International Portal of Teacher Education

Source: Action in Teacher Education, Volume 34, Issue 4, 2012, pages 296-308

In this article, the authors use recent empirical research into the school-based mentoring of student teachers to describe three conceptions of mentor teacher roles and responsibilities.
The article is centered in the notion that mentoring is often a socially constructed practice.

Hence, the authors describe these roles which include a consideration of the mentor teacher as
(1) instructional coach,
(2) emotional support system, and
(3) socializing agent.
Through a discussion of these conceptions, the hope is to further the conversation about ways to provide a common language between university and field-based teacher educators.