cooperating teacher

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

This article was downloaded by: [Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile]On: 10 June 2010Access details: Access Details: [subscription number 906706830]Publisher RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in LearningPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713437692

The role of the cooperating teacher: bridging the gap between theexpectations of cooperating teachers and student teachersMaureen Rajuana; Douwe Beijaardb; Nico Verloopc

a Achva Academic College of Education, Israel b Center for Learning and Teaching, University ofGroningen, The Netherlands c ICLON Graduate School of Education, Leiden University, TheNetherlands

To cite this Article Rajuan, Maureen , Beijaard, Douwe and Verloop, Nico(2007) 'The role of the cooperating teacher:bridging the gap between the expectations of cooperating teachers and student teachers', Mentoring & Tutoring:Partnership in Learning, 15: 3, 223 — 242To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/13611260701201703URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13611260701201703

Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf

This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial orsystematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply ordistribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.

The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contentswill be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug dosesshould be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss,actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directlyor indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.

http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713437692

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13611260701201703

http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf

Mentoring & TutoringVol. 15, No. 3, August 2007, pp. 223–242

ISSN 1361-1267 (print)/ISSN 1469-9745 (online)/07/030223–20© 2007 Taylor & FrancisDOI: 10.1080/13611260701201703

The role of the cooperating teacher: bridging the gap between the expectations of cooperating teachers and student teachersMaureen Rajuana*, Douwe Beijaardb and Nico VerloopcaAchva Academic College of Education, Israel; bCenter for Learning and Teaching, University of Groningen, The Netherlands; cICLON Graduate School of Education, Leiden University, The NetherlandsTaylor and Francis LtdCMET_A_220092.sgm10.1080/13611260701201703Mentoring and Tutoring1361-1267 (print)/1469-9745 (online)Original Article2007Taylor & [email protected]

This study focuses on similarities and differences in expectations of cooperating teachers andstudent teachers in the initial stage of the mentor relationship in the context of an Israeli practicumprogram for pre-service student teachers. These expectations, particularly when they conflict, canserve as major obstacles to the formation of contexts for learning. A focus group technique was usedto bring the expectations of the participants concerning the role of the cooperating teacher to aware-ness and articulation. The theoretical framework of Calderhead and Shorrock (1987) was used toanalyze the participants’ expectations into categories of educational orientations. Expectations of apractical and technical nature were found to be prevalent among members of both groups, whereasthe student teacher group held more expectations for a personal relationship than the cooperatingteacher group. Suggestions are given for bridging the gap in expectations between cooperatingteachers and student teachers in the initial stage of the practicum program.

Introduction

In the framework of pre-service teacher education, research has shown that studentteaching practice in the school serves as the most significant factor in the shaping ofthe student teachers’ experience of training to be a teacher (Lanier & Little, 1986;Ben-Peretz, 1995; Tang, 2003). There is a growing body of knowledge concerning‘good mentoring’, and the majority of the literature in teacher education describesoptimal mentoring relationships (Zeichner, 1995; Feinam-Nemser, 1998; Rowley,1999). While the benefits of positive mentoring are more likely to be realized in

*Corresponding author: English Department, Achva Academic College, M. P. Shikmim, 79800,Israel. Email: [email protected].

Downloaded By: [Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile] At: 19:33 10 June 2010

224 M. Rajuan et al.

advanced stages of the relationship, the initial stage of mentoring consists of complexsocial interactions that can be problematic when student teachers and cooperatingteachers differ in their expectations concerning the professional purposes of theirwork together. Problems in relationships between student teachers and cooperatingteachers have received much less attention in the literature (Clarke, 1995), and verylittle research has focused on the negative aspects of mentoring (Eby et al., 2000).

The impetus for our study arose out of the difficulties observed by the first author,the teacher trainer who supervises the fieldwork experiences of student teacherswithin a teachers college in Israel. It appeared that conflicting expectations betweenstudent teachers and their cooperating teachers concerning the role of the cooperat-ing teacher served as a major obstacle to the formation of productive mentoring rela-tionships. Our assumption concerning these conflicting expectations was supportedby the findings of Eby et al. (2000) who found that protégés report more negativementoring experiences when they perceive their mentor as having dissimilar attitudes,beliefs and values from their own. Zanting, Verloop and Vermunt (2001a) claim thatimplicit expectations encompass beliefs and values about education and teacher train-ing, as well as practical classroom knowledge and ideas.

One purpose for this study was to aid the student teachers and cooperating teachersin self-awareness and articulation of implicit expectations concerning the role of thecooperating teacher. It was assumed that this could be achieved in the supportiveatmosphere of a cooperative focus group technique (Kreuger, 1988). We also wishedto provide participants with an opportunity for discussion and negotiation of self-interests and needs and, in so doing, help them bridge the gap in expectations. Inaddition, we hoped to offer the participants a practical framework of teaching skillsand competencies as a language of communication.

We used the theoretical framework of orientations of Calderhead and Shorrock(1997) to categorize the statements of the participants concerning their expectationsof the role of the cooperating teacher in order to identify similar and dissimilar expec-tations. Participants’ statements, in turn, served to give concrete shape and meaningto the pre-formulated theoretical categories. In addition, we compared the expecta-tions of the participant groups to each other and to the optimal formulation of skillsand competencies that we viewed as necessary for learning to teach.

The research questions that guided this research are:

1. What are some similarities and differences in the expectations of student teachersand cooperating teachers concerning the role of the cooperating teacher?

2. To what extent do the expectations of the student teachers and cooperating teach-ers cover the range of educational orientations of Calderhead and Shorrock (1997)?

Theoretical background

Theoretical formulations of the role of the cooperating teacher

Conventional approaches to mentoring have emphasized situational adjustment,technical advice and emotional support (Little, 1990). In addition, in line with the


The role of the cooperating teacher 225

ideas of Dewey (1933), Zeichner (1995), Feiman-Nemser (1998), and Tickle (2000)claim that educative mentoring also includes experiences that promote learning in thefuture, rather than merely solve the immediate problems in the present. Educativementors interact with students to create opportunities for an inquiring stance thatserve long-term goals of good teaching. They help students confront problems andlearn from them, rather than simply ease them into the system.

