In the context of the Swiss single-phase pre-service teacher training, student teachers transition into working as fully qualified primary and secondary classroom teachers after three and five years of studies respectively. Internships in schools form the central basis of their practical experience for their future teaching and are accompanied by mentor teachers, who play a crucial role in students’ professional development. On the other hand, mentor teachers must navigate their various professional roles and balance their obligations to their schools and the teacher education institutions, which is a complex situation.

 For quite some time now, The Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK) has been calling for a paradigm shift that leaves the concept of “master and apprentice” behind and focuses on a co-constructive and scientific-based approach to the collaboration between mentor-teacher and intern (Leder, 2011). Depending on the canton and university, new mentor teachers complete specific qualification programs, which prepare them for their new professional role and strive to initiate this paradigm shift.  Nevertheless, empirical studies (Fraefel, Bernhardsson-Laros, Bäuerlein, 2017, Leineweber, 2022) show that most participants tend to reproduce traditional practices of mentor teaching. This may be related to the fact that their implicit orientiations are deeply anchored in individual biographical experiences and thus not easily malleable.

This is where our SNF-funded research project “Mentor teachers as teacher trainers” (PraLeB) comes into play as a longitudinal study aimed to reconstruct such implicit orientations. New mentor teachers (N=20) from two Swiss universities are followed over a period of several years from the beginning of the qualification program during several phases of accompanying internships. xxx

In our contribution we will look at (future) mentor teachers at different points in time as they take on a second professional role as teacher trainers – in addition to their first professional role as classroom teachers. Using contrastive case studies, we will first shed light on mentor teachers’ retrospective biographical experiences during their own pre-service training as students: What do they refer to as central for their own professional development? What role models in terms of mentor teachers guide their thinking? We will give an insight into their preconceptions and anticipated role of themselves as mentor teachers before they start working with interns for the first time. What is their understanding of professional development? What do they expect from students and what benefits do they expect for themselves? We will then reconstruct their first experiences as new mentor teachers. What do they see as crucial in their first experiences with students? In what ways were their expectations challenged?

In our discussion we will outline connections that can be drawn between their own biographical experiences with mentor teachers and their newly experienced professional role. We will reconstruct in what ways their existing frames of thinking were confirmed as well as challenged during their first experiences working with students.

Our contribution is part of a larger longitudinal study. The data basis for our contribution consists of semi-structured interviews which are collected at two different points in mentor teacher careers: The first interview (t1) is conducted before or during the qualification program. The second interview (t2) takes place after their first experiences with training student teachers. The interviews are analysed using the documentary method. This method distinguishes between communicatively generalized, explicit knowledge and conjunctive, implicit knowledge, which is mostly not reflexively accessible to the actors, but is reflected in their practices of action as well as in their narratives (Bohnsack, 2017). This way, the orientation frameworks guiding mentor teachers’ actions, can be reconstructed. It will become clear whether these orientation frameworks are held stable or whether mentors are adapting their orientation frameworks over time and professional experiences.

Our contribution is located within the larger SNF-funded longitudinal research study “Mentor teachers as teacher trainers” (PraLeB). In our contribution we will shed light on the connection that can be drawn on (future) mentor teachers’ biographical experiences during their own practical trainings and their newly experienced professional role as a teacher trainer. We will begin by looking at their existing frames of thinking before they start the qualification program as mentor teacher. We will then outline their first experiences with students and how their expectations were confirmed or challenged during that time. By using contrastive case studies, we will give an insight into the diversity of preconceptions that then guide the way in which they fulfill their role as mentor teachers.

Bohnsack, R. (2017). Praxeologische Wissenssoziologie. Opladen: Barbara Budrich. Fraefel, U., Bernhardsson-Laros, N. & Bäuerlein, K. (2017): Partnerschaftliches Lehren und Lernen angehender und erfahrener Lehrpersonen im Schulfeld. Aufbau von Professionswissen mittels Peer-to-Peer-Mentoring in lokalen Arbeits- und Lerngemeinschaften. In: Kreis, A. & Schnebel, S. (Eds.): Peer Coaching in der praxissituierten Ausbildung von Lehrpersonen. Landau: Verlag Empirische Pädagogik, pp. 30-49 Leder, Ch. (2011). Neun Thesen zur Lehrerinnen- und Lehrerbildung. In Ambühl, H. & Stadelmann, W. (Eds.). Wirksame Lehrerinnen – und Lehrerbildung – gute Schulpraxis, gute Steuerung (pp. 13-37). Bilanztagung II der EDK, Studien und Berichte 33A. Bern. Leineweber, S.: Partnerschulen als Professionalisierungsraum für an gehende Primarlehrpersonen – Rekonstruktionen von Ausbildungsmilieus - In: Beiträge zur Lehrerinnen- und Lehrerbildung 40 (2022) 2, pp. 254-267 - URN: urn:nbn:de:0111-pedocs-253780 - DOI: 10.25656/01:25378