School-based Mentoring - An Analysis of Austrian Mentees on Mentoring Practices in Teacher Education Programmes

The study points out the importance of practical mentoring in schools and the mentee's (n=114) assessment of the mentoring process in relation to the five-factor model (MET) according to P. Hudson (2005, 2010) during their internship. The students surveyed (n=114) from an Austrian university college of teacher education were in the second, third or fourth year of a bachelor's degree programme in primary school teaching. The survey took place at the end of their work placement. Highly significant differences between the cohorts (second vs third/fourth year of study) can be documented for all five factors within the mentoring practices, in particular for trust (p=0.002) and paying attention (p=0.008), for supporting reflection (p=0.006), in discussions about goals (p=0.014) and points of view (p=0.009), in supporting teaching strategies (p=0.008), in designing classroom management (p=0.002), in evaluating teaching activities (p=0.006), in providing written feedback (p=0.001) and in articulating expectations (p=0.009). Further significant differences are described in the article. The results with the differences illustrate that person-orientated mentoring takes place into account the number of semesters already completed and focuses on different aspects that promote a learning and development process.