Different orientations to teaching have been seen as significant factors that affectthe way in which cooperating teachers view the role of the mentor. Calderhead andShorrock (1997) and Wang (2000) report that orientations to teaching and teachereducation are culturally embedded and that teachers from different countries holdvarying perspectives, dependent upon the political system and the social andeducational norms prevalent in their country at a specific point in time. In addi-tion, school cultures also serve to emphasize specific orientations over others(Feiman-Nemser & Parker, 1993; Hobbs et al., 1998) and often include conflictingorientations.

In search of a conceptual framework to analyze our data, we chose Calderhead andShorrock’s (1997) theoretical scheme that describes five categories of orientations toteaching and teacher education based on underlying beliefs and values:

1. The academic orientation emphasizes teachers’ subject expertise and sees the qual-ity of the teachers’ own subject matter knowledge as their professional strength.

2. The practical orientation emphasizes the artistry and classroom technique of theteacher, viewing the teacher as a craftsperson. This view attaches importance toclassroom experience and apprenticeship models of learning to teach.

3. The technical orientation emphasizes the knowledge and behavioral skills thatteachers require. It is associated with microteaching and competency-basedapproaches and derives from a behaviorist model of teaching and learning.

4. The personal orientation emphasizes the importance of interpersonal relations inthe classroom and views learning to teach as a process of ‘becoming,’ or personaldevelopment. It takes the form of offering a safe environment that encouragesexploration and discovery of personal strengths.

5. The critical orientation emphasizes the role of schools in promoting democraticvalues and reducing social inequities and views schooling as a process of socialreform. The goal of teacher education is to help teachers become critical, reflectivechange-agents.

The role of the cooperating teacher from the perspective of the participants

Mentor roles have been identified mainly by researchers or teacher educators, and fewstudies have focused on the perspectives of student teachers or mentor teachers them-selves (Zanting et al., 2001b). The dichotomy between theory and practice gives riseto situations in which prescriptive formulations for mentoring programs by researchersand educators that exist in the literature have little connection to what practitionersactually think or do.



Cooperating teachers’ perceptions of teaching are closely tied to their professionalself-image and perspective of what it means to them to be a teacher. These percep-tions have implications for the way cooperating teachers view teacher education(Beijaard et al., 2000). The difficulty of eliciting cooperating teachers’ perceptions oftheir role is related to the nature of teaching as a practical endeavor. According toEraut (1985), some kinds of practical knowledge, such as non-verbal actions that areperformed in the classroom, defy written codification. Teachers are busy with thepractical task of managing the classroom in an intuitive way in accordance with theirpersonal characteristics and the needs of the children they teach.

However, there is an emerging body of literature on the practical knowledge ofcooperating teachers concerning their orientations to teaching and teacher education(Feiman-Nemser & Beasley, 1998). There is also an attempt to identify the charac-teristics of good mentoring through case studies, in-depth interviews and observa-tions (Rowley, 1999; Fairbanks et al., 2000; Feiman-Nemser, 2001).

Current literature in teacher education focuses on the changes that cooperatingteachers undergo in relation with other people, contexts and situations (Kilbourn &Roberts, 1991; Boreen & Niday, 2000; Awaya et al., 2003; Johnson, 2003) and howrelationships are negotiated and renegotiated on the journey to professional develop-ment. The mentoring context is one that introduces teachers to a new role in theworkplace in interaction with student teachers and teacher trainers.

According to Murdoch (1997), teachers’ professional orientation, classroombehaviors and the way they mentor student teachers are strongly influenced by theway they were taught in the past. This may conflict with the kind of teacher trainingproposed today which differs radically from traditional modes of training, where thetrainees are simply required to adopt recommended techniques and imitate amaster teacher. For this reason, the current shift from traditional instruction tostudent-centered learning (Wang, 2000; van Veen et al., 2001) poses a challenge toteachers’ professional orientations and the way veteran teachers mentor studentteachers.

Similarly, pre-service student teachers pass through a transition stage from studentto teacher roles. Student teachers bring with them a lifelong repertoire of experi-ences, including beliefs, values and attitudes, as both participants and observers ofeducational settings that have evolved into their educational histories (Knowles &Holt-Reynolds, 1991; Bullough, 1997). These implicit beliefs, that are personal andbased on one’s own experience, serve as ‘filters’ through which new learning mustpass (Zanting et al., 2001a).

Student teachers’ existing orientations are often challenged when they come intoconflict with the realities of the classroom or with the pedagogical knowledge of theirtraining programs. Zeichner (1995) claims that before student teachers can learnnew theories and practice in teacher training programs, they must confront their ownexisting beliefs and be willing to challenge them. Zeichner believes that theseconflicts are not adequately reflected in studies of self-reports of satisfaction withmentoring by student teachers who are concerned with the immediate problems ofclass management.



We, the researchers of this study in teacher education, include self-reports of bothsatisfaction in those areas in which student teachers and cooperating teachersexpressed similar expectations, as well as conflict in those areas in which studentteachers and cooperating teachers expressed dissimilar expectations. In addition, weoffer categorization and comparison of the expectations of the participants to the fullrange of teaching orientations of Calderhead and Shorrock (1997).

We viewed the orientations to teaching and teacher education of Calderhead andShorrock (1997) as a nonhierarchical framework that encompasses the wide range ofskills and competencies necessary for providing student teachers and their cooperat-ing teachers with optimal opportunities for learning to teach. Moreover, the orienta-tions provide a framework in which different approaches to the role of the cooperatingteacher can be seen as complementary and mutually relevant to the shaping of teachereducation programs.

Method

Context of study

Our pre-service student teaching practicum experience takes place in the frame-work of Professional Developmental School settings in public elementary andjunior high schools in Israel. We define a PDS school as one in which most of theteachers of English as foreign language in the school agree to mentor two studentteachers. Agreement to serve as a cooperating teacher is a commitment thatincludes providing the student teachers with one weekly hour of teaching time,being observed by the students, finding time to meet with the student teachingpair for purposes of lesson planning and feedback, and meeting with the teachertrainer. Cooperating teachers are randomly assigned to mentor a pair of secondand/or third-year pre-service student teachers who are similarly paired in a randomway.

The study described herein was carried out towards the beginning of four consec-utive academic years following a short period in which the student teachers observedthe cooperating teachers, prepared lesson plans and gave their first lessons in theclassroom.

Participants

The participants were student teachers and cooperating teachers of English as aforeign language. The student teachers all attended the same teacher training institu-tion, whereas the cooperating teachers taught in schools of diverse cultures (juniorhigh and elementary, disadvantaged and advantaged contexts, major cities, towns andsmall villages).

