Abstract:

In 2012 the Federation of Trade Unions conducted a research, which revealed that in Romania 4 out of 10 young teachers leave the system in the first 5 years of career (that means over 40% of the teachers) because of a low payment. These dates were confirmed by Eurydice Key Data Report on Teachers and School Leaders in Europe2013, published by the European Commission in March 2013, which states that the gross salary of a beginner teacher in Romania is the lowest in the EU.

Looking from the social perspective, there is an uncertain social status and social depreciation of the teaching profession that makes beginning teachers to change their professional orientation to other areas, which results in a shortage of qualified personnel in education. In this context, Romanian education suffers from loss of qualified personnel, with very bad, long term effects on many generations of students.

On the other hand we can talk about the difficulties of beginner teacher, who may feel frustrated, depressed and sometime anxious, as a result of direct contact with the classroom and in the absence of concrete experiences. The difference between what was in the mind of beginner teacher and the concrete reality of teaching in the classroom can produce a shock on a untrained teacher (Veenman, 1984), which can ultimately lead to the abandonment of the teaching career for another, less complex one.

In this situation, the issue of mentoring among teachers is extremely important, just to help the beginner teacher to successfully overcome the difficulties and to integrate in the school culture where he is employed.

As a result, the paper aims to share the steps taken in the Romanian education system by introducing mentoring among teachers as part of professional development. Note that the authors have contributed to the development of Romanian mentoring and participation in the programERASMUS + ”MENTOR - Mentoring between teachers in secondary and high schools”, Project and agreement number - 2014-1-PL01-KA200-003335

Keywords:

Mentoring, coaching.