Abstract:

In Pakistan’s science, engineering, medical and management universities, English language programmes/courses perform a service function in that they are generally excluded from the degree granting and research generating raison d’être of most academic units (Pennington: 1992, p11-12). Being consigned to the academic periphery means that the programmes in question are routinely shortchanged in a number of important areas, of which faculty training, support and development is one. In most cases, tertiary faculty selection criteria favour subject qualifications and work experience over formal teacher training. Thus, post induction support and development would appear to carry even greater significance for faculty who generally lack specialized pre-service teacher training vis-à-vis those counterparts who have the advantage of formal preservice training. This study investigates current induction practices in this sector and assesses the viability of faculty mentoring structures as compensatory configurations aimed at overcoming the challenges created by inadequate tertiary faculty preparation. Questionnaire and interview data collected from tertiary faculty members working at a number of Pakistani universities were analysed to identify existing induction/support practices and participant preferences in faculty support. The results confirm that tertiary faculty induction is at best informal and arbitrary and at worst non-existent, and provide evidence of widespread support from participants for culturally appropriate mentoring models as an induction tool. The findings indicate that in order to establish mentoring support structures at universities, bodies such as Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission (HEC) and tertiary institutions would need to collaborate in selecting and training mentors from an existing pool of experienced faculty and ensuring financial compensation as incentives for prospective mentors.

Keywords:

induction, teacher development, faculty mentoring, tertiary teacher education.