Mentoring Practices, School Heads’ Support, and Teachers’ Professional Development: A Correlational Study

Abstract

This study examined the relationships among mentoring practices, school heads' support, and teachers' professional development in public elementary schools in Quezon City, Philippines. It employed a quantitative descriptive-correlational design involving 227 respondents, composed of 130 Master Teachers and 97 Teachers selected through stratified sampling. Data were gathered using a researcher-developed and validated questionnaire and analyzed through mean, Welch's independent-samples t-test, and Pearson's product-moment correlation. Findings showed that mentoring practices were moderately implemented, with an overall weighted mean of 3.00. School heads' support was perceived as moderate by Master Teachers and high by Teachers, indicating a statistically significant difference between the two groups, t(224.84) = -23.39, p < .001. Teachers' professional development was rated high, with an overall weighted mean of 3.99, particularly in classroom management, instructional strategies, curriculum alignment, and reflective practice. Mentoring practices had a weak but significant positive relationship with teachers' professional development (r = .214, p = .001), while school heads' support had a moderate and significant positive relationship with professional development (r = .386, p < .001). The findings indicate that both mentoring and leadership support contribute to teachers' professional growth, although school heads' support demonstrates a stronger association. Strengthening structured mentoring systems, protected mentoring time, resource provision, monitoring, and professional learning opportunities is therefore essential to sustain teacher development.