Abstract:

As a result of the economical, technological and social changes around the world, the role of schools and teacher-training processes are changing (Schleicher, 2011). Over the last decade, teacher training programs, led by pedagogical mentors, were developed to reflect certain theories, so as to enable students to practice sets of content topics and skills similar to those they would use as future teachers. The role of the pedagogical mentors, who are in fact responsible for the hands-on training of the students enrolled in the program, is widely described in the professional literature (Hattingh and Kock, 2008). Yet, there is no clear definition to date of the role of the pedagogical-instructors. The current study developed as an attempt to understand the role of the pedagogical mentors in the training program as perceived by and viewed from the perspective of the trainees in order to develop a professional partnership among all.
Pedagogical mentors develop mutual and yet professional relations in order to accompany students throughout the training process. They help them make the connections between the theories that they are taught and the hands-on experiences they encounter during the in-school practicum. In order to succeed in such a long-term process, varieties of teacher-training models were developed. These training models have been based on general training or leadership models, which have been adapted for use in the pedagogical field. The lack of these models is the fact that they all were designed exclusively by the pedagogical mentors, without considering the reciprocal relationship between mentors and mentees.
The main question that led to this study is, how can a reciprocal training program be devised without attending to the perceptions of one of the partners? Few studies that do refer to the trainees, shed some light on the type of guidance students received and the effects of these processes on their professional development (Black, 2006; Breunig, 2005; Hattingh & Kock, 2008). However, there is insufficient information to enable us to ascertain whether these training processes indeed met the expectations and needs of the teachers in training.
This case study includes 118 students who enrolled in a teacher training academic program in a college in the south of Israel. The study used questionnaires, focus groups and interviews to ascertain the students’ views of the role of pedagogical mentoring. This was the first time students within training were asked to present their point of view on teacher-training processes in Israel.
Findings underscore the fact that these students expect their pedagogical mentors to lend support in all aspects related to their program of studies. At the same time, students also emphasized their desire to develop their career independently and to be treated as full partners in their teacher-training program. The strongest conclusion that developed from the findings of this study, is that students want to develop professional partnership with their pedagogical mentors in order to become better educators; teacher-students do not want to be passive learners who succeed in studies just because they did everything they were told to, they want to become partners. Students, as significant partners through educational processes, may help educators develop updated training programs that contribute all.

Keywords:

Pedagogical mentoring, teacher training, pedagogy, teachers in training.