Abstract:

Purpose:
The main purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of cognitive tasks on mentoring provided and the moderating influence of professional teacher education.

Design/methodology/approach:
This cross-sectional survey was based on a questionnaire that was sent to a total of 435 employees from 29 pre-schools in Norway. A total of 284 responses were returned, a response rate of 65.3 per cent. Two research hypotheses were formulated. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to develop three measurement models and structural equation modelling (SEM) based on multi-group analysis was used to test the hypotheses.

Findings:
The results revealed that cognitive tasks increase the occurrence of mentoring provided at work and professional teacher education moderates this relationship.

Research limitations/implications:
The use of convenience sampling and self-reports are discussed, especially related to representativeness and reporting biases.

Practical implications:
The findings implicate a need for increased interdisciplinary co-operation both at work and in the teacher education.

Originality/value:
This is an under-studied area and no previous research has used a confirmatory approach to investigate how cognitive tasks and professional education influence the occurrence of mentoring provided.

Keywords:

Professional education, Cognitive tasks, Mentoring provided, Preschools.