The cooperating teachers (N=40) who participated in this study were largely expe-rienced women teachers, having between 5 and 22 years of teaching experience.However, their experience as cooperating teachers was relatively small, from some



with no prior experience to a maximum of three years in the role of cooperatingteacher.

The student teacher participants (N=78) were English teacher candidates in theirsecond or third year of a four-year program granting a Bachelor of Education (B. Ed.)and an English Teaching Certificate upon completion in accordance with the IsraeliCommission of Higher Education and the Ministry of Education requirements. Thestudent teachers participated in fieldwork experiences in the schools on a weekly basisand took part together in the two-year pedagogy course given by the teacher trainer(the first author of this article). All student teachers were reassigned to differentschools with new cooperating teachers at the beginning of each academic year, thuscreating the situation in which all participants engaged in the process of creating newmentoring relationships each year.

Data collection

Cooperating teachers attended an orientation day in the teachers college to meet withthe teacher trainer of their student teachers (the first author of this article) for anintensive day-long session. During this day, the teacher trainer led a workshopdevoted to the role of the cooperating teacher. A similar procedure took place withthe student teachers in their pedagogy classes.

In order to gain new information in an area in which little was assumed to be known(Miriam & Simpson, 1984), the sessions with the cooperating teachers and those withthe student teachers were planned according to three steps of a focus-group design(Kreuger, 1988).

The first step sought to build rapport in the group and encourage disclosure bygroup members in a nurturing environment in which people got to know eachother. In addition, exposure of the participants to the opinions and ideas of theirpeers concerning the role of the cooperating teacher was sought for the purpose ofdeveloping attitudes and perceptions through interaction with others. The partici-pants engaged in dialogue in randomly changing pairs in response to questionsposed by the teacher trainer. Questions were formulated in advance in order to setthe agenda and serve as an impetus for the discussion that would follow. In thesession with the cooperating teachers, participants were asked why they agreed toserve as cooperating teachers, their past and present experiences, their anticipatedperceptions of the difficulties and the benefits they hoped to receive from participa-tion in the program. In addition, they were asked to discuss what they saw as themost significant thing they do in their role as cooperating teacher and, alternatively,the most difficult. In the session with the student teachers, the same questions wereadapted to reflect the student teachers’ perspective of the role of the cooperatingteacher.

The second step consisted of a focus group discussion that was led by the teachertrainer (the first author) in an attempt to bring the participants’ expectations to aware-ness. Kreuger (1988) defines a focus group as a ‘carefully planned discussion designedto obtain perceptions in a defined area of interest in a permissive, non-threatening



environment’ (p. 18). In order to elicit responses from a variety of dimensions, theteacher trainer focused the discussion around the unstructured, open-ended question:In your opinion, what is the role of the cooperating teacher? The teacher trainer refrainedfrom expressing any personal opinions or making value judgments. Rather, it wasemphasized that all opinions were equally valid.

In the third, and final step, the participants were requested to write a list of theirexpectations of the role of the cooperating teacher in their own words. This served tofocus the participants’ responses and to check the accuracy of the teacher trainer’sunderstanding of what was expressed by the participants for the purpose of discover-ing the meaning that the phenomenon had for each individual.

Data analysis

In the first stage of data analysis, an attempt was made to better understand the simi-larities and differences between the two lists of statements: the one from the perspec-tive of the student teachers and the other one from the perspective of the cooperatingteachers. Pre-formulated categories of Calderhead and Shorrock (1997) were chosento analyze the underlying conceptual orientations to teaching and teacher educationreflected by each statement.

In the second stage, a coding system was developed in order to apply the theoreticalformulation to the practical data. This entailed an iterative process of going back andforth between the pre-formulated categories and the participants’ statements in orderto adjust the theoretical category system to the empirical data.

The third stage entailed inter-rater reliability. Another teacher educator wasgiven the coding system and examples of statements for each category and askedto code the data to ascertain whether the categories could be applied by a personnot familiar with the data. As a result of this process, some categories were refinedand examples were added to clarify the categories. Coding of the data by tworaters resulted in inter-rater reliability agreement of 83% for the cooperating teach-ers’ list of expectations and 81% for the student teachers’ list. The combinedcalculation of agreement for the coding system of orientations was 82%. Theexpectations that resulted in disagreement between the two raters (17% and 19%respectively) were categorized on the basis of discussion between the two raters.Table 1 presents the final category system: descriptions of each category, contentareas of expectations, and examples of expectations of student teachers and coop-erating teachers.

In the final stage, the frequencies of the total number of statements for each orien-tation category were calculated for each group. This gave us a picture of the relativefrequency of each orientation category compared to the other orientation categoriesfor the student teacher and the cooperating teacher groups. A higher frequency wasconsidered to be an indication that the orientation was more important. Thefrequencies of the orientation categories were compared and contrasted within eachof the two groups and then compared with each other, as well as with the theoreticalformulation.


230 M. Rajuan et al.T

able

1.

Cat

egor

y sy

stem

of

expe

ctat

ions

acc

ordi

ng t

o ed

ucat

iona

l ori

enta

tion

s

Aca

dem

ic o

rien

tatio

n

Des

crip

tion

Con

tent

are

asE

xam

ples

Exp

ecta

tion

s of

the

role

of t

he c

oope

rati

ng te

ache

r th

at a

re

rela

ted

to le

arni

ng a

nd t

each

ing

of s

ubje

ct m

atte

r (E

FL

).

(The

aca

dem

ic is

oft

en e

mbe

dded

in t

echn

ical

and

pr

acti

cal c

lass

room

issu

es a

nd is

her

e gi

ven

pref

eren

ce o

ver

the

othe

r ca

tego

ries

whe

n m

enti

on o

f su

bjec

t m

atte

r is

in

clud

ed).

Tea

chin

g of

lang

uage

ski

llsU

se o

f te

xtbo

oks

and

mat

eria

lsT

each

ing

in h

eter

ogen

eous

cla

sses

Ass

essm

ent

of p

upils

Stu

dent

tea

cher

s:D

iffer

ent w

ays

of te

achi

ng te

nses

Ext

ra m

ater

ials

for

diffe

rent

leve

lsC

oope

rati

ng t

each

ers:

How

to g

rade

the

pupi

lsT

o he

lp th

em u

tiliz

e th

e te

xt-b

ooks

and

av

aila

ble

mat

eria

l

Tec

hnic

al o

rien

tatio

nE

xpec

tati

ons

of th

e ro

le o

f the

coo

pera

ting

teac

her

that

are

re

late

d to

gen

eral

pri

ncip

les

and

spec

ific

inst

ruct

ions

for

ef

fici

ent

clas

sroo

m m

anag

emen

t re

gard

less

of

dive

rse

situ

atio

ns a

nd c

onte

xts.

