The Assessment and Mentoring Program (AMP): Final Year Pre-Service Physical Education Peer Mentors Perceptions of Effective Mentoring

Abstract

In the teacher education context, most peer mentoring programs have focused on pre-service teachers and a qualified teacher mentor within schools (Hobson, et.al., 2009; Ambrosetti, Knight & Dekkers, 2014). Few studies have focused on mentoring between pre-service physical education teachers. Therefore, we describe the Assessment and Mentoring Program (AMP): a four-way collaborative learning community. Mentoring occurs between final year physical education students (mentors), reciprocally between mentors and their year two mentees, and in collaboration with lecturers. Prior to the commencement of the AMP, to understand the pre-service mentors’ perception of effective mentoring, they were asked to annotate an A3 poster with the characteristics they perceived were required to be the ‘perfect’ mentor and complete the AMP successfully. We present data of their perceptions. De-identified data were transcribed verbatim, coded and analysed using NVivo (Version10) software to explore themes of the mentor’s perceptions of effective mentoring within the context of Le Cornu’s (2005) critical mentoring framework including interpersonal skills, a mentoring attitude and critical reflection. The AMP mentors identified characteristics in all three categories; organisation was also identified as an essential mentoring characteristic. Students’ perceived a diverse set of mentoring skills were required. Given that many key skills developed through mentoring are important for pre-service teachers when they graduate, the challenge is how to provide relevant, authentic and context specific experiences for students that enable them to become collaborative reflective practitioners who can provide quality learning and assessment opportunities for their own diverse students within the constraints of a university environment.

Transformative Learning in Design

“…Thus, the value of the lecturers lies mostly in their mentorship role, which is supported by seminal authors such as Chickering (1969), Vaillant (1977), Levinson et al (1978), andKram (1988). More recently, Straus et al (2013) reaffirmed the importance of mentorship as a means that guarantees a positive relationship that leads to student success (Jenkinson & Benson, 2017;Blieszner, 2020). This positive result signifies a strong emphasis on trusting relationships between lecturers and students and creates an enabling discursive space for a shared experience.…”

El acompañamiento pedagógico en República Dominicana

“…• Formación continua de docentes en ejercicio (López & Marcelo, 2021;Orland & Wang, 2021;Rhodes et al, 2004;Wang, 2018). • Estrategia didáctica para la enseñanza de contenidos curriculares y pedagógicos (Jenkinson & Benson, 2017;Li et al, 2021). • Desarrollo vocacional, calificación y promoción del profesorado (López & Marcelo, 2021).…”

“…• Docentes cooperantes pares (Gunn et al, 2017;Jenkinson & Benson, 2017;López, 2013;ÓGallchóir et al, 2019). • Docentes cooperantes experimentados (Ambrosetti, 2014;López, 2013;ÓGallchóir et al, 2019).…”

“…Esta práctica es una de las más efectivas, formativas y constructivas; es una manera de observación recíproca; los roles de acompañante y acompañado no son fijos, pues el mentor también es acompañado en su práctica profesional. Numerosos estudios coinciden en afirmar que los docentes pares, experimentados y con poca experiencia pueden observarse de forma recíproca para promover el análisis crítico y reflexivo de la práctica pedagógica (Ambrosetti, 2014;Gunn et al, 2017;Jenkinson & Benson, 2017;López, 2013).…”