Understandings of mentoring in school placement settings within the context of Initial Teacher Education in Scotland.

Author(s):

Lorele Mackie(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2016

Network:

10. Teacher Education Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

10 SES 11 C, Mentoring and Agency in Teacher Education

Paper Session

Time:

2016-08-25

17:15-18:45

Room:

NM-C214

Chair:

Gaele Macfarlane

Contribution

This paper is from a larger empirical research study aimed at exploring understandings and perceptions of the use of formative assessment principles and practices in mentoring primary education student teachers within a school placement context to support their professional development. Three sequential research questions were constructed:

What are mentors’ and student teachers’ understandings of mentoring within a school placement context?
What are mentors’ and student teachers’ understandings and perceptions of the use of formative assessment in mentoring student teachers within a school placement context?
To what extent does formative assessment support mentor and mentee professional development?

This paper addresses the first research question. Its aims are:

to explore understandings of mentoring in school placement settings within the context of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in Scotland;
to offer a contribution with regard to further understanding the intricacies of the mentoring process.

Within the realms of beginner teachers, the significance of mentoring is a recurrent theme within the literature on teacher education. Current discourses of a ‘knowledge society’, with its inherent emphasis on lifelong learning, suggest that the processes of learning and teaching are important (Grabinger, Dunlap and Duffield, 1997). This requires changes to the way teaching is conceptualised in that broader, more complex knowledge, skill and competence bases are essential (ibid.). Such a discourse means that the process of learning is a central component and ‘teaching is the core profession, the key change agent of change’(Hargreaves, 2003:125). Political, economic and social agendas are factors in an increasing emphasis on school improvement, where achievement is directly correlated with quality teaching and learning, thus bringing teachers more into public focus (Forde, McMahon, McPhee and Patrick, 2006). This focus has implications for the nature and quality of the future generation of teachers in terms of the requisite attributes to foster appropriate capacities in learners, and the mentoring practices used to foster such attributes. It is a complex task (Davies and Dunnill, 2008) where engagement in effective mentoring in both university and school contexts is vital. The learning of beginner teachers occurs within the realms of relationships with others (Harrison, Lawson and Wortley, 2005) so having a mentor who is part of the teaching community is crucial and collaboration with that mentor essential (Hargreaves and Fullan, 2000). The rhetoric on the importance of, and the need for, improved mentoring through better partnership is evident in all three reviews of Scottish teacher education within the last fifteen years (Deloitte and Touche, 2001; Scottish Executive, 2005; Scottish Government, 2011). The latest review of teacher education recommends that mentoring is addressed at national and local levels to ensure quality provision (Scottish Government, 2011). Further, it suggests that schools should be involved in the mentoring process because they are able to foster such quality and that mentors should be chosen with regard to the knowledge, understanding and skills they possess in both teaching and mentoring (ibid.).

Within the context of initial teacher education and salient discourses of professionalism, this paper considers mentor and mentee understandings of mentoring on school placements. Current Scottish education policy is used to frame and exemplify points made with a variety of national and international literature employed to analyse findings and suggest recommendations for future mentoring practices.

This research study is underpinned by a constructivist epistemology. Constructivism has been defined in a variety of ways (Larochelle, Bedwarz and Garrison, 1998). In educational contexts two conceptions are common and most relevant, namely cognitive constructivism with its emphasis on individual construction of knowledge, and social constructivism where knowledge is constructed through interaction with others (Phillips, 2000).

Method

An instrumental, collective case study was employed for this study. Instrumental as the focus is on looking at an overarching case, the mentoring process, to understand a phenomenon (Cohen, Manion and Morrison, 2007), perceptions of the use of formative assessment within the mentoring process. Therefore, the case is subsidiary to developing that understanding (Stake, 2000); collective to provide a more holistic view of that phenomenon (Stake, 1995 in Cresswell, 2007) where individual cases are examined but situated within a collective study. Within the overarching collective case of the mentoring process, four individual cases were investigated: class teacher mentors, mentees, school management mentors and local authority mentors. A purposeful sampling strategy was employed in terms of selecting student teachers at a particular stage on a specific programme (an undergraduate primary education degree). The rationale for this strategy is that students in year three have experience of the mentoring process from a previous placement and would be able to use the experiences gained through this study to build on and enhance professional development, and to reflect forward to their final year four placement. Methodological congruence is vital in a research study: an appropriate approach should be selected that is consistent with the researcher’s epistemological position and the research design (Thomas, 2009). In accordance with my constructivist epistemological standpoint, situated within an interpretive paradigm, data collection, analysis and interpretation are viewed as active (Esterberg, 2002) and shared processes with participants as co-creators of data and meaning. This led to the selection of semi-structured interviews where a probing strategy was employed as the inherent flexibility of this type of interview allows for comprehension of viewpoints of participants’ lived world (Kvale, 2007) during the interview and so presents opportunities for the interviewer to inquire further thereby promoting depth of analysis (May, 2001). Constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006) was subsequently used as an approach to data analysis and theory generation as this provided me with systematic guidelines for analysis where theories are constructed from the data gathered (ibid.). Classic notions of the ‘discovering’ of data and theory are rejected where the researcher is silent (ibid.) and replaced by the researcher as the author in rebuilding participants’ experiences and understandings (Hallberg, 2006).