Thi

s ap

proa

ch a

ssum

es t

hat

ther

e is

one

cor

rect

way

of

doin

g th

ings

tha

t en

tails

a t

rans

fer

of

info

rmat

ion

from

an

‘exp

ert’

to

a no

vice

.

Cla

ssro

om a

rran

gem

ent,

aes

thet

ics

and

clea

nlin

ess

Use

of

the

boar

dL

esso

n pl

anni

ngG

ivin

g di

rect

ions

Pun

ishm

ent

and

stra

tegi

es o

f co

ntro

l

Stu

dent

tea

cher

s:T

o im

itate

the

stro

ng p

oint

s and

refr

ain

from

th

e w

eak

poin

tsA

nsw

er q

uest

ions

Coo

pera

ting

tea

cher

s:R

ole

mod

elS

how

them

wha

t is

righ

t and

wha

t is

wro

ng

Pra

ctic

al o

rien

tatio

nE

xpec

tati

ons

of th

e ro

le o

f the

coo

pera

ting

teac

her

that

are

re

late

d to

col

labo

rati

on b

etw

een

the

stud

ent

teac

her

and

the

coop

erat

ing

teac

her i

n th

e jo

int e

ndea

vor o

f cop

ing

wit

h pr

oble

ms

conc

erni

ng a

ctio

n in

the

cla

ssro

om in

rel

atio

ns

wit

h pu

pils

in a

cha

ngin

g, u

npre

dict

able

con

text

.

Giv

ing

feed

back

on

stud

ent

teac

hing

Cla

ssro

om d

ilem

mas

of m

anag

emen

tD

isci

plin

e pr

oble

ms

Indi

vidu

al p

upils

’ dif

ficu

ltie

s an

d ne

eds

Stu

dent

tea

cher

s:T

o he

lp u

s co

me

up w

ith n

ew id

eas

To

shar

e in

form

atio

n ab

out t

he p

upils

Coo

pera

ting

tea

cher

s:G

uide

, he

lp,

shar

eL

iste

n an

d di

scus

s

Per

sona

l ori

enta

tion

Exp

ecta

tion

s of

the

role

of t

he c

oope

rati

ng te

ache

r th

at a

re

rela

ted

to t

he a

ffec

tive

dom

ain

of f

eelin

gs a

nd p

erso

nalit

y ch

arac

teri

stic

s ne

cess

ary

for

conf

iden

ce in

dev

elop

ing

a pe

rson

al a

nd p

rofe

ssio

nal t

each

ing

iden

tity

.

Tea

cher

s’ p

erso

nal c

hara

cter

isti

csT

each

ers’

sup

port

and

adv

ocac

y of

st

uden

tsT

each

er–s

tude

nt r

elat

ions

hips

Tra

nsit

ion

from

stu

dent

to

teac

her

role

Stu

dent

tea

cher

s:T

o re

mem

ber

that

they

wer

e on

ce a

stu

dent

To

be h

uman

Coo

pera

ting

tea

cher

s:T

o su

ppor

tT

o be

ther

e fo

r th

em


The role of the cooperating reacher 231T

able

1.

(con

tinue

d)

Des

crip

tion

Con

tent

are

asE

xam

ples

Cri

tical

ori

enta

tion

Exp

ecta

tion

s of

the

rol

e of

the

coo

pera

ting

tea

cher

tha

t go

be

yond

the

imm

edia

te c

lass

room

and

are

rel

ated

to

the

scho

ol a

s an

inst

itut

ion

and

the

valu

es o

f te

achi

ng.

Bec

omin

g ac

quai

nted

wit

h ot

her

staf

f m

embe

rs

Bec

omin

g ac

quai

nted

wit

h th

e sc

hool

as

an in

stit

utio

nT

he r

ole

of t

he t

each

er a

s a

prof

essi

onal

The

‘vis

ion’

of

teac

hing

Stu

dent

tea

cher

s:T

o kn

ow th

eir

role

as

coop

erat

ing

teac

her

To

be r

espo

nsib

le fo

r th

eir

job

Coo

pera

ting

tea

cher

s:T

o co

nvey

the

mes

sage

that

a te

ache

r is

a

lifel

ong

lear

ner

To

help

stud

ents

bec

ome

bette

r peo

ple

in th

eir

lives

Sou

rce:

Raj

uan,

Bei

jaar

d &

Ver

loop

, 200

6Downloaded By: [Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile] At: 19:33 10 June 2010


Results

Expectations of cooperating teachers

Forty cooperating teachers produced a total of 183 statements describing their expec-tations of the role of the cooperating teacher. The average number of statements foreach cooperating teacher was 4.5. Table 2 shows the frequencies of statementsaccording to the orientation categories for the cooperating teachers as a group.

The results show that the cooperating teachers hold predominantly technical(32.2%) and practical expectations (31.7%) for their role as cooperating teachers.The categories lowest in frequency among the cooperating teachers are the criticaland the academic (6.6% and 6.0% respectively). Midway between the two extremesis the personal orientation category with a frequency of 23.5%.

The practical orientation category

Expectations of the cooperating teachers in the practical orientation category werefound to be among the most significant for the group. Expectations of a practicalorientation concern knowledge that teachers accumulate through experience aboutchildren, teaching and the classroom context. This is expressed in sharing of informa-tion about pupils, discussion of problems and coping with dilemmas in interaction with thestudent teachers. The focus is on situations that take place in a changing classroomcontext in which there are no final or absolute solutions. The practical orientationviews the cooperating teacher as a guide, a helper and a listener in relation to thestudent teacher. Additional examples from cooperating teachers’ statements ofexpectations include to share ideas and experiences and to allow my students to learn fromtheir mistakes. It is the kind of orientation that promotes future learning for both coop-erating teacher and student teacher (Zeichner, 1995).

