The study focused on the challenges pre-service teachers face while learning to teach Accounting in the context of mentoring at a University of Technology. The major purpose was to investigate the kinds of challenges pre-service teachers face in teaching Accounting and how their respective school-based mentors respond to these challenges. It is vital to understand these challenges while learning to teach Accounting before a mentor can respond to them. This study was located within an interpretivist paradigm. The interpretivist researcher is keen to address social issues in and through their research. To position this study within the context of learning while teaching within a context of mentoring, I utilized case study research methodology. The main purpose of utilizing case study methodology was to develop a deep understanding of the challenges pre-service teachers face while learning to teach Accounting and the nature of mentoring. The voices and experiences of the respondents were used to explore and understand the reality embedded in the mentoring of pre-service teachers during teaching practice. The research sites included six schools located in the Cape Metropole, Western Cape, South Africa. I used purposive sampling to select the participants for my study. I focused on Accounting as a ‘vehicle’ to guide my choice of sampling to explore how pre-service teachers learn while teaching Accounting. The sample of this study consisted of six pre-service teachers learning to teach Accounting in the fourth year B Ed:FET programme and their respective school-based Accounting mentors. The main reason for using the fourth year preservice teachers was that in their final year of study they spend six months at a school to work alongside a school-based mentor. This time period gave the researcher sufficient time to explore challenges and how the school-based mentors respond to them. The research methods used in this study were reflection journals, unstructured interviews, focus group interviews and fieldnotes. Reflective journals can provide the teacher educator with a valuable tool showing how pre-service teachers perceive and experience teaching practice while learning to teach (Mills, 2007:69). The pre-service teachers were requested to complete entries in a reflection journal on a weekly basis, to write on their experiences while learning to teach Accounting and to describe the nature of their school-based mentors’ support. The purpose of the unstructured interview with the pre-service teachers was to gain a better understanding of their challenges while learning to teach Accounting and their interaction with their mentors, if the information in their reflection journals were unclear. Unstructured interviews were conducted with the Accounting school-based mentors to ascertain the preservice teachers’ performance while learning to teach Accounting, and to gain perspective of the Accounting mentor’s role as mentor. Two focus group interviews were conducted with the pre-service teachers to corroborate the challenges the pre-service teachers experience while learning to teach Accounting. A total of 96 reflection journal entries were collected from the pre-service teachers, 18 unstructured interviews were conducted with the pre-service teachers, 12 unstructured interviews were conducted with the school-based mentors and 2 focus group interviews were conducted. Data revealed that despite mentoring having the potential to enhance the preparation of preservice teachers, it does not always yield positive results. It also became clear in the data that the nature of the Accounting discipline requires a different type of mentoring as opposed to other disciplines. Hence a ‘one size fits all’ mentoring institutional policy does not yield the desired results of mentoring pre-service teachers in the B Ed:FET programme. Findings from this study suggest that the university must play a greater role in developing mentorship programmes to support pre-service teachers learning to teach during teaching practice, especially for Accounting pre-service teachers.

Sverige är andelen kvinnor på chefspositioner liten. I många organisationer arbetar man med att försöka förändra detta. En vanlig förändringsmetod är ledarutvecklingsprogram för kvinnor. Det är vad som händer inom ramen för ett sådant program - ett ledarutvecklingsprogram med syfte att öka andelen kvinnor på chefspositioner - som studeras i dennabok. Frågor som diskuteras är: Hur kan ett sådant program vara utformat?Vilka föreställningar om ledarskap, manlighet och kvinnlighet återskapas inom ramen för programmet och hur går detta till? Öppnar programmet upp för ett ifrågasättande och en förändring av mansdominerade strukturer, eller bidrar de snarare till att återskapa dessa? Vad säger detta i så fall om jämställdhetsarbete i organisationer? Boken grundar sig på en fallstudie av ett ledarutvecklingsprogram som bestod av ett tiotal 2-5 dagar långa utbildningar som handlade om ledarskap och/eller kön, samt ett mentorprogram. Beroende på könsfördelningen bland deltagarna och hur innehållet behandlar (eller inte behandlar) kön, ger de olika delarna upphov till olika föreställningar om ledarskap och kön. En del av föreställningarna innebär ett ifrågasättande, medan andra innebär ett återskapande av organisationens könsordning. Bokens titel, Stridspiloter i vida kjolar, syftar på de delvis motsägelsefulla föreställningar som återfinns inom ramen för programmet. I studien framkommer hur ledarutvecklingsprogram för kvinnor kan förstås som en kompromiss mellan traditionell ledarutveckling, med syfte att återskapa befintliga maktrelationer, och traditionellt jämställdhetsarbete, med syfte att ifrågasätta dessa. Studien visar i och med detta hur förändringsförsök som innebär att befintliga maktstrukturer ifrågasätts leder till både återskapande och förändring.   