‘Autonomy-Supportive Mentoring’: mentoring from the perspective of self-determination theory

The study examined the Autonomy-Supportive Mentoring Model, a new model that integrates mentor training with practical mentoring of beginning teachers (BTs). The model was developed within an international European Union project called Promentors. Grounded in self-determination theory, it sought to support the psychological needs of both mentors and BTs and to cultivate autonomous motivation for mentoring and teaching. The two-year phenomenological study used semi-structured interviews with 13 pairs of Bedouin mentors and BTs and five policymakers. The results indicated that mentors in the training program experienced need satisfaction, changed their mentoring paradigm, and enhanced their mentoring motivation. In a parallel process, the mentors supported the psychological needs of the BTs, who in turn reported need satisfaction and various positive outcomes. The findings underscored the organizational-ecological context as an additional source of need support and highlighted the model’s effectiveness and applicability in a collectivist cultural context.