Mapping mentor teachers’ roles in mentoring dialogues

This literature study deals with the issue of how to conceptualize the supervisory behaviour of mentor teachers in mentoring dialogues by systematically examining empirical literature on key aspects of mentor teachers’ behaviour during dialogues with prospective teachers. From the findings a model is derived which can be used to study mentor teachers’ behaviour in mentoring dialogues. The model may be helpful in the further development of the quality of mentor teachers’ behaviour in mentoring dialogues.     

Clarifying pre-service teacher perceptions of mentor teachers’ developing use of mentoring skills

The aim of this study is to clarify how pre-service teachers perceive mentor teachers’ use of mentoring skills. Sixty stimulated-recall interviews were conducted, each in connection with a previously recorded mentoring dialogue. A quantitative analysis showed that six types of mentoring skills appeared to be perceived by pre-service teachers as offering emotional support and five others as offering task assistance. After mentor teachers were trained in mentoring skills, shifts in their frequencies of use of distinct skills, as observed by independent raters, corresponded to a considerable extent with shifts in frequencies of pre-service teacher perceptions of mentor teachers’ mentoring behaviour.     

Promoting versatility in mentor teachers’ use of supervisory skills

Mentor teachers need a versatile supervisory skills repertoire. Besides taking the prevalent role of daily advisor and instructor, mentor teachers should also be able to stimulate reflection in student teachers. Video recordings of 60 mentoring dialogues were analysed, both before and after a mentor teacher training aimed at developing the encourager role. Mentor teachers’ repertoires of supervisory skills were found to consist of an average of seven supervisory skills. After training, a shift was observed in the frequencies and duration with which supervisory skills were used. Although considerable inter-individual variability existed between mentor teachers, training positively affected the use of supervisory skills for stimulating reflection in student teachers.     

Mentor teacher professional identity development in a year-long teacher residency

In this article I examined the professional identity development of five mentor teachers in a year-long, clinically rich teacher residency partnered between a university-based teacher education program and schools in a southern state of the United States. Qualitative data were collected through classroom observation and individual semi-structured interviews with a focus on participants’ mentoring activities and the ways they enacted and described their identities. Participants came to new mentoring beliefs and practices as they navigated the residency and developed a multifaceted identity to mediate their learning to become mentors and teacher educators. Implications for mentor teacher professional support, teacher preparation, and future research were discussed.     

Why mentor? Linking mentor teachers’ motivations to their mentoring conceptions

Current mentoring models for teacher preparation and induction emphasize the need to engage novice teachers’ learning through collaborative professional learning communities. Mentors in such communities are expected to engage in joint knowledge construction with novices, and to be ‘co-thinkers’ who enact a developmental view of mentoring, as well as ‘co-learners’ who are willing to engage in mutual learning with their novices. These two aspects are assumed to be associated in mentor thinking. The aim of this questionnaire study was, therefore, to explore the relationship between mentors’ mentoring conceptions and their mentoring motives. Participants were 726 secondary education mentor teachers, associated with 13 institutes for teacher preparation in the Netherlands. Results showed that a motivation to mentor for personal learning was more strongly associated with a developmental conception of mentored learning to teach than with an instrumental mentoring conception. The same was found for a motivation to mentor for contributing to the profession, but less pronounced. These findings suggest potential strategies for the selection and preparation of mentor teachers for programs that intend to foster collaborative inquiry approaches for novice teacher support.     

Uncovering contents of mentor teachers' interactive cognitions during mentoring dialogues

In the context of developing mentor teachers' use of supervisory skills, two consecutive studies were conducted, using stimulated recall. Firstly, with eight participants, an instrument was developed to categorize contents of interactive cognitions. Secondly, with 30 participants, the instrument was applied to uncover contents of mentor teachers' interactive cognitions, before and after training in supervisory skills. After training, mentor teachers demonstrate an increased awareness of their use of supervisory skills. This indicates that mentor teachers not only seem to emphasize pupil learning and needs when conducting a mentoring dialogue, but simultaneously focus on their own supervisory behaviour.     

Thriving,not just surviving: The impact of teacher mentors on pre-service teachers in disadvantaged school contexts

This study explores the perceptions held by nine mentor teachers from four Australian secondary schools about the impact they have on pre-service teachers during professional placement. Using Fraser’s (2000, 2005, 2008) social justice framework as a theoretical lens, this paper examines what can be learnt from these teacher mentors about mentoring in disadvantaged school contexts. These mentor teachers felt their most significant impact was in shaping pre-service teachers’ awareness and responsiveness to contextual factors so that they could not only fulfil professional experience requirements, but also be better prepared for potential future teaching opportunities in disadvantaged school contexts.     

