Supervision in Physical Education Teacher Education Programs: Making the Case for Paired Placements

Mentor’s Perspective: Impact of Working in a Professional Development Partnership

“…Echoing the findings in this study, teachers benefit from a social and collaborative environment rather than working in isolation (Heidorn & Jenkins, 2015). One way a mentor PE teacher can curb isolation and increase professional development is through participating in a CoP.…”

“…Teaching should be a collaborative rather than an isolated endeavor (Heidorn & Jenkins, 2015). Numerous PE teachers are the sole PE teacher in their building and are unable to form a community with others who teach the same subject matter (Curtner-Smith, 2001;Stroot & Ko, 2006;Parker et al, 2010).…”

Learning to teach as a two-sided endeavor: mentors’ perceptions of paired practicum in initial teacher education

“…Also, Baker and Milner (2006) claim that student teachers in paired practicum tend to address pedagogical matters with their mentors rather than personal issues, and that despite a shared mentor time, this time is perceived as dynamic and focused on pedagogical growth and teaching rather than individual and private matters. According to Bullough et al (2002Bullough et al ( , 2003, and Heidorn and Jenkins (2015), student teachers preferred paired practicum and perceived themselves as better and more realistically equipped for their future teaching.…”

“…When student teachers are placed in paired practicum, they are facilitated to discuss their problems and concerns with each other, which reduces their isolation as well as an amount of stress which often is experienced when being one student -one mentor. Further highlighted by Heidorn and Jenkins (2015) is that student teachers are provided with feedback from two individuals, a mentor as well as their peer student, instead of just one. Additionally, the pair of students can discuss and reflect over a lesson that the mentor is instructing (Heidorn & Jenkins, 2015).…”

“…Further highlighted by Heidorn and Jenkins (2015) is that student teachers are provided with feedback from two individuals, a mentor as well as their peer student, instead of just one. Additionally, the pair of students can discuss and reflect over a lesson that the mentor is instructing (Heidorn & Jenkins, 2015). Even in uneven collaborative pairs (Dee, 2012), the stronger student serves as a role model and another voice in the areas in which the partner needs to make changes.…”