Staff-wide Mentoring of Pre-service Teachers: Benefits and Barriers

Abstract

School-university partnerships are purported to develop the collegial support needed for any educational change. They may also surmount barriers between pre-service and in- service teacher education. In this school-university partnership study involving staff wide mentoring of pre-service teachers as a change agent, the writer outlines the benefits to pre- and in-service teachers and the barriers encountered that prevented them from fulfilling partnership promise. Pre-service teachers achieved desired internship outcomes and change-resistant teachers developed collegiality and support. Central administration interference and lack of principal leadership created barriers. Suggestions for overcoming the barriers are offered.