The technical orientation category

Expectations in the technical orientation category were found to be as frequentamong the cooperating teachers as the practical orientation category. Teachers feel

Table 2. Comparison of frequencies of expectations of cooperating teachers and student teachers according to orientations to teaching and teacher education

The role of the cooperating teacher

Academic Practical Technical Personal Critical Total

Cooperating teachers 116.0%

5831.7%

5932.2%

4323.5%

126.6%

183100%

Student teachers 269.3%

8430.1%

6422.9%

9032.3%

155.4%

279100%

Source: Rajuan, Beijaard & Verloop, 2006



that their years of practice have culminated in a store of classroom techniques thatcan be passed on to the inexperienced. Cooperating teachers with this orientation sawthemselves as role models, examples and instructors of class management. Many of ourcooperating teachers felt that it was their job to transmit information, tell students whatis right and wrong and give ready-made ‘tips’ that proved useful to them as teachers.The role of provider of classroom time was also found in the expectation of one coop-erating teacher in the statement to organize an environment for the students and, inanother, to organize it so that everyone is in the right place.

The personal orientation category

The personal orientation category was found to be moderately significant for thecooperating teacher group and ranked in frequency midway between the highest andthe lowest orientations. Statements describing the personal orientation mirrored thecooperating teachers’ expectations from themselves in terms of personal support,advocacy and identification with the student teachers: To understand the problems thatthe students face, to be more sensitive and closer to the students and to be there for them foreverything they need. Cooperating teachers with a predominantly personal orientationsaw their role as friend and mother. Expectations concerning personality characteristicswere also found in this category, such as to help the students learn self-control, to love chil-dren and to learn sensitivity.

The academic orientation category

The few statements expressing an academic orientation by cooperating teachersincluded exposing student teachers to the curriculum, to textbooks and materials and tothe teaching of writing and pupil presentations. An interesting expectation of one coop-erating teacher was to convey to the student teachers that the goal is to have the pupilslove English. Our finding concerning the low frequency of the academic orientationamong the cooperating teachers of our sample is also in accordance with the findingsof Clarke and Jarvis-Selinger (2005) who claim that the authoritative nature of disci-plinary knowledge is at the forefront in the high school curriculum. Beijaard and DeVries (1997) also report that there is some research evidence that many teachers findthe pedagogical aspects of their profession more important than the didactical or thesubject matter aspects. It appears that this is even truer of teachers in the elementaryand junior high schools.

The critical orientation category

Although the frequency of the critical orientation category was extremely low, a fewstatements in this category expressed the idea of teaching as a mission. Theseincluded statements such as to convey the spirit of teaching, a teacher is a lifelong learnerand to help the pupils become better people in their lives.



Expectations of student teachers

Seventy-eight student teachers produced a list of 279 items describing their expecta-tions of the cooperating teacher. The average number of statements for each studentteacher was 3.5. Table 2 shows the frequencies of expectations for the student teachergroup according to orientations. The category with the highest frequency among thestudent teachers is the personal orientation category (32.3%) closely followed by thepractical orientation category (30.1%). The student teachers also hold moderateexpectations in the technical orientation category (22.9%). Relatively low on theirexpectation list is the academic category (9.32%) and extremely low is the criticalorientation category (5.4%).


Student teachers have many expectations for learning about the practical aspects ofteaching from the cooperating teachers in real live classroom situations. They see thecooperating teacher as a guide who shares information about pupils and ways to make thelesson more interesting to them so that they will participate and how the teacher motivatesthem, as well as how they cope with discipline problems and problematic pupils. The verbsused by the student teachers signify expectations for a collaborative effort to betterunderstand how to improve, help, discuss and share dilemmas that occur spontaneouslyin classroom situations.


There were also expectations of student teachers to learn technical aspects of class-room management, but to a lesser extent. The major content areas of the technicalorientation category were limited to time management, lesson planning and how tocontrol a class. However, statements that recur in the technical orientation categoryalong the lines of not to interrupt our lessons and not to interfere when we are teachingexpress the issue of trust and support and the desire for freedom to explore their ownteaching style that are the predominant expectations of student teachers. This alsoexplains the statement not to undermine our efforts.


Expectations of the student teachers in the personal orientation category were foundto be the most frequently mentioned. In order to understand what the student teach-ers meant by the statement to form a personal relationship, we looked at the statementsof the personal orientation category. The expectation that predominated among thestudent teachers was their high expectation that the cooperating teacher displaypersonal characteristics of a positive nature. These included, in the students’ words,being confident, considerate, nice, polite, patient, calm, flexible, intelligent and charming.The statements expressed the student teachers’ expectation that the cooperating



teachers possess a personality that makes the students feel comfortable on a personallevel.

This is directly related to the student teachers’ need for support, another majorissue that emerged in this category, that was expressed by statements such as to be asafety net, appreciate our efforts, find time for us and be available. The student teachers’perception of support that emerged here was that the cooperating teacher be able totrust us and give us freedom to do what we want in the classroom. A similar related expec-tation that recurred was to be open-minded to our ideas and different ways of teaching.According to Calderhead and Shorrock (1997), the personal orientation that is basedon interpersonal relationships seeks to provide a safe environment in which thestudent can experiment in order to undergo the process of discovering their personalexpression in the classroom. The same issues of personal support and freedom to findtheir own teaching style were expressed in a negative way by student teachers in state-ments such as not to patronize, to be human, to say ‘hello’ in the morning and not to treatus as substitute teachers.

In addition, we found that some student teachers were aware of the transition fromstudent to teacher roles and looked to the cooperating teacher as a mirror that couldhelp them reflect on their own personalities in the classroom. In one student teacher’swords, the role of the cooperating teacher is to show me how to reach conclusions aboutmyself through their behavior and another student teacher wrote that the role of thecooperating teacher is to help the student learn how to deal with my biases.


The academic orientation category appears low when we consider that subject matteris the core of what the student teachers need to learn how to teach. The data showthat the majority of statements concerning the student teachers’ academic expecta-tions deal with access to materials for interesting lessons and for different levels ofpupils. A possible explanation for student teachers’ low expectations for learningabout how to teach subject matter from their cooperating teachers may be theirexpectation that academic subject matter is learned in the training institution, asWilliams and Soares (2000) found. The implementation of academic knowledgelearned in the training institution is then seen by student teachers to be found in text-books and other materials to which cooperating teachers have access.


