Mentoring Feedback to Support Teaching: Changes in Teacher’s Practice in Government Aided Secondary Schools in the Acholi Sub-Region

This article presents changes in practices of teachers in government aided secondary schools in the Acholi Sub-region taking part in mentoring feedback to improve teaching processes. Data was collected using questionnaire survey, interviews and documentary analysis with teachers, Director of studies, Deputy head teachers, Head teachers. Results describe that quality mentoring feedback is a significant contributor to professional and academic success as this helps mentors share professional experiences at different stages of teachers’ career. The study concluded that mentoring feedback improves teacher practices and further helps them to learn new activities which maintain their relevance in the contemporary world. The study recommends that mentoring guidance should focus on giving feedback, social interaction, instructional practices and clarity in teaching that have direct measurable im-pacts on students learning.


Introduction
Teachers' professional development is inextricably linked with the present search for ways to improve teaching and to build effective schools. Policy makers devise ways to achieve quality education, including teacher improvement strategies for teacher effectiveness, which leads to learner's quality achievements.
Feedback can be understood as the hinge that joins teaching and learning (Pollock, 2012), and yet the concept remains largely undeveloped in the literature. The paper is divided into seven sections namely, introduction, methodology, findings, discussions, conclusions, recommendations and references.
Feedback is considered as a vital approach to facilitate students' development as independent learners in order to monitor, evaluate, and regulate their own learning (Ferguson, 2011). The quantity/quality of feedback provided and its helpfulness to the mentee, appears to range widely, and can give rise to uncertainty and confusion (Gamlem, 2015). Feedback can be a great support for improving teaching and students learning in Government-aided secondary schools (Gamlem, 2015in Tillama et al., 2015. It is a powerful tool in students learning and it is important for mentees' professional development. Although feedback is generally considered to be beneficial, there is debate as to the nature of good feedback. Hattie and Timperley (2007) note that quality feedback can be a significant contributor to academic success. Agudo (2016) explains that the quality of feedback provided by school mentors during the practicum experience constitutes the main focus. Mentors' feedback plays an important role in shaping the professional identity of mentees (Pekkanli, 2011) in (Agudo, 2016: p. 2).
Traditionally, a "mentor" is a more experienced member of staff who seeks to share their skills and expertise with less experienced mentees with a view to improving their development. It should be a safe, non-judgmental relationship that facilitates a wide range of learning and development. Mentors' supportive and constructive feedback is imperative for the professional preparation of mentees since, otherwise, they would feel lost in their self-reflections and evaluations of their teaching (Pekkanli, 2011: p. 60). Constructive feedback focuses on changing teaching behaviors as well as continuous positive reinforcement and ongoing encouragement (Gutierrez, 1996;Freeman & Johnson, 1998;Gatbonton, 1999;Smith & Ingersoll, 2004;Wright, 2010). Mentors' feedback can contribute to improving mentees' professional teaching competency in terms of self-awareness (Ximena & Méndez, 2008;Pekkanli, 2011;Hudson, 2013;Gutierrez, 1996).
Mentoring guides the teacher in building their proficiency, and can be done as a regular practice among teachers and their head teachers in a school or through participation in an in-service education course. A backdrop is that research findings and expert opinions about how traditional feedback from classroom observations affects instruction and student achievement are not encouraging (DuFour & Marzano, 2009).

Mentoring in Ugandan Government Aided Secondary Schools
The mentoring process in Government-aided secondary schools in the Acholi sub-region in Uganda, has not been adequately available to all academic staff.
This study focused on the Acholi sub-region because it is strategically located and experienced insurgency for many years which interrupted teacher support

