Mentor and Student Teachers’ Feedback on Mentoring Issues during Clinical Experience Program

Abstract

This study was conducted to obtainmentor and student teachers’ views on the mentoring practice during their 16-week clinical experience program (CEP). This study involved 22student teachers who had completed their 16 weeks CEP and 19 mentor teachers. The research employed qualitative research design whereby data was collected using written feedback form. Data was analyzed using thematiccontent analysis to look for emergent themes.The themes emerged related to issues faced during CEP werecategorized according to three dimensions which are affective, professional and technical and linked to the five-factor mentoring model developed by Hudson (2007).Mentor feedback and mentor mentee relationship are two themes that emerged under the affective dimension while pedagogical knowledge and mentoring knowledge were categorized under professional dimension. For technical dimension, the theme time limitation emerged as a dominant theme. This study values mentor and pre-service teachers’ feedback as the crucial factors in revisiting the mentoring program. It is hoped that better understanding of thementoring practices during clinical experience for pre-service teachers can help in improving the quality of mentoring during CEP.