The purpose of this study is to construct the professional indicators for accrediting mentor teachers in Taiwan. First, relevant documents from Taiwan, New York State (NY), and Virginia State (VA) were analyzed to construct professional accrediting indicators initially. After four time¡¦s panel discussion, public hearings, the first draft of questionnaire was drawn up. Next, analysis on expert¡¦s validity and pre-test of questionnaire were carried out; thus, eight main aspects with 40 indicators were drawn up to serve as the professional indicators of mentor teachers in Taiwan. Survey research was carried out. Principals, Samples are not only composed of the administrative personnel; teachers whom work in excellent educational-practical institutions which were selected by Ministry of Education, and the interns who finished the educational practicum. The total number is 628 , The research uses descriptive statistics, t-test and one-way ANOVA to analyze the appropriation of these indicators ,so as to understand the sample¡¦ point of view towards the suitability of the indicators. According to the above conclusions, the researcher offers several suggestions to the educational administrative organizations establish certificate system of mentor teacher, the educational-practical institutions should establish evaluation mechanism and strengthen the assistance of administrative personnel., the institutions of teacher education should assess the number of mentor teachers who were capable of practical counseling and provide relevant training courses for mentor teachers. Finally, the researcher offers several suggestions to future studies.

Research shows that student teachers find the mentor teacher and the student teaching experience itself the two most influential factors in their practicum experience. This study examined five student teachers and the two mentor teachers of each in elementary school settings within a metropolitan school district in North Texas. Lave and Wenger’s (1991, 2002) community of practice theory informed this study. Data sources included mentor teacher interviews, student teacher interviews, student teacher observations, student teacher/mentor teacher dialogue journals, and student teacher reflections. A collective case study approach was followed to gain a detailed understanding of the experiences of the five student teachers, looking specifically at their confidence in teaching and the factors associated with it. Findings indicated that the confidence in teaching of all five student teachers changed throughout their practicum experiences. Results suggested many factors influenced these changes. Student teachers shared that the student teaching experience, the grade level/subjects taught, their relationships with their students, and their relationships with their mentor teachers contributed to their confidence. The mentor teachers perceived that student teachers’ confidence could be influenced by consistency in classroom management and their interactions with their mentor teachers. Two areas of influence on student teacher confidence not uncovered by other researchers were the quest of student teachers for perfection while teaching and the need of mentor teachers for control of the content presented by the student teachers, especially during the months prior to state-mandated testing. Implications of the study included the need for university supervisors to mediate between student teachers and mentor teachers in promoting shared ownership of student learning within that community of practice enabled by student teaching.

In a co-teaching model of student teaching, mentor teachers are presented with opportunities for professional growth because extensive collaboration occurs with the teacher candidate throughout the process. Despite the proliferation of co-teaching programs, mentor teachers often lack formal training for their role. Further, insufficient evidence fails to show how collaboration between mentor and candidate contributes to professional growth for the mentor. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine such growth in 9 mentor teachers who hosted teacher candidates during 1 semester of student teaching to determine how a co-teaching model affected mentor teachers' own teaching and mentoring skills. Professional growth was examined through Wenger's 4 components for situated learning. Research questions focused on mentor teachers' initial expectations about their roles, their identity and growth, and the application of their learning and growth when teaching. At the end of student teaching, mentor teachers participated in a series of 3 interviews based in phenomenological techniques. Their responses were coded using an inductive approach. Identified themes included mentor teacher experience, communities of practice, actions during student teaching, and mentor teachers' reflection on the role. Key findings were that all mentor teachers reported that they grew in practice, but not all developed their coaching and mentoring skills, and some focused on transmission of content and skills rather than candidate transformation. The findings of this study may influence positive social change to ensure that educator preparation assures quality and supports continuous improvement to strengthen P-12 student learning through mutually beneficial partnerships.

