Dr. Juan-José Mena Marcos | University of Salamanca
May 17th, 2012 | 12:30-2:00 p.m. | Scarfe 310
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Abstract:
In the last two decades mentoring has been advocated as a genuine way to foster pre-service teachers’ development since it allows them to practice teaching under the supervision of their collaborative teachers.
To date research has mainly stressed the process of mentoring (i.e. how to scaffold and guide the student teachers’ –ST- actions) but little we know about the outcomes of this process, i.e. how mentoring helps student teachers to learn the profession by gaining new practical knowledge.
In this presentation my purpose is twofold. First, I want to focus on the content of learning rather than how personal and professional relationships are framed. After all the essence of mentoring relies on the fact that it unlocks a different kind of learning about teaching that otherwise might not be revealed (i.e. self reflection, observation, teaching courses). Secondly, similar corpuses of research are analyzed using a variety of methods, leading thus to different interpretations. I suggest that research needs to meet at least two methodological criteria to deal with discrepancies in such results. Propositional analysis could be an eligible method to meet these two criteria.
Short Bio:
Juan-José Mena Marcos is an assistant professor in the department of Education at the University of Salamanca (USAL, Spain). He completed his Master degree (with honors) in the Department of Developmental & Educational Psychology in 2004. He obtained his PhD with distinction and acknowledgement of “European Doctor” in 2007. His research focuses on Teaching Practice, Teacher Education, Mentoring, Teacher Development and ICT. He also spent 5 years as a classroom teacher before joining USAL as full-time assistant professor.