The mentoring conversation: the role of professional conversations in nurturing teacher identity during professional experience

Year: 2013

Author: Sheridan, Lynn, Young, Marie

Type of paper: Abstract refereed

Abstract:
In the same way that one learns to play the piano by playing – rather than by reading about playing – the piano, so the teacher education practicum plays an essential role in moving the pre-service teacher beyond just learning about teaching to the actual practice of teaching. It also provides pre-service teachers with invaluable opportunities to integrate theory and practice. Yet the practicum is often viewed by the pre-service teacher as “a weak exercise in vocational socialisation” (Bullough, 2005, p. 144) as sadly, for many pre-service teachers, it offers limited opportunity for professional conversations essential to achieving a professional identity. Potentially, the practicum could be a quality experience involving in-depth contact, communication and planning in which shared outcomes are clarified through professional conversations (Bloomfield, 2010). Yet increasingly, as all parties strive to meet the National Teacher Standards, the practicum has become an overly complex process, squeezing out space for the pre-service teachers personal “struggle for voice” or identity formation (Britzman, 1991, cited in Bloomfield, 2010).

This paper explores the role of mentoring conversations in supporting and scaffolding pre-service teacher identity formation. It examines the experiences and perceptions of a group of pre-service teachers, and the mentoring and feedback practices that they had access to, seeking to identify whether the pre-service teachers believed that these practices supported the formation of their teacher identity. One hundred and fifty pre-service teachers participated in an on-line survey with six being interviewed after the practicum. The aim was to investigate in-depth participants’ perceptions of the mentoring experience, and to develop tools that could be used to mediate, scaffold and support professional conversations, contributing to improved practicum experience and enhanced teacher identity formation.


Information from the online survey was statically analyzed: two factors were identified and additional needs of LBOTE students emerged as a significant finding. Qualitative data was thematically coded and shaped the development of tools to mediate and support professional conversations during the practicum. The study has implications for how universities and schools can work together to enhance teacher identity formation and how all parties can support the needs of specific groups of pre-service teachers for whom the practicum involves obstacles rather than opportunities to see themselves as professional teachers.

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