Borders to cross: Identifying sources of tension in mentor–intern relationships

Project Evidence: Responding to the Changing Professional Learning Needs of Mentors in Initial Teacher Education

“…A number of commentators point to the same dichotomy in ITE (Bryan & Carpenter, 2008;Colley, 2002;Maynard, 2000;Yayli, 2008), which Bradbury and Koballa Jr (2008) argue places mentors and pre-service teachers "in a confusing and untenable position" (p. 2136). It has been long established that, through their work in practice, mentors and preservice teachers negotiate and construct the role of the mentor (see, for example, Monaghan & Lunt, 1992).…”

“…It has been long established that, through their work in practice, mentors and preservice teachers negotiate and construct the role of the mentor (see, for example, Monaghan & Lunt, 1992). However, with the devolution of teacher education to a more intrinsically shared practice between universities and schools, and with the associated ascendance of the importance of mentoring in ITE, universities are now being called upon to play a greater role in providing support to mentors, particularly through professional learning, and in fostering and sustaining communication between mentors and pre-service teachers (Bradbury & Koballa Jr, 2008).…”

Re-Structuring Preservice Teacher Education: Introducing the School-Community Integrated Learning (SCIL) Pathway

“…The SCIL pathway has no preservice teacher assessment, which was also welcomed by these mentors: "to be a part of the class community without the stress of personal assessment" (Mentor 7), and "extra time to ask questions of their mentor teacher is great without the worry of lesson planning and discussions on lessons when on prac" (Mentor 10). Bradbury and Koballa (2008) and Ganser (2006) outline that tensions can arise between the mentor and mentee, in particular tensions about teaching philosophies and the mentor's dual role as confidant and assessor. However, the SCIL pathway was a voluntary program that did not involve assessment, hence, alleviating these pressures from both the mentors and the mentees.…”

“…In giving advice to the mentor teachers, there were various comments around explicit de-construction of actions to make these more understandable for the mentees, for instance: "teachers to be proactive in explaining how and why they do certain things" (Mentee 10). Similar to any effective mentoring program, mentors in their positions of power needed "to illuminate expectations" to their mentees (Bradbury & Koballa, 2008, p. 2143); yet as the SCIL pathway was intended to not impact on teacher's workloads, such expectations are intended to ease teachers' workloads by having an "extra hand" in the classroom. Figure 1.…”

O papel do professor cooperante no contexto da formação de professores de Educação Física: A perspetiva dos professores cooperantes

“…Clarke et al (2014) salientam a importância de se manter uma relação estreita entre estas duas entidades, a faculdade e a escola e, especialmente, entre os seus protagonistas, OF e PC. Outros estudos colocam ênfase na relação que se estabelece entre os elementos da tríade PC -EE -OF (Bradbury & Koballa Jr, 2008;Bullough & Draper, 2004;Campbell, Lott, & Campbell, 2010;Graham, 2006), dando conta da influência desta relação sobre a aprendizagem e o desenvolvimento profissional do EE e, em especial, da importância de manter um diálogo aberto e uma comunicação regular e frutífera durante o processo de estágio. Beck e Kosnik (2002) defendem que a faculdade, em geral, e o OF, em particular, se devem envolver, apoiando o PC no acompanhamento do processo de estágio na escola.…”