Examining Collaborative Mentoring to Improve the Professional Learning of a Pre-service Teacher During Work Integrated Learning Practicum Experience: A Case Study of Practice

This chapter focusses on the lived experience of a pre-service teacher (PST) enrolled in a four-year Bachelor of Education Degree. This study cross examines the theoretical understandings of the ways in which a PST acquires professional learning (PL) during the work integrated (WIL) practicum period. This was done with the implementation of collaborative mentoring between the PST and the university lecturer. Mentoring in the WIL practicum period is vital, as this is the space where PSTs experience real life teaching situations. The role of the university lecturer in fostering teaching and learning is often not well understood and little research has been undertaken to examine how university lecturers envision and construct the pedagogical relationship between their interns and themselves. This research employed an interpretive case study design using a multiple method approach. Firstly, findings of this research study provide a deeper understanding of the dynamics between the mentor and mentee relationship within a WIL practicum environment. Secondly, findings that emerged from this study indicated that aspects of initial teacher education (ITE) programs that are related to the disjuncture between university and schools, require much needed attention. PSTs often find it difficult to navigate the alignment of both university and school contexts. It is anticipated that the transition from the PST to novice teacher phenomenon as a central component for PL could be better understood through this research study.