Mentor teachers: Their perceived possibilities and challenges as mentor and teacher

This interview study, including seven case studies of mentor teachers in primary education, explores the possibilities and challenges these mentor teachers perceive when they (sequentially and simultaneously) combine the teacher and mentor roles. Mentor teachers perceive two challenges while simultaneously performing both roles in the same classroom: to transfer (or not) responsibility for the class and pupils to the student teacher and to intervene (or not) in classroom procedures. Mentor teachers felt that being the teacher of the pupils was their primary task, and being a mentor of the student teacher generally was perceived as an aside and additional task.     

Learning to Teach Generatively: Mentor-Supported Professional Development and Research in Technology-and-Science

In a year-long, school-based teacher education project, primary school teachers were given workshop- and classroom-based support, including sustained mentoring, as they appropriated a generative heuristic for teaching technology-and-science in their classrooms. The mentor participated in their lessons and recorded her frequent conversations with teachers. Extracts from 3 conversations (of many, spanning 5 months) between 1 teacher and the mentor illustrate this teacher's changing ideas and the mentor's role. The teacher realized that although she preferred to learn generatively, she had been using instructionist approaches in her technology-and-science teaching. These dialogues show how the mentor supported this teacher as she gradually aligned her technology-and-science teaching with the generative style of learning she already valued.     

Idiographic roles of cooperating teachers as mentors in pre-service distance teacher education

This study aims to define the roles of cooperating teachers as mentors in the context of distance-learning teacher education. The participants included 358 cooperating teachers who mentored 4th-year student teachers in a Distance English Language Teacher Training Program in Turkey. To determine the roles that were perceived as mentoring roles by the cooperating teachers in the distance practicum, an inventory of 10 primary mentoring functions was constructed. These functions included five primary mentoring roles: ‘self-trainer’, ‘networker, ‘social supporter’, ‘academic supporter’, and ‘psychological supporter’. The results will contribute to an increased understanding of how cooperating teachers perceive their mentoring roles during distance practicums.     

Genuine conversation: the enabler in good mentoring of pre-service teachers

This study confirms the role of genuine conversation as the enabler in good mentoring of pre-service teachers. The practicum plays an essential role in moving the pre-service teacher beyond learning about teaching to the practice of teaching. Yet the benefit of the practicum is often constrained by relational tensions, disappointment and frustrations for both the pre-service teacher and the mentor. The authors report on the findings drawn from stories and experiences of pre-service teachers and mentors as they participated in a final practicum in a range of Australian secondary schools. This paper uses social learning theory as a framework for understanding the key aspects of pre-service teacher mentoring: specifically, Wenger’s three interrelated concepts of mutual engagement, joint enterprise and shared repertoire. Conversation plays a critical role in these areas and hence enables successful practicum experiences. Recommendations to enhance professional conversations focus on strengthening the relationship through considered pre-service teacher placement, close school/university partnerships, mentor programmes and the selection of appropriate mentors.     

How different mentoring approaches affect beginning teachers' development in the first years of practice

This study examines the extent to which the quality of mentoring and its frequency during the first years of teaching influence teachers' professional competence and well-being. Analyses are based on a sample of more than 700 German beginning mathematics teachers who participated in a pre-test/post-test study over the course of one year. Findings indicate that it is the quality of mentoring rather than its frequency that explains a successful career start. In particular, mentoring that follows constructivist rather than transmissive principles of learning fosters the growth of teacher efficacy, teaching enthusiasm, and job satisfaction and reduces emotional exhaustion.     

Science and Mathematics Mentees and Mentors: Who Benefits the Most?

The purpose of our study was to determine the extent to which differences in a mentor model for science and mathematics teachers accounted for variances in mentoring effectiveness and persistence rates of teachers. School district designee, mentor, and teacher perceptions of mentoring support were collected through the use of interviews and surveys and analyzed using the grounded theory approach and open coding. Findings revealed that teachers and mentors recommended that future mentor models provide strong support and more face-to-face meetings. The most common change mentors made was that they incorporated new strategies into their teaching. Findings offer insight for structuring mentor models to increase effectiveness and persistence of teachers and build the capacity of mentors.     

Extending the apprenticeship of observation: how mentee experiences shape mentors

Although the importance of mentor teachers in clinical teacher preparation is well established, few researchers explore the social identity development of these individuals. Through our study we contribute to the body of research by exploring mentor teachers’ social identity development through the concept of Apprenticeship of Observation – specifically, how they felt their own mentoring experiences influenced their approaches to mentoring. The multi-case study includes findings about mentoring beliefs and practices during the laboratory school component of an Alternate Route to Licensure program. Incorporating semi-structured interviews and video analysis, the findings demonstrate how four mentor teachers’ prior experiences as mentees – including Alternate Route to Licensure, traditional teacher preparation programs, and inservice teaching – influenced their interactions with teacher candidates as mentors. Recommendations for practice and implications for future research are provided.     

