A Value-Added Approach to Teacher Learning

• In Event: 47.080 - The Value of Mentoring to Improve Teaching Practices: International Perspectives

Abstract

The primary focus of this research study is on the student-teachers’ outcomes when being mentored, in particular on their identity development. This study adopts an integrative review approach and bridges three related areas: educational mentoring, initial teacher education and identity development in student-teachers. The goal is to gain a better understanding of their interrelationship, which in turn can inform practice. Theorists such as Schön, Shulman, Dewey, Kolb, Gibbs and Pollard speak about the dilemmas and problems that student-teachers face when entering the teaching profession. One of the approaches that have been designed to scaffold critical review and support the development of student-teachers’ practice is reflective practice – this process can be traced back to the development of constructivist interpretations of learning. Kolb’s (1984) theory of experiential learning is useful to understand the development of reflection.

The initial teacher education programme in Malta includes a field placement experience over the length of the programme, based on the integration between theory and practice. During this field placement experience, a school-based teacher mentor is also provided. Beginning to teach in a school may be very challenging for many student teachers and this the teacher mentors’ feedback is important, if not critical, to ensure that student-teachers can develop mastery in the teaching profession. This feedback may be also impacting on the student-teachers’ identity development.

Grounded theory has been used to collect and analyse the data of this research study (Strauss and Corbin, 1994). This research tradition supports the idea that theory is emergent rather than predefined and tested. Theory generated in this way relates to the particular situation forming the focus of the study. This methodology encourages systematic, detailed analysis of the data and gives researchers ample evidence to back up their claims.

This study includes the perceptions and reflections of 5 teacher mentors coming from state and non-state schools who mentored a student-teacher for one scholastic year, during 2017/18 and who were selected from a larger group of teacher mentors who had received training. The reflections of their mentees (student-teachers) were also analysed. An inductive approach of comparing data to the research questions (Creswell & Creswell, 2018) was used. The aim was to evaluate this experience, as perceived by the mentors, in particular to their perceptions of whether the student-teachers were adequately supported in their initial teacher education phase; and to evaluate the experience of student-teachers being mentored.

The data of this study have been content analysed – e.g., identifying, coding, and categorising the primary patterns in the data –. A number of central issues were analysed, keeping as a focus the research questions generated at the very beginning of the inquiry process.

The initial teacher education programme requires closer partnerships between the Faculty of Education and schools, in order for it to reach its aims of supporting student-teachers. A better understanding of what the mentors are trying to achieve can contribute to enhanced opportunities for collaboration between schools and university and a more tangible approach to teacher learning.

Author

• Michelle Attard Tonna, University of Malta