The Mentoring Profile Inventory: an online professional development resource for cooperating teachers

Are You Ready to be a Mentor? Preparing Teachers for Mentoring Pre-service Teachers

“…It is well documented that classroom teachers play a vital role in the preparation of pre-service teachers (Clarke, et al, 2012). Furthermore, as mentioned previously, it is often assumed that the classroom teacher's experience will enable them to mentor a pre-service teacher effectively and provide a worthwhile experience for the latter (Gagen & Bowie, 2005).…”

“…Accordingly, classroom teachers who mentor pre-service teachers are referred to as 'mentor teachers' rather than the more traditional term of 'supervisor'. Other terms such as 'cooperating teacher', 'school based teacher educator', 'school associates' and 'practicum supervisor' are also commonly used within the international literature to refer to a mentor teacher (Clarke et al, 2012). The shift in terminology has caused confusion amongst teacher educators in both higher education institutions (HEIs) and schools.…”

“…In the absence of preparation or training, many classroom teachers revert to their own experiences as pre-service teachers and duplicate the methods used by their own supervising teachers (Clarke et al, 2012;Hobson, Ashby, Malderez & Tomlinson, 2009;Wang & Odell, 2002). Mentoring practices, according to Wang and Odell (2002, p.525), can be formed by preparation for mentoring: 'research suggests that mentor preparation can substantially influence knowledge of particular mentoring techniques and skills to shape their mentoring practice'.…”

An analysis of three different approaches to student teacher mentoring and their impact on knowledge generation in practicum settings

“…Given the importance of mentoring, researchers have placed great emphasis on examining this activity, exploring it not only from a supervisory perspective but also as a new specialisation or career path within teaching (Clarke 1997;Clarke et al 2012). Traditionally, mentoring research has focused on improving communication between the mentoring partners (Moor et al 2005); providing emotional and psychological support for the mentee (Awaya et al 2003); establishing a professional relationship with the mentee (Allen, Day, and Lentz 2005); defining role identity among the mentoring partners (Hennissen et al 2010); articulating teaching advice for the mentee (Hobson et al 2009); and, scaffolding mentee reflection (Ward and McCotter 2004).…”

Exploring Chinese teachers' commitment to being a cooperating teacher in a university-government-school initiative for rural practicum placements

“…Following Meyer, Becker, and Vandenberghe (2004), we define "commitment" in terms of what motivates and challenges an individual to pursue a particular course of action. As such, we draw on the recently developed Mentoring Profile Inventory (MPI) -a 62-item survey that measures teachers' motivations and challenges to supervise student teachers -to gather data on a teacher's commitment to being a cooperating teacher in the UGS initiative (Clarke, Collins, Triggs, & Nielsen, 2012). The results shed light on how rural teachers are responding to the UGS initiative within the context of the two current nation-wide educational reform efforts (School Curriculum and Teacher Education) and suggest what is working but also what needs to be addressed to ensure Chinese teachers continued commitment to the UGS initiative.…”