Mentoring pre-service teachers in situated learning: A case study of a Zimbabwean teacher training college

Abstract

Mentoring pre-service teachers on teaching practice is an important part of the teacher development process. Pre-service teachers initially did teaching practice in schools where they could put what they had learned in their teacher education institute into practice. Teaching practice is now possible in virtual classrooms. This connects mentorship to the situated learning theory, which holds that effective education necessitates learning rooted in authentic contexts of practice, where pre-service teachers will participate in activities within social communities. Two teaching practice coordinators, eleven lecturers, seventeen pre-service teachers, and ten mentor teachers who were purposefully selected to participate in the study were interviewed using qualitative research approaches. Face-to-face interviews and focus group discussions were used to gather information. In this paper, I discuss the aspects that contribute to effective TP mentoring implementation as well as the contextual learning theory. Collaboration, introspection, coaching, multiple practice, acquisition of new abilities, and authentic situations are among the factors shown in the study. The mentor teacher serves as a knowledge provider, facilitator, and mediator. In the college under study there is great emphasis on that pre-service teachers get attached to mentor teachers in their practicing schools.