Consistent with the EU's goal to provide support for the initial professional development of staff involved in providing early childhood education and care, the purpose of this project is to develop an effective one-to-one e-mentorship program for novice preschool teachers who have been assigned to schools filled predominantly with disadvantaged students in order to facilitate their adaptation into the teaching profession and to help improve their teaching quality.
E-mentorship program has emerged from the critical issues discussed below: -one common educational policy globally that assigns novice teachers to disadvantaged pre-school institutions leads to the persistence of the learning gap arising from the lack of appropriate early childhood experience among students with disadvantaged social, economic, and academic backgrounds. -novice teachers who are in the process of shaping their teaching practices might not successfully address the learning needs and challenges of these students such as parent involvement, resources, students’ basic learning background, teaching strategies for students with particular needs and discipline which is likely to worsen their working condition and preclude them to develop effective teaching strategies. -transition from an college student to a novice teacher involves many challenges associated with being assimilated into the new profession, school, community, and students. -since novice teachers are often not offered sufficient practicum courses during their undergraduate education, they experience a “reality shock” during the early years in the profession, which results in teacher frustration, burnout, and, ultimately high teacher turnover.