Influence of the Pedagogical Content Knowledge of Mentor Teachers and College Tutors to Classroom Practice of Student Teachers

Abstract

The study surveyed student teachers (n = 130) from two Colleges of Education in northern and southern Ghana who reported a significantly greater influence by school-based mentors on their teaching practice when they had been with them for 10 weeks. The study is correlational that employed a questionnaire that sought the opinions of student teachers on the influence of school mentors and college tutors on their classroom practice. Descriptive and correlational data analyses were performed on the data collected. Independent t-test was used to test the null hypothesis of research question 3 at .05 level of significance. The results of the study revealed that the correlations between student teachers’ perceptions of their school mentors’ PCK in planning and preparation of lessons, cordial relationship with the student teacher, feedback received, and methods of teaching and how these influenced their classroom practice were all statistically significant at p = < .05. The results also revealed that the correlations between student teachers’ perceptions of their college tutors’ PCK in planning and preparation of lessons, cordial relationship with the student teacher, feedback received, and methods of teaching and how these influenced their classroom practice were all statistically significant at p = < .05. However, t-test results indicated that student teachers related well with their school mentors than college tutors. The difference in this cordial relationship was statistically significant (t = 6.045, p < .01). The student teachers also perceived that they received more feedback from their school mentors than from their college tutors during their internship. The difference was again statistically significant (t = 4.565, p< = .01). These findings have important implications as they suggest a greater transfer of learning from the school to the classroom than from the college, producing student teachers who are willing to incorporate and implement school-based practices in a new context. Colleges of education need to have closer links with partnership schools than it is now. There is a growing need to rethink of student teaching and how to tightly link the university with the school system for effective and qualitative training of student teachers.