“I don’t have an answer for you. I need to hear your thoughts”: a teacher’s deliberate mentoring practice in coplanning with student teachers

Abstract

ABSTRACT Using educative mentoring as a framework, the study explored in-depth the beliefs and mentoring practices of a master teacher and his three student teachers’ (PSTs) perceptions and responses to the practice in a weekly one-hour coplanning meeting for a semester. Data sources included observations and video recordings of coplanning meetings, field notes, individual interviews with participants, PSTs’ journal entries, and documents such as weekly lesson plans. All video recordings and interviews were transcribed verbatim. The results showed that both intellectually and emotionally secure learning foundations are essential for learning, mentoring, and collaboration; deliberate mentoring practices such as challenging questions, exploratory thinking, modeling, and guiding reflection help PSTs shift their way of thinking and promote an inquiry mind-set; empowering PSTs in decision-making leads to genuine collaboration and creates learning opportunities. Through intentional mentoring, PSTs become confident, experimental, and creative change agents. The complexities of mentoring practice are then discussed. To support mentors in their preparation, a comprehensive and holistic approach to mentoring practice is proposed.