ABSTRACT
While there is no single clear and accepted conceptual definition, mentoring is largely understood to be ‘a formalized process whereby a more knowledgeable and experienced person actuates a supportive role of overseeing and encouraging reflection and learning within a less experienced person, so as to facilitate that person's career and personal development’ (Roberts, 2000: 162). Mentoring is, then, something that is done with, rather than to, a mentee, as well as being an investment in the total growth of the mentee (Jones et al., 2009). Equally, it has been argued that, as mentoring is something that is personalised and heavily contextualised, it addresses Schon's (1987) call to work in the ‘swamp of practice’ better than many other educational strategies. Given these supposed benefits, it is perhaps unsurprising that formalised mentoring programmes have been increasingly adopted within the contexts of nursing, education and business (Jones et al., 2009; Bloom, 2013), with the express intention of enhancing the skills, knowledge, creativity, resilience and understanding of employees at all levels of an organisation.
