The context and practice of school-based mentoring of pre-service teachers in Zimbabwe
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Date
2018-11
Authors
Muyengwa, Barnabas
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Free State
Abstract
Changes in teacher education that are experienced worldwide have continued to influence
teacher preparation in developing countries such as Zimbabwe. These changes have seen
teacher education literally shifting to include schools in recent years and this has placed new
demands on teachers in schools. However, there has not been a corresponding capacitation of
school personnel for their new roles. In addition to teaching, teachers have been expected to
play a critical role in teacher education as mentor teachers. This study, besides analysing the
differences in mentoring contexts in secondary schools, sought to determine if and how
different mentoring contexts shape mentoring practices. In an attempt to provide a deeper
understanding of how school-based mentoring of pre-service teachers is practiced in various
school contexts of Zimbabwe and with what consequences for the classroom practices of the
pre-service teachers, the current study used a qualitative multi-case study to investigate
mentoring contexts and practices in selected secondary schools in one district in Zimbabwe.
The unit of analysis was the mentoring pair in conveniently selected secondary schools. The
mentoring pairs were purposively sampled and comprised of pre-service teachers who were
on Teaching Practice (TP) in their final semester and their mentors from a population of
Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) students of the university that was studied.
The data analysis process for interviews, observations of mentoring sessions and documents
resulted in the emergence of the main themes and selected sub-themes from the categories.
The Vygotskian socio-cultural theory with its main tenets of mental development based on
social interaction, the use of the more knowledgeable other (MKO), and the zone of proximal
development (ZPD) was used as a lens to interpret findings of the present study. The main
themes were contexts, mentoring practices, pre-service teachers’ classroom practices and
improvements in mentoring of pre-service teachers.
The findings of this study suggest that the contexts in which mentoring took place were
different and as expected, there were different challenges which formed the basis for improving the practice of mentoring pre-service teachers in secondary schools. In addition,
the current study established that teachers, despite not having formal training in mentoring;
they have been able to contribute to teacher development using their limited expertise in teacher education and at times limited resources. Though teachers were not specifically
trained as mentors, the way they have accepted their assumed new role of teacher educator in
the schools can be commended as they have made significant contributions to teacher
development for no extra pay. Furthermore, teachers were informally in-serviced during the
mentoring process, especially on contemporary teaching methodologies. However, the study
recommends the establishment of communities of practice as part of the schools-university
partnership to capacitate the mentoring pairs. Consequently, the study proposes an evolving
model for improving school-based mentoring of pre-service teachers that could lead to
improved teaching and learning in secondary schools as they offer opportunities for learning
to teach.
Description
Keywords
Pre-service teachers, Teacher educators, Mentoring contexts, Mentoring practices, Teacher development, Thesis (Ph.D. (School of Education Studies))--University of the Free State, 2018