Transformation
This study was guided by transformational theory. It is a new and evolving theory resulting from the research and work of scholars such as Daloz (1986). It is a theory of existence that views people as subjects not objects. People are constantly reflecting and acting on the transformation of their world so that it can become a more equitable place for all to live (Daloz, 1986). The concept of transformation refers to change. Some transformational theorists share the humanistic view that learners are capable of changing and free to act on the world Daloz (1986) addresses the impact education has on the diversity of adult learners. Adult learners' theories have been identified as the dominant theoretical foundation behind mentoring because it makes a mentees' experience meaningful (Knowles, 1984). The goal of transformational theory is social transformation by explaining reality, where the oppressed develop critical consciousness.
Mentoring helps mentors (senior teachers), guide and encourage mentees (junior teachers) to become more effective in teaching. Transformational theory is the centrality of critical reflection with the purpose of rediscovering power and helping mentees to develop an awareness of the urgency to transform society and their own reality. Mentoring guides mentees to develop their talent, skills, knowledge and to change attitudes towards teaching. It is a liberating approach couched in an act of cognition not in the transfer of information (Daloz, 1986).
Mentoring makes mentees to think critically, creatively and become reasonable, reflective practitioners. It is a problem posing and dialogical methodology.
Through the mentoring process mentees are supported on the job to gain more courage and to learn continuously in order to perfect their skills in teaching and become more effective. It is a horizontal mentor-mentee-relationship where the mentors work as political agents and on an equal footing with mentees. Conversely, if support is high, new knowledge and images of teaching become possible for mentees. In this case, Daloz's (1986) concept of mentoring is not only concerned with developing cognitive competence but more importantly in fostering the personal growth of a mentee to be effective in a teaching and learning environment. Personal development is facilitated by the relationship between mentors and mentees.
Through a mentoring relationship consisting primarily of one-to-one interactions, mentee and mentor construct meaning and make sense of their respective world (Prickel, 2013). Mentoring as a professional tool thus improves teacher effectiveness in that inexperienced teachers (mentees) are paired up with experienced teachers (mentors). Therefore, mentoring has been accepted as an effective method of preparing the mentees to enter the teaching profession (Sundli, 2007).

Methodology
The study used a mixed method, cross-sectional survey design through which the researcher collected data on mentoring feedback and teacher effectiveness in Government -aided Secondary schools from varied categories of the population (Creswell, 2012). The data collection was triangulated, whereby the research team used multiple research methods (mixed method), multiple sources within a single method, multiple analysis and perspectives. The qualitative approach was used to build a complex, holistic picture, formed with words, with detailed views of information and conducted in a natural setting (Creswell, 2012;Koul, 1997), while the quantitative approach was used to enable a large quantity of relevant data to be amassed and subjected to statistical analysis techniques for greater representation (Punch, 2006 Confidentiality and anonymity were also addressed by keeping especially personal information or sensitive issues confidential and anonymous so that readers  Table 2 below shows teachers' responses on the effects of mentoring feedback on teacher effectiveness in government aided secondary schools in the Acholi sub-region. Feedback to improve teacher effectiveness in the Acholi sub-region was assessed as presented in Table 2 below. Majority of the teachers (64.5%) strongly agreed with the statement that; quality feedback can be a significant contributor to professional and academic success. Furthermore, (58.1%) strongly agreed that feedback is a powerful tool in students learning and is important for teachers' professional development. 51.6%, in turn, agreed that mentors' feedback plays an important role in shaping the professional identity of teachers. This implies that giving feedback to teachers helps to improve teacher effectiveness in the Government-aided secondary schools in Acholi sub-region. Therefore the null hypothesis that there is no effect of feedback on teacher effectiveness in government aided secondary schools in the Acholi sub-region was rejected because chi-square calculated is 0.64 and p-value is 0.01.

Findings
Qualitative data was analyzed to establish the extent to which feedback improves on teacher effectiveness. The responses by the various participants such as the DoS, D/Htr and H/tr were analysed. Of the DoS who participated in the study, (85%), strongly agreed that feedback is significantly effective in improving teacher effectiveness. For example DoS 4 reported that feedback is very important as: it helps teachers to improve their methodology, it also helps teachers to become confident, as they identify their areas of strengths and weaknesses, by having perspective in mentoring and by being positive Meanwhile Htr 3 Observer that feedback is a process of improving mentoring effectiveness It is an accountability of teaching process, and helps to confirm the processes of teaching. Helps to improve services of teaching/learning process by being patient and constructive in giving feedback The findings from the school mentors (HT, DHT and DOS) indicate that mentoring feedback are significant teaching. This because it helps teachers to improve their teaching methodology, teachers confidence, it is an accountability of improving teaching processes. Mentoring feedback helps a teacher to be patience and constructive in teaching. Mentoring feedback is significant in the teaching learning process.

