Host or teacher of teaching? Examining mentors’ tacit theories of student teacher learning

Abstract

This qualitative study challenges dominant and discrete understandings of preservice mentor roles and practices by positing two orientations -- “host” and “teacher of teaching” and examining their associations with mentors' ideas about student teacher learning. Drawing on data from 27 mentor teachers across four teacher education programs, we find that mentoring orientations are shaped by mentors' implicit and enacted theories of student teacher learning. Furthermore, mentors' ideas about how student teachers learn are reflected in how mentors describe their role and preferred practices. By naming implicit theories of learning that underlie mentors' practices, we can begin to understand why mentors may approach mentoring and engage with student teachers in the manner that they do.