Although the critical orientation category was originally meant to include expecta-tions about learning how to teach in ways that promote social and moral values, weredefined the meaning of the category to fit the data by analyzing the few statementsmade by student teachers in this orientation. We found that these statements showthat student teachers and expectations in this area are related to knowing more aboutthe school system and the underlying agenda of the school, about the rules of the schooland what is really going on. Student teaching is predominantly concerned with class-



room experiences (Martin, 1996) and student teachers who ‘visit’ the school once aweek do not see themselves as part of the school. Another minor issue that emergedin this category was the role of the teacher as a professional, to be responsible for knowingwhat their role as cooperating teacher is, and the teacher’s vision, how they keep theirpassion for teaching and plan their lessons according to the school’s vision.

Comparison of expectations of cooperating teachers and student teachers

Table 2 shows the number and relative frequencies of statements made by bothgroups in each orientation category and the comparison of results for all categoriesbetween the cooperating teachers and the student teachers. The comparison of find-ings of the two groups shows that the technical (32.2%) and practical orientations(31.7%) are the most significant for the cooperating teachers, while the personalorientation (32.3%) is the most significant for the student teachers, followed closelyby the practical (30.1%) and then the technical orientations (22.9%). There wasagreement among the cooperating teachers and the student teachers concerning therelatively low frequencies of expectations in the academic orientation category (6.0%for the cooperating teachers and 9.32% for the student teachers) and the criticalorientation category (6.6% for the cooperating teachers and 5.4% for the studentteachers).


Although there is clear agreement between the student teachers and the cooperatingteachers that an extremely important orientation to teaching and teacher education isthe practical one, the cooperating teachers perceive this, together with the technicalorientation, as most important. The student teachers have a clear preference for thepractical orientation over the technical.


Whereas the cooperating teachers perceive the practical and technical orientations tobe equally valid, the student teachers perceive the technical orientation to be lessimportant. Cooperating teachers know that technical classroom management tech-niques, rules and regulations are just as important for successful teaching as creativedecision-making processes in practical situations. Student teachers wish to exploretheir own ways of teaching and not to be limited by fixed ways of doing things.Student teachers do not reject the technical in their lesson planning, but place moreemphasis on learning from practical experience in the classroom.


The student teachers differ from their cooperating teachers in their expectation for amore supportive, personal relationship. Clarke (1995) views teachers’ personalities



as an important element of professional development, in that teachers need todevelop working relationships with their pupils as well as with their colleagues. It is notsurprising that student teachers seek support in an accepting relationship before theycan absorb practical and technical knowledge that the teachers are so intent upongiving in their role of cooperating teacher. Student teachers expressed a lack ofpersonal support. However, our findings point to an underlying reason that mayexplain the limitations that cooperating teachers put on personal support. A conflictin their role as cooperating teachers emerged concerning their personal orientationbecause of their dual responsibility to the pupils in the classroom and to the studentteachers: to make sure my pupils feel they are gaining and not losing by having studentsteach them. This statement together with the statement, to support the students in theclassroom, while not interfering, may explain the difficulty some cooperating teachersface in providing student teachers with unlimited freedom to explore their ownteaching alternatives. A safer alternative for cooperating teachers is to help the studentswith ideas from my way of teaching. The cooperating teachers were divided in theirperceptions of themselves as being open to new ideas of the student teachers, asopposed to being a role model that transmits their ways of teaching. The dualresponsibility to the student teachers and to the pupils in their classroom can createa conflict of interest among cooperating teachers that helps to explain their, oftenambivalent, personal orientation and the limits they put on unconditional support forthe student teachers.


Agreement between the cooperating teachers and the student teachers was alsofound in the two remaining categories. There were very few items on the teachers’and the students’ lists that fell into the academic orientation category. This finding isnot surprising when we remember that there exists a traditional dichotomy inteacher education between subject matter studies and pedagogical studies in general(Ball, 2000) and that both student teachers and their cooperating teachers expectstudents to learn disciplinary knowledge in the academic institution (Williams &Soares, 2000).


Among the few statements that appeared in the critical orientation category, thestudents referred to the larger school context, while the cooperating teachers referredto values of the role of the teacher in society. The teachers and students in the sampledo not see beyond the immediacy of the concrete classroom situation within whichthey work. The findings showing that few items fell into the critical orientation cate-gory for both student teachers and cooperating teachers, and are in agreement withthe recent findings of Clarke and Jarvis-Selinger (2005) and with previous researchresults and various explanations that have been proposed in the literature (Robinson,1994; Richardson, 1997; Segall, 2002).



Conclusions

In this study, areas of satisfaction with the mentoring relationship were identifiedaccording to agreement in expectations between student teachers and cooperatingteachers. The highest level of agreement among the participants was expressed in thepractical orientation category. We found that mentoring is seen by the participants tobe a predominantly practical endeavor, as reported in the literature concerning teach-ers’ perceptions of teaching (Calderhead & Shorrock, 1997). McNally et al. (1997)report that student teachers are impatient to apply what they have learned and eagerto engage in the real work for which their training has prepared them. The impor-tance of the practical orientation category for student teachers’ transition from therole of student to the role of teacher occurs in the classroom through first-hand expe-rience in student teaching. It is important to support the student teachers in theirexpectations for learning from practice. According to the results of this study, coop-erating teachers do perceive their main role as guides in practical experiences in theclassroom.

An additional area in which similar role expectations were expressed by bothstudent teachers and cooperating teachers is the technical orientation category.Student teachers perceive technical strategies and tips to be important for classmanagement but to a lesser extent than cooperating teachers. Possibly student teach-ers see technical strategies as easily learned and implemented, whereas they are moreconcerned with unpredictable classroom situations that have no clear solutions andare of benefit to future learning (Zeichner, 1995). This is an encouraging result forteacher educators who often find that student teachers seek ready-made technicalsolutions for problems they are having in the ‘survival’ stage of class management.

It appears that cooperating teachers, on the other hand, often perceive themselvesas role models of technical knowledge. One reason proposed by Hargreaves andFullan (2000) for this perception is that in order to survive in many school settings ofincreasing demands and multiple pressures, cooperating teachers tend to hold on tothe notion that they are experts of their craft who can pass on its technical principlesto eager novices. Another reason is that cooperating teachers are busy with the taskof managing the classroom and handling cases quickly and efficiently (Eraut, 1985)and do not have time to explain the rationale behind their actions to student teachers.

