Developing effective mentoring relationships for early childhood education teachers in Kupang, Indonesia: A bioecological perspective

Abstract

Grounded in Bronfenbrenner’s evolving ecological and bioecological theory, this doctoral study examines how mentoring relationships shape the professional learning of early childhood education (ECE) teachers in a decentralised, resource-constrained context in Kupang District, eastern Indonesia. While early ecological formulations (Phase I) emphasised nested environmental systems, and later refinements (Phase II) foregrounded reciprocal interaction, Bronfenbrenner’s (2005) mature bioecological model (Phase III) positioned proximal processes as the primary mechanisms of human development operating across the Process–Person–Context–Time (PPCT) framework. Drawing on this theoretical progression, the study conceptualises mentoring not as a discrete intervention but as a sustained developmental process embedded within multilevel systems.

Adopting a constructivist-interpretive paradigm, the research employed a qualitative instrumental case study design. Data were generated through online surveys, semi-structured interviews, and document analysis involving teachers, mentors, district officials, national policymakers, and development partners engaged in the Holistic-Integrative Early Childhood Development (HI-ECD) programme. Guided by the PPCT model, analysis explored how mentoring functioned as a proximal process shaped by individual dispositions, relational dynamics, institutional structures, cultural norms, and shifting policy conditions over time.

The findings demonstrate that mentoring was most effective when characterised by sustained, reciprocal dialogue, modelling of classroom practices, and reflective feedback grounded in trust and mutual commitment. Teachers’ professional confidence, pedagogical decision-making, and identity formation were strengthened when mentoring relationships were consistent and relationally secure. However, mentoring outcomes were not determined solely by interpersonal quality. Exosystem and macrosystem influences, including leadership capacity, decentralised governance arrangements, donor transitions, cultural expectations of hierarchy, and fluctuating funding priorities, significantly shaped the continuity and sustainability of mentoring. Over time, mentoring contributed to gradual shifts from teacher-centred to child-centred pedagogy, yet these transformations remained vulnerable to systemic disruption.

The study advances three key contributions. First, it reconceptualises mentoring as a bioecological developmental process, demonstrating how professional learning emerges from sustained proximal interactions embedded within layered policy and cultural ecologies. Second, it refines the application of Bronfenbrenner’s Phase III bioecological model in educational research by illustrating how mentoring operates simultaneously across micro-, meso-, exo-, macro-, and chronosystem dimensions. Third, it extends the scholarship on mentoring in Global South contexts by analysing how donor-supported initiatives intersect with decentralised governance structures to influence sustainability and teacher professional identity.

The thesis concludes that strengthening ECE mentoring in Indonesia requires systemic coherence across relational, institutional, and policy dimensions. Sustainable mentoring depends not only on high-quality interpersonal processes but also on alignment across systems and continuity over time. These findings offer implications for policymakers, development partners, and educational leaders seeking to embed context-responsive mentoring within decentralised education systems and to strengthen the professionalisation of the early childhood workforce.