Pre-service and In-service Secondary Science Teachers' Perceptions of Mentoring Practices in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Pre-service and in-service teachers often take the same teacher training courses, and do similar field work. These two groups of student teachers have different backgrounds in knowledge, skills, maturity and experience and are likely to respond differently to the same learning experiences. This study is a survey of pre-service and in-service teachers' perceptions of mentoring practices using a five-factor model. The model differentiates mentoring aimed at improving student teachers' personal characteristics; strengthening subject curriculum knowledge; consolidating pedagogical knowledge; improving teaching practices; and encouraging reflective practice. The study uses an adapted version of the Mentoring for Effective Primary Science Teaching (MEPST) questionnaire. A Mann Whitney U-test, used to test significance of differences between pre-service and in-service teachers' perceptions of mentoring practices, showed statistically significant differences in all but the personal characteristics factor. Pre-service teachers' perceptions were found to be positive about mentoring regarding all the five factors while they were negative for in-service teachers. Our findings suggest different structure of teaching placement for the two groups of students: a cognitive apprenticeship model (Collins, Brown and Newman, 1989) for pre-service students and a community of practice (Maynard, 2001) for in-service teachers. We recommend that teacher educators must be guided by the needs of student teachers to propose appropriate mentoring practices capable of building upon prior knowledge and experience. Further research is recommended to design and test alternative mentoring practices.