Abstract
The field of high ability studies has long recognised the pivotal role of the mentor in the lives of talented youth, and the significance of mentorship in developing talented youth is frequently discussed with a tenacious view of how mentoring could benefit the mentees. Very often, researchers assume that successful experts in their respective domains of work are also competent mentors. Recently, there have also been increasing demands to provide adolescents with diverse learning capacity with more opportunities to be mentored. As a result, there is pressure to expand mentoring programs in schools and research communities. The role of mentors in fostering talents and some of the implications will be highlighted in this chapter. Scientific researchers’ understandings of the nature, process and significance of mentoring will be examined through the reiteration of findings from focus group discussions and professional learning workshops. We posit that these understandings among the scientists are the key elements of quality mentoring experiences for both the mentor and mentee. We note the importance of preparing both the mentor and mentee before the engagement of the mentoring relationship and that it is essential to engage the scientists in examining their intentions and assumptions about the learning needs and personal goals of their mentees. Based on the review of the literature and findings, we suggest directions for future research and make recommendations for practice and policy.
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We acknowledge the assistance of our informants who volunteered to be part of the study. Although this study did not receive research funding, it was conducted with the approval of NTU Institutional Review Board (IRB-2017-09-025).
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Tan, L.S., Tan, J.Y., Chia, T.T. (2019). Fostering and Developing Talent in Mentorship Programs: The Mentor’s Perspectives. In: Smith, S. (eds) Handbook of Giftedness and Talent Development in the Asia-Pacific. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3021-6_36-1
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