Conflict in the mentoring relationship, on the other hand, was identified in thisstudy as dissimilar role expectations between student teachers and cooperating teach-ers. A significant difference was found in the personal orientation category: Studentteachers expressed a greater need for personal relationships than did cooperatingteachers. Student teachers need a collaborative and personally supportive relationshipwith their cooperating teachers as a basis for developing the confidence to find theirown expression in the classroom through experimentation and risk-taking. One factorthat may explain the lack of a more unconditional personal relationship on the part ofthe cooperating teachers is that the mentoring context introduces teachers to a newrole in the workplace. In their attempt to undergo role transition from classroomteacher to cooperating teacher while retaining continuity with their other teaching



roles and responsibilities, cooperating teachers are faced with a conflict of dual loyal-ties to student teachers and to the pupils they teach. Lack of awareness of this under-lying conflict of dual loyalties is often mistakenly interpreted by student teachers asneglect of their needs and as lack of support to allow them to experiment with inno-vative practices in the classroom.

The answer to the second research question concerning the expectations of theparticipants in comparison to the formulation of teaching orientations shows that theparticipants lack awareness of the full range of orientations to teaching. For bothstudent teacher and cooperating teacher groups, similarities were found in the lownumber of statements in the academic and the critical orientation categories. Studentteachers, who are concerned with transition from student to teacher roles, may iden-tify with pupils on a personal and a practical basis in individual attempts to right pastinjustices in their own educational histories (Knowles & Holt-Reynolds, 1991) butare unaware of the larger collective meaning of these individual cases beyond theconfines of the classroom (Martin, 1996). Cooperating teachers, who are concernedwith transition from classroom teacher to cooperating teacher roles, are faced withdual loyalties. Our conclusion is that the multiple tasks of role transition required ofparticipants in the initial stage of the mentoring relationship and their ongoing teach-ing responsibilities leave little time and energy for additional concerns. For thisreason, academic subject matter is seen by both groups as the domain of the teachertraining institution (Williams & Soares, 2000). Critical issues of social concern arealso seen by both groups as beyond the limits of the classroom (Robinson, 1994;Richardson, 1997; Segall, 2002; Clarke & Jarvis-Selinger, 2005).

Discussion

The results of our study have implications for practice. Similar expectations of prac-tical and technical concerns should be emphasized as common ground upon whichto build the mentoring relationship in the initial stage of student teaching. This wouldmost likely result in satisfaction among cooperating teachers who could benefit fromhelping hands in overcrowded classrooms, as well as among student teachers who arein need of support in the ‘survival’ stage of class management. Collaboration incoping with practical classroom challenges for which there are no ready-made solu-tions can provide the kind of learning that Zeichner (1995) sees as educative mentor-ing for both student teachers and cooperating teachers.

In order to bridge the gap in conflicting expectations, the underlying reasons fordissimilar expectations found in this study should be brought to the attention of theparticipants. Cooperating teachers should be encouraged to provide student teacherswith learning opportunities of challenge and exploration of personal teaching identi-ties in a safe environment of personal support. They should be made aware of theneed of student teachers for a more personal relationship in order to gain confidenceto develop their individual teaching selves. Providing personal support may encour-age cooperating teachers to recognize their own need for personal support. Accordingto Hargreaves and Fullan (2000), experienced teachers are also in need of emotional



support and helping relationships in order to cope with problems for which there areno expert or ready-made answers in today’s classrooms.

In order to clarify misunderstandings between student teachers and cooperatingteachers, the dual loyalty of cooperating teachers to pupils in the classroom and tostudent teachers should be brought to the attention of student teachers. Alternatively,student teachers should be warned of relying too heavily on expectations of a predom-inantly personal orientation and encouraged to develop expectations for learning inthe wide range of possible orientations.

The development of mentoring relationships is a gradual process. We recommendthat initial supervision focus on the shared expectations of the participants, move tobridging the gap in dissimilar expectations and, finally, advance to exposure of addi-tional areas of skills, competencies and values. On the basis of shared expectations forcollaboration in class management and a growing awareness of the need for mutualpersonal support, cooperating teachers can more easily learn to relinquish control oftheir classrooms in order to benefit from innovative ideas that student teachers mayhave to offer. In more advanced stages of the mentoring relationship, we see a needto bring the academic and critical orientations to the attention of our student teachersand cooperating teachers.

Ben-Peretz (2001) describes the impossible task of the teacher educator in prepar-ing future teachers for the multiple roles they must assume in the twenty-first century.We, as teacher educators, believe that student teachers and cooperating teachers canbenefit from exposure to a wide range of orientations to the role of the cooperatingteacher in their work together. This kind of exposure will increase the awareness ofstudent teachers concerning the multi-dimensional nature of their future roles asteachers, while encouraging cooperating teachers to see their roles with student teach-ers, as well as with pupils in the classroom, as more inclusive.

Teacher education programs must take responsibility for providing contexts inwhich participants are encouraged to articulate expectations in a safe and supportiveclimate that allows for expression of satisfaction with mentoring, as well as concernsof conflict. Meetings between cooperating teachers of diverse school settings in theframework of the teachers college can promote a richness of conversation about differ-ent orientations and ways of working with student teachers (Clarke & Jarvis-Selinger,2005). As Zeichner (1995) suggests, one solution for designing better mentoringprograms is to build on the practical knowledge of mentor teachers in order to designbest mentoring practices in collaboration with those who do the mentoring.

As researchers in teacher education, we hope that the results of our study willcontribute to the body of literature that attempts to connect the perspectives ofstudent teachers and cooperating teachers in mentor relationships with theoreticalformulations of desirable mentoring practices.

According to the findings concerning the expectations of student teachers andcooperating teachers in the initial stage of mentoring relationships in an Israelicontext, we recommend that initial mentoring relationships be monitored for feed-back according to a chosen formulation of good mentoring practice appropriate toother contexts.



Future research should investigate the ways in which similar and dissimilar expec-tations between individual student teacher and cooperating teacher pairs affect thequality of the mentoring relationship from its initial inception to more advanced stages.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Ben Smit, ICLON, Leiden University, TheNetherlands, for help in the analysis of the data. We would like to express specialappreciation to Dr. Trudy Zuckermann, Hebrew University and Achva AcademicCollege, Israel, for her useful comments and editing of the final manuscript.

References

Awaya, A., McEwan, H., Heyler, D., Linsky, S., Lum, D. & Wakukawa, P. (2003) Mentoring as ajourney, Teaching and Teacher Education, 19, 45–56.

Ball, D. L. (2000) Bridging practices: intertwining content and pedagogy in teaching and learningto teach, Journal of Teacher Education, 51, 241–247.

