PE and Dance students’ perceptions of mentoring under the Partnership scheme

Abstract

Abstract As schools and HEIs have become partners in initial teacher education, the roles of personnel from both institutions have experienced radical change. Whilst the role of the university tutor as a student support and assessor has diminished, the teacher's role has been extended, to that of the student's subject‐specific mentor. Considering the importance of mentorship in the teacher education process and the lack of evidence on mentoring from the student's perspective, the present study sought to expand on current knowledge and increase understanding of the student's perspective through exploration of postgraduate PE and Dance students’ perceptions of the mentor role and the mentorship relationship at the University of Brighton. This study forms part of a larger, collaborative project between the University of Brighton and Liverpool John Moore's University which is investigating the development and impact of School Based Teacher Education Partnerships. In semi‐structured interviews, 25 students were asked to discuss: ideal qualities for mentoring and the student/mentor relationship; the mentor's role and their influence on the student. Students generally valued a supportive, professional relationship with their mentor which allowed mutual input and a mentor who is approachable and has a depth of subject expertise. These findings indicated the need, in the course of future research, to consider interaction and information exchange in the student/mentor relationship and the perceived and actual role which student and mentor play in this relationship. Of current interest is the postgraduate student's experience of mentoring, which is highlighted and discussed in the present article. The data discussed here derive from work in the project's early stages at the University of Brighton, and the article is the first in a series which will be presented as the project continues. Future publications will discuss investigations which expand on the present findings and which result from either collaborative inquiry between the two institutions or replication studies to enable cross‐comparison between findings.