This dissertation explores what cooperating secondary science teachers attend to during observations of pre-service teachers as they enact lessons in their classrooms and how they make sense of what they see. This study applies the teacher noticing framework, recently used in research with mathematics, to the secondary science context and uses it to describe teacher attention. The study also aims to determine if cooperating teachers use the act of noticing to engage in pedagogical reasoning and draw connections to their own teaching practice. As an interpretive qualitative study, the format for data collection and analysis utilized a case-study methodology with cross-case analysis, and used semi-structured interviews, lesson debriefs, collected artifacts, and classroom observations. Data on the four study participants was collected over the 2011-2012 school year. Findings support several conclusions. First, the cooperating science teachers in this study regularly engaged in reflection and pedagogical reasoning through the act of noticing. Second, the cooperating teachers made regular connections to their own practice in the form of vicarious suggestions, reflective questions, comparisons of practice, and perspective shifts. These connections fostered the emergence of "pivotal moments" or times when the cooperating science teacher self-identified a desire to change their current practice. Third, cooperating teachers used observations of pre-service teachers in their classrooms as a form of professional experimentation and built knowledge in practice through the experience. Lastly, the findings suggest that observations of pre-service teachers be added to the list of professional development activities, like video analysis and lesson study, that help teachers reflect on their own practice. For science teacher educators, this study demonstrates the importance of attending to field experiences as a learning opportunity for the science cooperating teacher. It provides a new way of looking at classroom observations as professional development opportunities and it recommends that teacher preparation programs reconceptualize the tasks they ask cooperating teachers to engage in. Suggestions include designing observation tools that direct teacher noticing toward student learning in science, viewing cooperating science teachers as learners, including metacognitive activities for cooperating science teachers, and reorienting lesson debriefs toward a notion of classroom inquiry. / text

This mixed-methods action research study explored the congruence between mentor and mentee perceptions of the importance and effectiveness of 12 district-specific focus areas of mentor support. While reviewing current data pertaining to teacher attrition, the researcher observed a limited availability of investigations relating to the perceived role of the mentor teacher based on the experiences and observations of both the novice and mentor teacher.The target population for this study was 70 novice and mentor special education teachers during the 2005--2006 school year employed at 13 middle schools in a school district located in Florida. Of the 70 beginning and mentor teachers, 4 mentor teachers and 2 novice teachers from 4 of the 13 middle schools within the district volunteered to participate. The mentor and mentee teachers who chose to take part were not mentoring pairs during the 2005--2006 school year.Obtaining Institutional Review Board approval, the researcher contacted middle school principals to attain administrative support for the study. Novice and mentor middle school teachers alike were then contacted via postal mail requesting their participation. Concerted efforts were made to secure mentor--mentee participation.The researcher relied on multiple data collection methods---a demographic and multi-item survey for the novice and mentor teacher (Appendixes D & E) and standardized open-ended interview questions for the novice and mentor teacher (Appendixes F & G). Lastly, the researcher conducted an analysis of pertinent district documents, more specifically thoroughly examining the information presented in the ESE Mentor Program Resource Manual for mentor and mentee teachers.The major findings of this study include the following: (1) formal and informal mentoring of beginning special education teachers by experienced mentors and colleagues is a useful and productive endeavor; (2) ESE paperwork demands are rigorous for novice teacher; (3) the needs and concerns of ESE teachers vary based on classroom assignment and student population, and (4) the ESE Mentor Program Resource Manual provided useful information referencing the 12 areas of mentor support for beginning special educators, but did little to guide mentor and novice teachers in facilitating the mentoring process.

