Rethinking Quality Co-Teaching: Between Teacher Mentoring and Visions of Professionalism

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Six
  In Roundtable Session: Mentoring at the K–12 Level (Table 15)

Abstract

Teacher mentoring and teacher professionalism are interrelated concepts, however, only rarely the work of mentor-teachers is analyzed through the prism of the vision of teacher professionalism it promotes. This multiple case-study aimed at this literature gap. It examined the goals that accomplished mentor-teachers promoted and their practices and found four mentoring styles that characterized them. Instead of asking whether these styles support or hinder the professionalization of teaching, the study interrogated how the mentoring styles interrelated with three distinct visions of teacher professionalism. Findings show that bipolar thinking about how mentoring styles support or hinder the professionalization of teaching could mislead us and that instead, we should try to balance the ideals and factors that constitute teacher mentoring.

Author

• Tal Carmi, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  Presenting Author