Understandings of Mentoring within Initial Teacher Education School Placement Contexts: a Scottish perspective

Abstract

Within the context of Scottish Initial Teacher Education, this qualitative study critically addresses mentor and mentee understandings of mentoring primary education student teachers. It introduces a Scottish perspective to the international body of literature on student teacher mentoring, and contributes new understandings of mentoring by addressing the role of mentees as well as those of the mentor. An instrumental, collective case study research design was employed with semi-structured interviews of six class teacher mentors and their student teachers conducted to ascertain understandings of the mentoring process. Findings indicate that participants understood mentoring as a multidimensional process designed to support the professional learning of student teachers. The key mentoring relationship is between class teacher mentor and mentee, and essential in developing mentee teaching capacity. Analysis of responses suggests an understanding of mentoring as involving both personal and professional dimensions. The data reveals the complex nature of the mentoring process in terms of the multitude of potential interpretations of these two dimensions and of the ways in which they overlap. It is recommended that all teacher education programmes and associated placement schools consider the provision of effective mentor and mentee education to improve the quality and consistency of mentoring for student teachers.