PRESERVICE TEACHERS’ LIVED EXPERIENCE OF THE MENTORING RELATIONSHIP WITH THEIR UNIVERSITY SUPERVISORPresented by:

Michele L. Brague, Ed.D

Misericordia University

PURPOSE OF STUDY

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the lived experiences of preservice teachers’ mentoring relationships with their university supervisors.

WHY THIS TOPIC?

Director of Student Teaching/Field Placements for many years

Worked directly with university supervisors Wanted the preservice teacher’s perspective

on the relationship Assistant Professor

LITERATURE REVIEW

Mentoring TheoryMcKimm, J. Jollie, & Hatter, M (2007)

Tang, S.Y.F., & Choi, P. L. (2005)

SupervisionAlbasheer, A. Khasawneh, S., Nabah, A. &Hailat, S. (2008)

Giebelhaus, C. R. (1995)

Koehler, V. (1984)

Slick, G. A. (1995)

Thobega, M., & Miller, G. (2008)

Zheng, B., & Webb, L. (2000)

POPULATION/SETTING

Goals: A college or university within 30 miles of

each other in northeastern Pennsylvania. The institutions were chosen for the study due to their proximity to each other and similar characteristics such as size of the institution, student population, and programs offered

Targeted six universities/colleges 12-15 preservice teachers (2-3 from each of

the six institutions)

SAMPLE

Five preservice teachers: One male preservice teacherFour females preservice teachers Majors:One secondary education/special education

majorOne mid-level education majorOne early childhood/special education majorOne elementary majorOne early childhood/elementary major

Creswell, J. (2007); Patton, M. Q. (2002); Merriam, S. B. (2009)

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

What effect does the preservice teachers’ prior experience with their university faculty supervisor or adjunct supervisor have on their mentoring relationship?

How do preservice teachers characterize good mentoring?

DATA ANALYSIS

Demographic Information Questionnaire Interviews: semi-structured format consisting

of open-ended questions Participants asked to keep an online journal

of their mentoring relationship

RESULTS

Results: Unable to answer first question

Four themes emerged : Roles/Responsibilities of supervisors Characteristics/attributes of supervisors Frequent communication Preservice teacher’s insights/personal growth

All participants had an adjunct supervisor

THEME ONE: ROLES/RESPONSIBILITIES

Preservice teachers characterized their supervisors as a mentor, tool and resource, friend, role model

THEME TWO: CHARACTERISTICS/ATTRIBUTES

Preservice teachers characterized their supervisors as demonstrating openness, understanding, dependability, reliability, and acceptance.

THEME THREE: FREQUENT COMMUNICATION

Preservice teachers reported frequent two-way communication on a weekly basis with their supervisor via email, texting, phone, or face-to-face meeting/observations

Example comment from participant:“She would either e-mail me or would come in

for an observation…make sure that everything was running smoothly and was on the right page”.

THEME FOUR: PRESERVICE TEACHER’S INSIGHTS/PERSONAL GROWTH

Preservice teachers insights/personal growth Example comments from preservice teachers:“Just as a mentor and friend…a good resource.

It was kinda like a…principal, as a principal kind of guides, guides their teachers what to do. That’s kinda what we have facilitated”.

“It was kinda interesting because some of the other students did have faculty members that they were really familiar with…and I kinda liked having someone that wasn’t someone I knew well, because it gave you an outside perspective”.

OVERVIEW OF FINDINGS What effect does the preservice teachers’ prior

experience with their university faculty supervisor or adjunct supervisor have on their mentoring relationship?

Because all participants did not have prior experience with their university supervisor, the researcher was unable to identify a difference between preservice teachers who had prior experience with their university supervisor and those who did not have prior experience with their university supervisor; therefore, the researcher was unable to answer this question. However, all participants stated that they had met their supervisor at the beginning of the semester, in January, as part of the student teaching seminars.

OVERVIEW OF FINDINGS

How do preservice teachers characterize good mentoring?This study concluded that the preservice teachers highlighted many roles, responsibilities and attributes that characterize good mentoring and supervising.

A few preservice teachers voiced concerns about expectations and roles of the supervisors, as well as technology capabilities of their supervisors.

DISCUSSION OF RESULTS:

Mentoring Theory:All four themes that emerged from the study

were reflected in the Mentoring Theory.

Supervision:The findings within the first theme of roles and responsibilities , the second theme of characteristics of supervisors , and the third theme of frequent communication were reflected in Supervision.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: COMMUNICATION

Training and implementation of policies on the appropriate use of communication technology would benefit the preservice teacher, university supervisor, and teacher education programs.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: ROLES/RESPONSIBILITIES

Clarifying the roles and responsibilities of university supervisors during a beginning seminar as well as having them published in a handbook would be beneficial to both the preservice teachers and university supervisors.

FURTHER RESEARCH

Since this study did not include preservice teachers and faculty supervisors, a study on the lived experiences of preservice teacher’s and their mentoring relationship with faculty supervisors would add to the discussion.

A study of faculty and adjunct supervisors that investigates the lived experiences of their relationship with preservice teachers may be beneficial to get a different perspective of the relationship.

FURTHER RESEARCH Since some institutions use two supervisors for

one preservice teacher for their respected certification supervisory areas, a study on preservice teachers with two supervisors may give further insights into the preservice teacher and university supervisor relationship.

The two institutions in which the study was conducted were both private higher education institutes. A study that included public higher education institutions may add to the discussion.

A survey of colleges/universities to investigate the utilization of faculty supervisors and/or adjunct supervisors.

REFERENCESAlbasheer, A. Khasawneh, S., Nabah, A. &Hailat, S. (2008) Perceptions of student

teachers towards the effectiveness of co-operating teachers, school principals

and university supervisors participating in the teacher education program in

Jordan. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 27(6), 693-705.

Creswell, J. (2007) Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among the five

approaches (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Giebelhaus, C. R. (1995) Revisiting a step-child: Supervision in teacher

education. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Association of

Teacher Educators, Detroit, MI.

Koehler, V. (1984) University supervision of student teachers. Paper presented at

the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA.

REFERENCESMcKimm, J. Jollie, & Hatter, M (2007) Mentoring: Theory and practice.

Preparedness to Practice Project Mentoring Scheme. Retrieved from

http://www.pdfio.com/k-269629.html#.

Merriam, S. B. (2009) Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. San

Francisco: John Wiley & Sons.

Patton, M. Q. (2002) Qualitative research & evaluation methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Slick, G. A. (1995) Preparing new teachers: Operating successful field experience Programs. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Tang, S.Y.F., & Choi, P. L. (2005) Connecting theory and practice in mentoring preparation:

Mentoring for improvement of teaching and learning. Mentoring and Tutoring. 13(3),

383-401

REFERENCESThobega, M., & Miller, G. (2008) Perceptions of supervision practices by

agricultural

education student teachers. Journal of Agricultural Education, 49(3), 65-75.

Zheng, B., & Webb, L. (2000) A new model of student teacher supervision:

Perceptions of supervising teachers. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the

Mid-South Educational Research Association, Bowling Green.