Expected Outcomes

Data from this study indicates that participants understood mentoring as a multidimensional process involving a range of relationships designed to support the mentoring of student teachers within a school placement context. Four relationships, which differ in terms of their extent and form/function, are evident: class teacher (CT) mentor/mentee; school management mentor/CT mentor/mentee; school/university; and local authority/school. These relationships appear to range in proximity from close to barely existent. Findings indicate that the key relationship is that between CT mentor and mentee. It is a close one, evident on a daily basis within the classroom and the associated expectations derived from the wider context of the student’s degree stage and competency standards. Analysis of CT mentor and mentee responses suggests that they understood mentoring as involving both personal and professional dimensions. From these dimensions elements of collaboration and power also emerge. In comparison, the relationship between the school management mentor, CT mentor and mentee is a more remote one, evident at a structural level prior to the placement and if there are issues during the placement. The connection between school and university is similarly understood as remote with universities being seen as responsible for theory and schools for practice. There is lack of consensus about whether local authorities should be involved with mentoring student teachers and, in reality, such involvement is not evident apart from in the induction year that follows undergraduate and postgraduate primary education programmes. Findings indicate that the relationship between local authorities and schools in the context of ITE is barely existent. This paper focuses on the key relationship between CT mentor and mentee. Based on findings, recommendations about mentor education and partnership within Scottish ITE are suggested to foster a more cohesive, informed approach to mentoring beginner teachers.

References

Ambrosetti, A., Knight, B.S. and Dekkers, J. (2014) Maximising the Potential of Mentoring: A Framework for Pre-service Teacher Education, Mentoring and Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 22:3, 224-239 Charmaz, K. (2006) Constructing grounded theory. London: Sage Cohen, L., Manion, L. and Morrison, K. (2007) Research Methods in Education, GB: Routledge Cresswell, J.W. (2007) Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design, London: Sage Publications Ltd Davies, P. and Dunnill, R. (2008) ‘Learning Study’ as a model of collaborative practice in initial teacher education, Journal of Education for Teaching: International research and pedagogy 34, 3-16 Deloitte & Touche (2001) The Scottish Executive-Report of the ‘First Stage’ Review of Initial Teacher Education, Edinburgh: Deloitte and Touche Esterberg, K.G. (2002) Qualitative Methods in Social Research, London: McGraw-Hill Higher Education Foucault, M. (1979) The history of sexuality, volume one: An introduction, London: Allen Lane Grabinger, S., Dunlap, J.C. and Duffield, J.A. (1997) Rich environments for active learning in action: problem-based learning. ALT-J 5:2, 5-17 Hallberg, I.R-M. (2006) The ‘‘core category’’ of grounded theory: Making constant comparisons, International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, 2006, 141-148 Forde, C., McMahon, M., McPhee, A.D. and Patrick, F. (2006) Professional Development, Reflection and Enquiry, London: Paul Chapman Publishing Hargreaves, A. (2003) Teaching in the knowledge society, Berkshire: Open University Press Hargreaves, A. & Fullan, M. (2000) Mentoring in the New Millennium, Theory into Practice, 39:1, 50-56 Harrison, K., Lawson, T. and Wortley, A. (2005) Mentoring the beginner teacher: developing professional autonomy through critical reflection on practice, Reflective Practice, 6:3, 419-441 Kvale, S. (2007) Doing Interviews, London: Sage Larochelle, M., Bedwarz, N. & Garrison, J. (1998) Constructivism and Education, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press May, T. (2001) Social Research: Issues, methods and process, Buckingham: Open University Press Phillips, D.C (ed) (2000) Constructivism in Education: Opinions and Second Opinions on Controversial Issues, Illinois: The National Centre for the Study of Education Schwille, S.A. (2008) The Professional Practice of Mentoring, American Journal of Education, 115, 139-167 Scottish Executive (2005) Stage 2 Review of Initial Teacher Education, Edinburgh: Scottish Executive Scottish Government (2011) ‘Teaching Scotland’s Future’, Edinburgh: Scottish Government Stake, R.E. (2000) Qualitative Case Studies in Denzin, N.K. and Lincoln, Y. (2005) The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research, London: Sage Publications Ltd Thomas, G. (2009) How to do Your Research Project, London: Sage Publications Ltd Yeomans, R. and Sampson, J. (1994) Mentorship in the Primary School, London: The Falmer Press

Author Information

Lorele Mackie (presenting / submitting)

University of Stirling

Education

Stilring

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