In the South African context, it is currently assumed by most role players in education that teacher graduates are proficient in the medium of instruction they will use once they start their careers. This may be a reason why currently there is no mandatory testing of teachers‟ language proficiency. Due to social, economic and historical factors, English has become the medium of instruction at most educational institutions in South Africa, yet less than 10% of the population speak English as a home language. Consequently, an overwhelming number of learners are being taught in a language other than their home language and often by teachers not adequately prepared to teach through the medium of English. In the absence of mandatory testing and with the complex language situation in South African classrooms, this case study aimed to determine the perceptions held by pre-service teachers and their mentors regarding their English proficiency at entry to the teaching profession. This was done by answering the following research question: What is the perceived Classroom English proficiency of final year pre-service teachers prior to graduating? The conceptual framework was grounded in Uys‟s (2006) model of Classroom English proficiency and the methodology employed was quantitative in nature. Instruments used to collect data included an observation schedule completed by mentor teachers observing pre-service teachers presenting the fifth lesson of their first internship period, and a questionnaire completed by the pre-service teacher directly after the observed lesson. Both instruments were adapted from Elder‟s Classroom Language Assessment Schedule (1993, 2001), and each included 42 items related to various language proficiency variables rated on a four-point Likert scale. Data were analysed using various statistical measures comparing groups and subgroups within the sample. Key findings included a significant statistical difference between how English Home Language (EHL) pre-service teachers perceived their language proficiency and those who are English Additional Language (EAL) preservice teachers. EHL pre-service teachers perceived their Classroom English proficiency better than EAL pre-service teachers. The same trend was evident among the perceptions of mentor teachers. Pedagogical language and voice skills emerged as areas in which additional support was required by EAL pre-service teachers. Further research avenues to explore relate to the feasibility of administering refined instruments among teachers to determine not only what the perceptions would be on a national level but also to assess their Classroom English proficiency, followed by possible interventions. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lk2014 / Social Studies Education / MEd / Unrestricted

As in the case of many other local and overseas teacher-training institutions the Postgraduate Certificate of Education programme (PGCE) at the University of Pretoria is a model rich in experience. In this model 60% of the time is devoted to a school-based programme and 40% to the university-based programme. The school-based programme is presented in association with schools. The student teacher is placed in a school for a period of seven weeks and assigned to a teacher who acts as the mentor teacher. The mentor teacher serves as a the link between teaching theory and subject content and also plays a major role in the contextualisation of the classroom learning experiences. The university prescribes various tasks: mentor teacher have to stimulate the inquiry skills and reflective practices of student teachers, manage meta-communication across situation and role, manage learning tasks and create a safe and challenging learning environment to the students. The mentor teacher should therefore not only be a subject specialist in his or her field of specialisation but should also create the opportunity for student teachers to maximise their potential. In this study the focus is on the experience of the teacher taking up the role of a mentor teacher. To fulfil the role of mentor teacher implies that an exchange of identity needs to take place from teacher identity to mentor teacher identity. This prompted the following research question: What is the identity image of a mentor teacher? With subsidiary questions as <ul> <li>What are the identifying characteristics of a mentor? </li> <li>What are the identifiable dynamic processes or stressful situations that have an impact on the identity formation of a mentor?</li></ul> The research could be identified as qualitative in the interpretative paradigm. Data were collected by means of open-ended questionnaires and in-depth interviews with selected mentor teachers and student teachers. The student teachers assigned to the selected mentors were automatically included in the study. The study was repeated for over a period of three terms, each term with two different teachers and student teachers. To analyse the data, Gee’s (2000-2001) four perspectives of identity, namely nature-identity, institution-identity, discourse-identity and affinity-identity, were used as analytical framework. The results disclosed many indicators supportive of mentor-identity but no fixed mentor-identity emerged. However, the characteristics, functions and responsibilities of a successful mentor in this case study were identified. These characteristics, functions and responsibilities defining the identity of a mentor teacher, could support the school in selecting teachers to take up the role of mentor teachers. In an extended school-based teaching practice the quality of the experience, in most cases, depends on the mentor teachers' beliefs and attitude towards the task. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted

