Exploring the pre-service teacher mentoring context: The construction of self-regulated professionalism short courses

During work integrated learning (WIL), pre-service mentoring helps prepare final-year education students for the workplace. The pre-service teacher is placed alongside a mentor teacher, and the higher education institution (HEI) stipulates the timeline and the requirements. This study follows a wide-ranging research project, identified by the acronym FIRE (Fourth-year Initiative for Research in Education). In this article we focus on pre-service teacher mentoring experiences, partnerships, roles, and teacher identity development concerning mentor teachers, not mentor lecturers. The results of 2 baseline exploratory research surveys are shared. The attitudes, beliefs, opinions and practices of Senior, Further Education and Training phase mentor teachers and pre-service teachers were gathered, measured and compared. The responses to 2 cross-sectional questionnaires in electronic format provided a competence-base for the design of curricula for 2 short courses about mentoring and self-regulated professionalism. The 2 short courses were created for mentor teachers and pre-service teachers.

Advocacy and Teacher Mentoring

Undoubtedly, key parameters in reinforcing the role of the teacher are guidance and his empowerment at the early stages of his training as a teacher. This chapter discusses the interconnection of advocacy with teacher mentoring programs, so that teachers may develop the relevant advocacy skills in order to act as defenders of equality and social justice. Moreover, specific aspects which are developed are the investigation of the concept of advocacy and social justice, the need for teachers to develop advocacy skills, the role of the mentor and the presentation of basic counseling models. Also, participatory advocacy practices, recruitment of mentors and the conception of a development plan of a wider program of advocacy, as well as advocacy models and the involvement of pupils themselves in all human rights advocacy processes are presented. Finally, the necessity for individual University Departments of Teacher Training to integrate the subject of advocacy in their curricula and provide prospective teachers with practice in this field are highlighted.