Reciprocal Peer Mentoring: Practical Implications in Practicum

Introduction

Pre-service teacher education is the critical period holding vital repercussions for the development and growth of effective teachers. It ideally encompasses the theoretical knowledge and practical work pre-service teachers essentially need to master throughout their professional life. Providing insights into various roles and tasks of a teacher, it aids pre-service teachers to develop a functional awareness about what they will be required to do once assigned as full-time teachers, take agency in their professional development and gain autonomy to make informed decisions at times of turbulences. However, pre-service teacher education (PTE) has notoriously been identified with a drastic gap between theory it offers and practices in actual teaching settings (Beck & Kosnick, 2002). Relevant to the gap between theory and practice, there has been widespread criticism that PTE programs inadequately prepare teachers, which in turn induces high attrition rates worldwide (Ingersoll, 2001). Therefore, there appears a dire need for PTE programs to timely identify and address diverse needs and concerns of pre-service teachers, cultivate in them a strong sense of confidence in their instructional knowledge and skills, and provide them with sufficient hands-on experiences for a realistic understanding of teaching.

In line with the abovementioned need, international calls (Darling-Hammond, 2010; ten Dam & Blom, 2006) have mushroomed to restructure PTE programs to make them more school-based. Attempts to have PTE programs and actual schools work in tandem for the development of more effective teachers have yielded promising outcomes (Putnam & Borko, 1997). Central to these attempts, practicum has featured as the primary site to link the theory and actual practice. As it signifies the initial and demanding contact with actual classrooms as a teacher, practicum involves pre-service teachers in a bunch of experiences that ideally foster their personal and professional development. Though pre-service teachers have had thousands of hours of exposure to teaching beforehand (Richter et al, 2013), it is in practicum that they get the first opportunity to critically observe practices of experienced teachers. Practicum similarly provides hands-on teaching experiences, which enable pre-service teachers to operationalize their instructional knowledge and skills in order to survive in actual classrooms and contribute to student learning. Also, it engages pre-service teachers in briefing and debriefing sessions, during which they get involved in reflective thought on the observed and their own teaching practices, exchange opinions about ways of overcoming possible struggles, and receive feedback about how to improve their effectiveness as a teacher.

Even though these practices each make invaluable contributions to pre-service teachers’ development, development of a successful teacher identity requires more than mere engagement in observation, teaching or briefing/debriefing experiences. More precisely, practicum requires effective mentoring in order to maximize the gains pre-service teachers are likely to make through engagement in the abovementioned practices. A prominent component of practicum process, mentoring is a complex and dynamic interpersonal relationship which requires time and commitment (Campbell-Evans & Maloney, 1997). Viewed as an extension of the pastoral role of being a teacher (Goodwyn, 1997), mentoring provides context-specific and non-judgmental support and feedback. With an increasing interest in its contributions to teacher effectiveness since the mid-1980s, mentoring holds a great potential to facilitate teacher development and induction (Ehrich, Hansford & Tennent, 2004; Hobson, Ashby, Malderez & Tomlinson, 2009).