Mentoring culture on roles and conceptions : a comparative study of two Hong Kong practicum schools

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the mentoring culture during the practicum placement of student teachers in Hong Kong schools. The sample included 3 mentor teachers (in-service at two schools) and 7 mentee student teachers (from different teacher training courses at the University of Hong Kong). The systematically planned mentorship programme through the School-University Partnership (SUP) and the good will relationship shared with the practicum schools set the context; while the spontaneous, sincere, and open sharing of all research participants gave this study it’s rich and detailed content.

Participants in this study were invited to share their practicum mentoring experiences through semi-structured interviews and responses to 5 mini-mentoring choice scenarios. Prior to the interview, mentor teachers only were invited to send in their open-ended response to the question: According to you, what is mentoring? These multiple sources for data collection helped triangulate, validate, and contextualize the findings.

From analyzing the mentoring aspects- different conceptions, roles and challenges were evident which indicated two very distinct mentoring cultures operated at different schools: inward-focused and outward-focused; in which the student teachers were accorded unique and different identities: teacher-in-class and teacher-in-school, respectively. Each mentoring culture model comprised: (a) the mentoring dimensions- contextual, relational, and process; (b) the super-ordinate professional goal; (c) mentoring pact boundary. The different dynamics of the mentoring pact lead to the different emphasis among the conceptions in the two cultures.

Discussions in the last chapter portray paradoxical themes found; while the recommendations suggest areas for further research to help strengthen the design and implementation of: the teacher education program and practicum model.