Nafn nemanda: Zehra Gamli
Námsleið: International Studies in Education, MA
Heiti verkefnis: Mentoring Relationships and Female Leadership Identity Among Preschool Managers in Reykjavík, Iceland
Leiðbeinandi: Andrea Rose Cheatham Kasper
Sérfræðingur: Ólafur Páll Jónsson

Ágrip/efni (drög): This study aims to investigate the mentoring experiences of female preschool managers in Reykjavík/Iceland and how they mentor those seeking leadership positions today. It also explores how feminist values are expressed through the relational practices of female preschool leaders, even where participants do not explicitly claim a feminist identity. This research aims to fill a gap in the literature by reflecting the voices of female preschool leaders in Reykjavík, particularly in studies investigating the impact of mentoring support on the formation of leadership identities among female leaders in preschool settings. Therefore, it aims to address the existing lack of literature in this field. Data was collected through face-to-face interviews, recorded, and subsequently analyzed. The Interpretive Phenomenology Analysis (IPA) methodology was used in the study. The study participants consisted of seven female preschool managers actively working in Reykjavík. Key findings revealed that participants’ mentoring experiences were transformative and reciprocal, that mentoring was critical to the professional identity formation of female school managers, and that female leaders pass on the mentoring they receive to future generations. However, it was also revealed that mentoring can face systemic or institutional obstacles, and that female leaders in preschool need more support.