Using the Art of Trompe L’oeil to Research Induction and Mentoring

Source: Teaching Education, Volume 26, Issue 2, 2015, pages 131-144

This article reveals how the art device of trompe l’oeil provided a way of thinking about the induction and mentoring experiences of beginning teachers.
The research study – a phenomenological, narrative inquiry – drew on Bourdieu’s theorising of ‘misrecognition’ and ‘symbolic violence’.

The participants were seven beginning teachers in secondary school settings in the state of Victoria, Australia.
Data were collected from interviews and the participants’ diary entries (written narratives).
Both the trompe l’oeil art device and the theoretical lens illuminated the reframing of the participants’ initial understandings of mentor relationships to gain a different perspective on their early professional lives.