Mentoring within the training programs for school heads: a review of the literature

INTRODUCTION. Mentoring is one of the most effective systems for developing leadership for school heads. To date, publications focus on specific aspects of mentoring. The present study aims to review mentoring with school heads offering a systemic view that includes data from previous reviews, contributions from the latest research, and a framework for incorporating mentoring into leadership development programs. Two objectives guide the development of this research: 1) to carry out a descriptive analysis of the bibliography (evolution, location, type of studies) and 2) to analyze the factors that affect its effectiveness (conditions for good mentoring, difficulties and benefits). METHOD. A review of the literature is performed following the procedures defined for this purpose. The search is carried out in the Web of Science and SCOPUS daabases, using the terms "educational mentoring" as the search equation and inclusion criteria: academic publications referring to educational mentoring, published between 2000 and 2020. Related to educational mentoring, 290 references were obtained, of which 114 documents (39%) refer to mentoring school heads. The final sample after screening consists of 48 articles on managerial mentoring. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. The references are analyzed in-depth, showing an increase in studies on mentoring principals as of 2010, especially in Anglo-Saxon countries and through qualitative research. The analysis indicates that school heads have received a substantial boost in accompaniment mechanisms in many parts of the world and have also increased their percentage importance compared to other types of mentoring. These are classified as a critical element in management training programs. We incorporate an analysis of the effects of mentoring on the participating agents and recommendations for including it in development programs.