing the skills. An introduction explores how SOL relates to training. Chapter 1 defines SOL and covers benefits to individuals, teams, and organizations. Chapter 2 challenges personal and professional myths about learning. Suggested activities help increase understanding of how personal myths can affect learning. Chapter 3 uses the repertory grid as a tool to model the learning process. Chapter 4 introduces a process-based language for developing learning conversations and describes its overall form. Chapter 5 introduces the personal learning contract (PLC) as a major learning tool. Chapter 6 illustrates PLCs by presenting examples of "real life" applications. Chapter 7 introduces a "conversational evaluation model" to assess the effectiveness of learning and suggests a framework for measuring progress in SOL called the personal learning biography. Chapter 8 elaborates on the development of a learning system involving a learning manager and learning coaches and the setting up of learning networks among staff. Appendixes include an example feedback-for-learning package, examples of PLC and grid forms, and an index. Contains 47 references. (YLB)

Dewey, J. (1933) How We Think 2e, New York: D. C. Heath. Classic and highly influential discussion of reflective enquiry, with Dewey's famous five elements: suggestion, problem, hypothesis, reasoning, testing. For a discussion that focuses on learning communities see, J. Dewey (1915) The School and Society, 2e., Chicago: University of Chicago Press.