Browsing by Subject "Ohjaajan rooli"

Purposes. The purpose of this thesis is to find out how students experience the mentoring provided to them by the mentoring teacher. The study focused on finding out how the student-supervisor relationship, previous expectations and the realization of those expectations affected students' experiences on teaching practice. Additionally the study explores the underlying mentors roles that affect the student-supervisor relationship. Previous studies indicate that mentoring relationship and the mentors roles are defined by the goals of the practice, students' need for support and their stages of learning. Therefore this study also focused on development of the students' theory in practice and professional thinking. Methods The research material was collected from six first year teacher students on their first teaching practice. The students wrote free form essays on their experiences and then they were interviewed on mentoring provided to them during practice. The material consists of four single person interviews and a pair interview. Collection of the research data took place in April and May 2013. Theoretical content analysis was applied to analyze the data. Results and conclusions The experiences of the students were significantly connected to the feedback received from the mentoring teacher. The mentoring during practice was generally perceived as encouraging and positive, emphasizing the practical aspects of teaching. The mentoring was straightforward, focusing on instructions and advices. The students perceived the mentoring discussion more like feedback sessions. The cause of this was the lack of dialogue and interactive discussion. However, this was not the case with all the students. One of the student pairs confirmed that dialogic approach took place in their mentoring discussions. The student-mentor relationship was usually relaxed and encouraging. The mentors were perceived experienced and their advice was welcomed. Limiting the student's freedom of creative thinking and teaching as well as the lack of constructive, critical feedback resulted in negative experiences. Students respect supervisors who listen to them and show authentic interest towards them. Mentoring is perceived as fruitful when it provides enough advice, limits and freedom considering students' stages of learning.