The fragmentation of teachers' work, through isolation and the absence of structures for collegial interaction, make teaching a very solitary and private kind of work that has far reaching implications. Although teacher isolation is recognized as an ongoing problem and a detriment to the teaching profession, empirical evidence of what principals are doing to reduce teacher isolation and to promote collegiality is limited. The purpose of this research study was to identify how elementary school principals are reducing teacher isolation, promoting collegiality, and facilitating beginning teacher induction. The researcher examined the perceptions of 331 public elementary principals throughout California regarding these issues. Data were gathered through a 72 item questionnaire designed for this research study based on the literature, and descriptive statistics were used to organize and analyze the data. In general, most principals indicated that they were implementing many practices discussed in the literature that contribute to reduced teacher isolation and greater collegiality. For example, most principals indicated that they have a collaborative leadership style, implemented collaborative professional development, engaged teachers in shared decision making, and considered collaborative time for teachers to be very important. Most principals also claimed that their teachers preferred to work with colleagues to develop lesson plans and teaching strategies, were involved in change initiatives, and collaboratively worked to meet school goals. Practices that should be more fully implemented include aspects of teacher and mentor release time, teacher observations and feedback, teacher leadership, professional dialogue, and principals' involvement in the induction process. For example, principals and teachers must have ample opportunity to observe teachers and provide constructive feedback, principals should share with teachers the responsibility of planning and leading faculty and collaborative meetings, and principals should not rely solely on an induction program like BTSA for supporting beginning teachers but rather exercise their leadership role by being actively involved in the induction process. Recommendations for further study included conducting a teacher survey and personal interviews with principals and teachers, because principals may have responded to the survey in an idealistic fashion that was contrary to their actual practices or philosophy.

The present study aimed to investigate the self-efficacy levels of prospective teachers and to examine whether attitude towards teaching, competency in subject matter, mentor teacher - student teacher relationship and being a graduate of Anatolian Teacher High School (ATHS) predicted prospective teachers&rsquo / self-efficacy for teaching regarding classroom management, student engagement and instructional strategies. Participants of the study were 179 fourth year prospective teachers of English studying at the Foreign Language Education Departments of Gazi University, Middle East Technical University and Hacettepe University. Data was collected through (1) Teachers&rsquo / Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran &amp / Hoy, 2001), (2) Relationship with Your Mentor Scale (Capa &amp / Loadman, 2004), (3) Scale for Students&rsquo / Attitudes Towards the Teaching Profession (Semerci, 1999). Data analysis was conducted using the statistical software SPSS 15.0. Results of the study revealed that the prospective teachers of English feel quite positive about teaching when their self-efficacy composite scores were considered. In relation to the self efficacy levels of prospective teachers regarding classroom management, student engagement and instructional strategies, the results of this study showed that pre-service teachers of English believe that they are more efficacious in applying instructional strategies than they are in engaging students and they are found to be the least efficacious in managing the classroom. According to the results attained through hierarchical regression analyses, attitude towards teaching variable significantly predicted self-efficacy composite scores, efficacy scores for student engagement, classroom management and instructional strategies. Self-efficacy composite scores and efficacy for instructional strategies were significantly predicted by the competency in subject matter variable. Mentor teacher-student teacher relationship variable predicted only the efficacy for student engagement scores and finally the findings indicated that being a graduate of ATHSs was a significant predictor for neither efficacy belief composite scores nor the subscales. Findings were discussed in the light of the literature and implications of the findings and recommendations for practice and further research have been presented.