Innehåll: 1.  Problembakgrund och syfte2.  En skapad, könsmärkt verklighet3.  Organisation och kön4.  Jämställdhetsarbete i organisationer5.  Ledarutveckling i organisationer6.  Metod7.  Programmet - från början till slut8.  Programmet - deltagarnas reflektioner9.  Moduler med könsperspektiv10. Könsblinda moduler11. Ledarutveckling och jämställdhet12. Sammanfattning och slutsatserLitteraturförteckningEnglish SummaryBilaga 1Bilaga 2 / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk., 2001

Thesis (MEdPsych)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / Includes bibliography / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Mentorship is a concept that has been with us for many years. Much research has been done about the effects of mentoring programmes on youth, but very little research has been onderlaken on how children and mentors experience mentoring programmes. This study aims to fill this gap in the literature. Qualitative research was done to explore the experiences of mentors and children in a particular mentoring programme. Participatory action research was used to include the participants in the research process. The data were gathered by using drawings and individual interviews with the children as well as the mentors. Through the process of data analysis, three main themes were determined. These themes were intrapersonal factors, interpersonal factors and external factors. The findings showed similarities as well as differences in the experiences of the mentors and the children. The main similarity pertained to the two types of relationship identified by mentors and children. The two types of relationship can be defined as one of friendship and one of authority and respect. The biggest difference in experiences concerned the way in which mentors were much more aware of external factors and how it influenced their experience. Mentors were much more concerned about the amount of time available, the place where they met and games and toys that could be used. For the children, the external factors did not matter as much; they were more excited about the relationship itself. This study aimed to answer the research question and the process brought several other questions to the attention. This study could be used as a reference in further studies about mentor programmes, especially in the South African context where very little research is available about mentor programmes and children’s experiences of these programmes. More research can be done about why the children did not mention the external factors and what that indicates. The reason why more girls than boys participate in the mentor programme and how older children experience the programme could also be researched. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Mentorskap is ‘n konsep wat al jare lank deel is van die samelewing. Verskeie studies gedoen oor mentorskapprogramme en die effek daarvan op jeug is reeds gedoen. Min navorsing is egter al gedoen oor hoe kinders en mentors hierdie mentorprogramme ervaar. Die huidige studie is onderneem om ondersoek in te stel na mentors en kinders se ervaring van ‘n mentorprogram, spesifiek in Cloetesville, om sodoende die gaping in die literatuur aan te spreek. Kwalitatiewe navorsing is gedoen om hierdie ervarings te ondersoek en deelnemende aksienavorsing is gebruik om die deelnemers in groter mate by die navorsing te betrek. Data is ingesamel deur tekeninge en individuele onderhoude met die mentors en kinders onderskeidelik. Drie hooftemas vir beide die mentor en kinders het deur die data-analiseproses na vore gekom, naamlik intrapersoonlike, interpersoonlike en eksterne faktore. Die bevindinge het verskille sowel as ooreenkomste in mentors en kinders se ervaring van die mentorprogram aangedui. Beide die mentors en die kinders het hul verhouding op een van twee maniere ervaar. Die grootste verskil was mentors en kinders se siening omtrent die eksterne faktore. Mentors was meer bewus van die eksterne faktore wat hul ervaring beïnvloed as wat die kinders was. Die mentors was meer bewus van die tydsbeperkings, die plek waar mentorsessies plaasvind en die beskikbaarheid van speelgoed en ander hulpbronne. Kinders het die vriendskap as meer belangrik gesien as enige tasbare ding of meer tyd. Hierdie studie het gepoog om die vraag oor hoe mentors en kinders ‘n mentorprogram ervaar, te beantwoord. In hierdie proses het daar ook verskeie ander vrae na vore gekom. Hierdie studie kan daarom bydra tot verdere studies in hierdie rigting, veral in die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks waar daar bitter min inligting beskikbaar is oor mentorskap en, meer spesifiek, oor kinders se ervaring van mentorprogramme. Hierdie studie kan gebruik word om ondersoek in te stel na hoekom kinders so min bewustheid van die eksterne faktore oorgedra het en hoekom meer meisies as seuns aan die mentorprogram deelneem. Dit kan ook gebruik word om ondersoek in te stel na hoe kinders tussen 11 en 18 jaar so ‘n program sal ervaar.