Uppeldi og menntun - 01.07.2013, Qupperneq 35

Uppeldi og menntUn/icelandic JoUrnal of edUcation 22(2) 2013 35
ragnHildUr BJarnadÓttir
• Reflections on own actions, knowledge and values – towards professionalism;
involving collective reflection. Becoming a reflective professional.
• Apprenticeship learning – a gradual movement to new understanding and
changed participation in social activities and culture; situated learning – from
a novice to a competent teacher – towards becoming a professional “master”.
• The development of personal and social competence – i.e. of resilience, self-
efficacy, relational agency, professional identity, etc.
• Broader learning objectives – the development of professional learning commu-
nities, learning cultures, reciprocal learning and the professional development
of schools.
As the main focus is on the mentoring of student teachers, the article starts with a
short overview of the changed context and situations of practicum. Partnership be-
tween teacher universities and schools has become a key term in teacher education.
In most partnership programs, student teachers are expected to learn through active
participation in the whole school community – not only from practice teaching in “the
classroom”. Additionally, all the involved partners in the mentoring process, and the
school as an organization, should learn and develop where mentoring is considered to
be the most crucial tool. The practicum programs in Iceland have been reconstructed,
as in many other European countries, based on ideas about partnership.
Thereafter, each of the four theoretical perspectives is described and discussed, es-
pecially the learning objectives of the mentoring process. The theoretical background
and main concepts are explained, as well as the characteristics of the mentor’s role
and the relations and communication between the participants. The main critiques of
these mentoring goals and theoretical perspectives are outlined. The article ends with
a summary of these issues, including the main similarities, differences and contradic-
tions between different perspectives on mentoring. My conclusion is that those four
perspectives, and their theoretical background, share many characteristics, although
more research is needed to determine how they relate to the practice field; i.e. how the
most important learning objectives of mentoring are defined by the involved groups
and institutions in Iceland.
Keywords: Professional mentoring, practicum, teacher education, mentoring goals
abOUt tHE aUtHOr
Ragnhildur Bjarnadottir (rab@hi.is) is an associate professor at the University of
Iceland, School of Education. She finished her teacher education degree from the
Teacher Training College of Iceland in 1966, a Cand.Pæd.Psyk. degree from the Danish
University of Education in 1989, and a Ph.D. degree from the same institution in 2002.
Her research has mainly focused on adolescents’ learning outside schools, maltreat-
ment of children in state institutions in 1945–1994, and student teachers’ professional
development.