Discussions
According to the assessment by the teachers, the results show that mentoring feedback has effects on teacher effectiveness: The chi-square calculated (0.64) is more than p-value which is 0.01 which shows that the result is significant. The school mentors (DoS, D/Htrs and Htrs) who were interviewed also revealed that mentoring feedback has effects on teacher effectiveness in Government-aided secondary schools. These findings agree with both (Gamlem, 2015 andFerguson, 2011), who noted that feedback is vital to facilitate students' development as independent learners. This further concurs with transformational theory which emphasises the importance of support in fostering creativity and critical reflection. The teachers' responses therefore reveal that quality mentoring feedback can be a significant contributor to their professional and academic success.
The participants further revealed that feedback is essential in mentoring, but not all kinds of mentoring feedback have the power to support learning. Hattie & Timperley (2007) argue that quality mentoring feedback can be a significant contributor to academic success if it is conducted in accordance with the research on effective mentoring feedback. The lived experiences of academic teachers as they engage in mentoring feedback have received relatively little research attention compared to students perspectives on feedback. Mentoring feedback plays an important role in shaping the professional identity of teachers. The school mentors revealed that mentoring feedback is significantly effective in improving teacher effectiveness. Mentoring feedback in schools is very important as it helps teachers to improve on their methodology, it also helps teachers to become confident, as they identify their areas of strengths and weaknesses. According to DuFour & Marzano (2009) a backdrop is that research findings and experts opinions about how traditional feedback from classroom observations affects instruction and student achievement are not encouraging. However, this accords with the findings from Gamlem & Munthe (2014) that feedback is often more encouraging and affirming, rather than promoting information about learning in lower secondary classroom (Gamlem & Munthe, 2014;Hattie & Timperley, 2007). In such situations, students do not receive feedback on how to strengthen their learning processes, nor the regulatory processes needed to achieve set learning goals.
The findings explain why mentoring feedback is a process of improving teacher effectiveness. It is an accountability of teaching process. It helps to improve on teaching-learning process. The findings confirmed what (Agudo, 2016: pp. 1-2) explains that the quality of feedback provided by school mentors during the practicum experience constitutes the main focus this day. Feedback helps teachers to improve on teacher effectiveness which later make them improve on students' achievement. The finding matches with Hattie and Timperley's (2007) findings that quality feedback can be a significant contributor to academic success. The researcher agrees that feedback is important in improving teacher effectiveness. Pekkanli (2011) in (Agudo, 2016: p. 2) found that Mentors' feedback plays an important role in shaping the professional identity of mentees. The activities carried out in schools require feedback in order to improve on the practice. There has been a tendency in recent decades to view feedback through the lens of higher education students' experiences, with focus on student learning rather than teaching (Haggis, 2006;Tuck, 2012).

Conclusion
Teachers in Government-aided secondary schools in the Acholi sub-region need mentoring feedback to maintain their areas of strengths and improve on areas of weakness in teaching process. Quality mentoring feedback can be a significant contribution to professional and academic success. Mentoring feedback is a powerful tool in students learning and it is important for teachers' professional development. It plays an important role in shaping the professional identity of teachers. It helps teachers to improve their methodology; it also helps teachers to become confident, as they identify their areas of strengths and weaknesses.
Mentoring feedback is a process of improving teacher effectiveness in Government-aided secondary schools in the Acholi sub-region.

Recommendations
Feedback from a supervisors or a trained support person applies new skills and strategies more frequently and appropriately and adopts a more diverse range of instructional practices than teachers who do not receive such supports. Mentors should guide and encourage teachers to get involved in receiving mentoring feedback. The quality feedback would help the teachers to realize their strengths and weaknesses. The input from the feedback helps the teachers to improve on J. B. Okumu et al.
their teaching process in the Government-aided secondary schools in the Acholi sub-region.
School mentors' feedback is essential in that their experience in providing teachers with constructive feedback focused on changing teaching behaviours as well as continuous positive reinforcement and ongoing encouragement. Teachers would feel lost in their self-reflections and evaluations of their teaching. School mentors as expert or experienced teachers are expected to provide authentic, experiential learning opportunities through modelling. School Mentors should be trained to help teachers overcome context-specific difficulties. Mentor teachers' feedbacks are essential as it contributes to improving teachers' professional teaching competency in terms of self-awareness.