CONCEPTIONS OF MENTORING - AN EMPIRICAL-STUDY OF CONCEPTIONS OF MENTORING DURING THE SCHOOL-BASED TEACHER-EDUCATION

This article discusses the mentoring given by the mentor (cooperating teacher) during the practical part of teacher training. This mentoring is empirically described by studying and describing how it is conceiv ed of by a group of mentors and student teachers. The differences in c onceptions found concerning the functions are discussed in terms of a reflecting and a taken-for-granted perspective of professional knowled ge of teachers. As regards conceptions of the content, it is discussed whether student teachers' practice teaching is an object of reflectio n or an occasion for practice. Conceptions and patterns of behaviour a s regards the form of mentoring are discussed in terms of a principle- oriented strategy and an episode-oriented strategy. The variation desc ribed in this way in terms of the disparate perspectives could reflect different types of theoretical awareness of the phenomenon of mentori ng that exist among mentors and student teachers. Copyright (C) 1996 E lsevier Science Ltd.