Beijaard, D. & De Vries, Y. (1997) Building expertise: a process perspective on the developmentor change of teachers’ beliefs, European Journal of Teacher Education, 20, 243–255.

Beijaard, D. Verloop, N. & Vermunt, J. D. (2000) Teachers’ perceptions of professional identity:an exploratory study from a personal knowledge perspective, Teaching and Teacher Education,51, 8–23.

Ben-Peretz, M. (1995) Curriculum of teacher education programmes, in: L.W. Anderson (Ed.)International Encyclopedia of Teaching and Teacher Education (2nd edn), (New York, Perga-mon), 543–546.

Ben-Peretz, M. (2001) The impossible role of teacher educators in a changing world, Journal ofTeacher Education, 52, 48–56.

Boreen, J. & Niday, D. (2000) Breaking through the isolation: mentoring beginning teachers,Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 44, 152–163.

Bullough, R. V. (1997) Practicing theory and theorizing practice in teacher education, in: J.Loughran & T. Russell (Eds) Purpose, passion and pedagogy in teacher education (London,Falmer), 13–31.

Calderhead, J. & Shorrock, S. (1997) Understanding teacher education (London, Falmer).Clarke, A. (1995) Professional development in practicum settings: reflective practice under scru-

tiny, Teaching and Teacher Education, 11, 243–261.Clarke, A. & Jarvis-Selinger, S. (2005) What the teaching perspectives of cooperating teachers tell

us about their advisory practices, Teaching and Teacher Education, 21, 65–78.Dewey, J. (1933) How we think (Chicago, Henry Regnery).Eby, L.T., McManus, S. E., Simon, S. A. & Russell, J. E. (2000) The protégé’s perspective regard-

ing negative mentoring experiences: the development of a taxonomy, Journal of VocationalBehavior, 57(1), 1–21.

Eraut, M. (1985) Knowledge creation and knowledge use in professional contexts, Studies inHigher Education, 10, 111–133.

Fairbanks, C., Freedman, D. & Kahn, C. (2000) The role of effective mentors in learning to teach,Journal of Teacher Education, 51(2), 102–112.

Feiman-Nemser, S. (1998) Teachers as teacher educators, European Journal of Teacher Education,21, 63–74.

Feiman-Nemser, S. (2001) Helping novices learn to teach: lessons from an exemplary supportteacher, Journal of Teacher Education, 52, 17–30.



Feiman-Nemser, S. & Beasley, K. (1998) Mentoring as assisted performance: the case of co-planning in: V. Richardson (Ed) Constructivist teacher education (New York, Falmer), 1–32.

Feiman-Nemser, S. & Parker, M. (1993) Mentoring in context: a comparison of two U.S.programs for beginning teachers, International Journal of Educational Research, 19, 699–718.

Hargreaves, A. & Fullan, M. (2000) Mentoring in the new millennium, Theory into Practice, 39(1),50–56.

Hobbs, S., Bullough, R. V., Kauchak, D., Crow, N. & Stokes, D. (1998) Professional develop-ment schools: catalysts for collaboration and change, The Clearinghouse, 2, 47–51.

Johnson, K. (2003) Every experience is a moving force: identity and growth through mentoring,Teacher and Teacher Education, 19, 787–800.

Kilbourn, B. & Roberts, G. (1991) May’s first year: conversations with a mentor, Teachers CollegeRecord, 93, 252–264.

Knowles, G. J. & Holt-Reynolds, D. (1991) Shaping pedagogies through personal histories inpreservice teacher education, Teachers College Record, 93, 87–111.

Kreuger, R. A. (1988) Focus groups: A practical guide for applied research (London, Sage).Lanier, J. E. & Little, J. W. (1986) Research on teacher education, in: M. C. Wittrock (Ed.)

Handbook of research on teaching (New York, Macmillan), 527–569.Little, J. W. (1990) The mentor phenomenon, in: C. Cazden (Ed.) Review of research in education

(Washington, D.C., American Educational Research Association), 297–351.Martin, S. (1996) Support and challenge: conflicting or complementary aspects of mentoring

novice teachers? Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 2, 41–56.McNally, J., Cope, P., Inglis, B., & Stronich, I. (1997) The student teacher in school: conditions

for development, Teaching and Teacher Education, 13, 485–498.Miriam, S. & Simpson, E. (1995) A guide to research for educators and trainers of adults (2nd edn)

(Florida, Krieger).Murdoch, G. S. (1997) Practicing what we preach—a trainee-centered approach to in-service

education, in: T. Kral (Ed.) Teacher development: Making the right moves (Washington, D.C.,United States Information Agency), 48–56.

Richardson, V. (Ed.) (1997) Constructivist teacher education (London, Falmer).Robinson, H. (1994) The ethnography of empowerment (London, Falmer).Rowley, J. B. (1999) The good mentor, Educational Leadership, 20–22.Segall, A. (2002) Disturbing practice: reading teacher education as text (New York, Peter Lang

Publishing).Tang, S. Y. F. (2003) Challenge and support: the dynamics of student teachers’ professional

learning in the field experience, Teaching and Teacher Education, 19, 483–498.Tickle, L. (2000) Teacher induction: the way ahead (Buckingham, Open University Press).van Veen, K., Sleegers, P., Bergen, T. & Klaasen, C. (2001) Professional orientations of secondary

school teachers towards their work, Teaching and Teacher Education, 17, 175–194.Wang, J. (2000) Contexts of mentoring and opportunities for learning to teach: a comparative

study of mentoring practice, Teaching and Teacher Education, 17, 51–73.Williams, A. & Soares, A. (2000) The role of higher education in the initial training of secondary

school teachers: the views of the key participants, Journal of Education for Teaching, 26, 225–244.Zanting, A., Verloop, N. & Vermunt, J. D. (2001a) Student teachers’ beliefs about mentoring and

learning to teach during teaching practice, British Journal of Educational Psychology, 71, 57–80.Zanting, A., Verloop, N. & Vermunt, J. D. (2001b) Student teachers eliciting mentor’s practical

knowledge and comparing it to their own beliefs, Teaching and Teacher Education, 17, 725–740.Zeichner, K. (1995) Designing educative practicum experiences for prospective teachers, in: R.

Hoz & M. Silberstein (Eds) Partnerships of schools and institutions of higher education in teacherdevelopment (Be’er Sheva, Ben Gurion University Press), 123–144.