Dual roles – conflicting purposes: a comparative study on perceptions on assessment in mentoring relations during practicum

Despite considerable attention given to mentoring in initial teacher education little is known about mutual perspectives in perceptions of students and mentors regarding assessment and how this affects the quality of the student's teaching. Perceptions of assessment during practicum might impede the learning dialogue during mentoring and affect the student's achievements. A comparative qualitative study was conducted in Norway, Israel and The Netherlands to examine how student teachers (74) and mentors (52) perceive good mentoring regarding assessment of practice teaching and the interplay between the two processes. A semi‐structured questionnaire was used to analyse the perceptions on assessment during the practicum appraisal. Findings indicate that mentors and students differ slightly on key aspects of assessment, but agree more in the way it is being applied. From an assessment point of view, the differences between mentor and students may lead to a different approach in advice or recommendation to improve teaching action across the three national borders.     

Investigating Teacher Candidates’ Mentoring of Students at Risk of Academic Failure: A Canadian Experiential Field Model

In this study, the authors explore a Canadian field experience model in a bachelor of education program that focuses on mentor‐based relationships between teacher candidates and students at risk of dropping out of high school. They examine teacher candidates’ and at‐risk students’ attitudinal approaches. The model emphasizes praxis and social justice, and the authors argue that it would benefit from a greater emphasis on critical literacy theory. Data were collected through triangulation of Ministry of Education documents, a literature review, program coordinators’ informal reflections and field notes, and interviews. Interview participants were two teacher candidates, three at‐risk students, and three Student Success teachers. The mentoring improved human relations and attendance more than grades for the at‐risk students. The results indicate that at‐risk students feel individually empowered through the mentor‐based model and teacher candidates demonstrate insights into their mentoring relationships.     

教师培养意识和教学模式

本文认为,刘颂浩(2014)提出的"对外汉语教学和本专业硕士培养和实习工作有机地融合"的思路若能落实,将是研究生培养方式的重大改变,可以全面提高研究生的培养质量。由于研究生实践经验有限,参与教学工作时宜采取"逐渐进入"的方式。本文进一步指出,研究生在参与学院教学进行教学实习的过程中,应得到一定的专业指导,这一指导过程无论对指导教师还是对研究生都有好处。本文最后依据较新的实证研究成果指出,研究生培养不能简单采取"教学主管+无经验的学生教师"的二元体系,而应设计为"主管教师+有经验的学生教师+无经验的学生教师"的层级模式。     

Characterizing mentoring capital in a residency program through mentor’s voices

The purpose of our study was to examine mentors’ conceptualizations of mentoring residents (preservice teachers) in a teacher residency program. Understanding the nuances of mentoring in a year-long placement in a mentor’s classroom may further illuminate mentoring in this context. In this qualitative, longitudinal study, we used constant comparative analysis to allow the data to drive recurring patterns and ideas linked to real-life situations and values coding to examine mentors’ conceptualizations of mentoring in a residency program. Residents enrolled in the federally-funded Teaching Residency Program for Critical Shortage Areas program were placed in a high-need urban secondary school for a year-long clinical experience to work alongside mentors, who had a non-evaluative role. By examining mentors’ conceptualizations of mentoring in this particular context, our data reveal aspects of their agency that reflected three main themes: (a) professional altruism, (b) extant knowledge, and (c) resident as stimulus. Our findings add to the research on mentoring by illuminating the voices of mentors to describe how they conceptualized mentoring and to further examine their motivations for mentoring, contributions to the mentee, and professional gains.     

Novice teachers' perspectives on mentoring: The case of the Estonian induction year

This study explores Estonian novice teachers' perspectives on relationships with mentors and experiences of mentoring and mentors' tasks during their first year of teaching. The induction year with mentoring as one of the support structures was introduced into Estonian teacher education a few years ago. Experiences indicate that this is a valuable support, but there are areas of mentoring that need to be developed. The data are based on thematic interviews with sixteen novice teachers in the second half of their first year of teaching, i.e. the induction year. A content analysis revealed that the novice teachers experienced support for personal development and professional knowledge development, feedback, collegiality, reciprocity of the relationship, mentor availability and mutual trust as components of the mentor–mentee relationship. The study identified undeveloped potential in mentoring related to three main areas: 1) facilitation of reflection, 2) mentor training, and 3) integration of mentoring into the school community as a whole. The last area also includes matters pertaining to socialization and school leadership.