Mentoring in education institutions holds a very important place. It is especially significant for those only starting their pedagogical path. Please find a summary of the report below:

“Beginning Teachers’ Retention: Can Mentoring Help?”

Teaching has always been more than just a profession - it's a way of life. We have talked so much about calling to be a teacher that sometimes it appears to have become a cliche. In Lithuania, for example, we hear about the highly motivated teachers in Finland, therefore, associate good PISA results and teacher retention with teacher motivation. But is it really so simple? Within our organisation we have observed that there is a very big difference between a motivated and an unmotivated beginning teacher. On the other hand, we have also observed that many young motivated teachers after three or four months experience "Fullan'd dip", or a burnout, where they become highly unmotivated and discouraged. All in all, oftentimes both motivated AND unmotivated young teachers leave the profession during the first year. Therefore, we have started a mentorship and group (pair) planning sessions in order to retain young professionals and to help them through the period when they feel demotivated and discouraged. We have also distinguished what are the most common enthusiasm and motivation "killers" and collect the stories from the more experienced teachers to share in order to keep up the motivation of the beginners. During my presentation, I will share what we have done in order to mentor and to retain young professionals in our organisation and how it could be applied in any educational setting. I believe, that it benefits everybody's success and professionalism.