教師專業能力的發展及專業地位之建立，是教育品質提升的關鍵。教學輔導教師的設置，在透過教學優良教師的教學視導，以提昇教師同儕之專業成長；冀夥伴教師在教學輔導教師協助之下，解決教學上所遭遇的困難，發展純熟的教學技巧，提昇教學效果。面對社會的變遷，科技的發展，知識的更新，教學輔導教師追求專業成長、增進教學能量是不可避免的，因此，教學輔導教師須具備一定的資訊素養，方能創造支持性教學環境。 本研究透過半結構性深度訪談臺北市國小教學輔導教師，以瞭解教師資訊尋求行為；探討教師如何運用圖書館資源、網路資源及社會性軟體於教學準備；分析教師如何運用資訊資源進行專業成長，協助夥伴教師增進專業知能；並瞭解教師利用Web 2.0社會性軟體的經驗。 研究發現，教學輔導教師多為資深教師，大部分教育程度在大學階段之上，為具有專業知識及豐富的教學經驗者。教學輔導教師具有良好的資訊素養能力，能運用各種管道獲得教學資源，以支援教學；在找尋教學資源時主要考量資訊方便性及正確性；網際網路是教學輔導教師最常使用找尋教學資源的管道，此外，教師從日常生活中獲取的各式資訊，經評估處理後也多能轉化成教學資源。 在利用資訊資源準備教學方面：學校圖書館是教學輔導教師最常利用的一種類型，教師也會利用公共圖書館找尋教學資源，最常使用的資料類型是圖書與報章雜誌；再者，也會配合課程找尋相關的多媒體影音資料支援教學。藉由網路資源，可縮短製作教材的時間；而各式主題網站提供完整豐富的圖片、影片及實作展示等資料，是創造多元化學習情境之利器；以網路多媒體教材支援教學，課堂教學將更生動活潑；透過網路媒介，教學輔導教師間可以互相觀摩教學，分享經驗；教學上遇到問題時，可與相關專家連絡並取得幫助；以Web 2.0社會性軟體為教學輔助媒體，能提升教學效能，並增進學生學習成效。 最後建議：（一）教育主管機關應提昇教師資訊素養與資訊科技應用能力，鼓勵參與網路社群，建立知識共享平台；並以數位典藏資源發展支援課程教學的平台。（二）學校圖書館應尋求館際合作，以協助教學輔導教師利用圖書館資源準備教學及支援教學輔導教師制度。（三）教學輔導教師應積極參與網路社群、充分利用社會性軟體支援教學。 / The development of teachers’ professional expertise and the establishment of professional status are keys to enhance educational quality. As for the installation of mentor teacher, it is mainly to make use of the supervision and instruction by teachers of outstanding teaching to enhance the professional growth of peer teachers. It is hoped that teachers can, under the assistance of mentor teachers, resolve difficulty they encounter in teaching, and thus develop more matured teaching skills, and increase teaching effect. In view of social changes, technological development, and renewal of knowledge, it is inevitable that mentor teachers should pursue after professional growth and enhance their teaching skills. Hence, mentor teachers should be equipped with certain information cultivation before they can create supportive teaching environment. This study exploit semi-structural in-depth interview with mentor teachers from elementary schools of Taipei City so as to understand their information seeking behavior, investigate how teachers make use of library resources, network resources, and social software on their preparation for teaching. Besides, it also analyze how teachers should avail information resources to conduct professional growth, help their partner teachers to enhance professional competence, and illustrate the experiences how teachers use Web 2.0 social software. As learned from the research literature, mentor teachers are mostly senior teachers, and their educational background lies beyond the level of university, considered to be of teachers equipped with various professional knowledge and abundant teaching experiences. In fact, mentor teachers are ones who are endowed with favorable competence of information cultivation, and they are able to make use of diversified channels to access teaching resources to support teaching. With regard to the search for teaching resources, mentor teachers are able to determine the convenience and accuracy of information, while Internet is reckoned to be the most often used channel in search for teaching resources by mentor teachers. In addition, various kinds of information teachers obtained from their daily life can largely, after evaluation and processing, be transformed into teaching resources. For using information resources to prepare for teaching, school library is the type that is most often used by mentor teachers, whereas teachers will also avail public libraries to search for teaching resources, with books and newspaper and magazine reckoned to be the most often used type of information. Furthermore, teachers will, as well, search for related multimedia audio-visual information to support teaching in coping with curriculum. Through network resources, they can help to shorten time spent on production of teaching materials. As for various subject-based websites, they would provide comprehensive and rich pictures, movies, and demonstration of practice and other information, which are considered to be beneficial tools to create context for diversified learning. If multimedia teaching materials from network can be used to support teaching, class instruction can be made to be vivid and lively. Through media of network, mentor teachers can work to observe their teaching among themselves and share experiences, so that when they encounter problems in teaching they can contact experts and obtain help. As Web 2.0 social software is used as auxiliary media for teaching, it can help to enhance teaching efficiency and advance learning effect for students. Suggestions at the end: 1. competent authority of education should enhance information literacy of teachers as well as application capability of technology information, and encourage mentor teachers to take part in network community so as to establish knowledge sharing platform, and develope digital collection resource to support the teaching platform needed for curriculum; 2. school library should seek for inter-institution cooperation to assist mentor teachers to make use of library resources for teaching preparation and support the system of mentor teacher; 3. mentor teachers should effectively take part in network community, and sufficiently exploit social software to support teaching.