Mentoring schools, mentoring students

The Faculty of Education and Languages at the University of Western Sydney, Macarthur in conjunction with schools is in the process of devising a mentoring schools program to assist in constructing opportunities for students to excel in the education profession. The generation of this program has come about out of a need for our students to have continual access to schools and the milieu of the school. The economics of the University does not allow for extended practicum in each semester of a student's initial teacher education program. Furthermore, through research and experience we have come to realise that not all educational school -based learning experiences are acquired through direct teaching practice. As a consequence, it is expected we will move from the notion of the school as primarily the setting for student teacher supervision, where the application of university knowledge and direct practice is assessed, to school-based mentoring where the university and the school together facilitate the professional development of student teachers. This paper will explore the issues of initial implementation and the evaluation of this program from the student's perspective. The question of students taking responsibility for their own learning and the development and extent of that responsibility is of key importance and will be closely monitored as the program progresses. The evaluation will be in the form of a responsive evaluation running parallel to the program and informing the implementation as it develops.