Students-teacher Perspectives on the Qualities of Mentor-teachers

Abstract

Where policy-makers generally focus on the importance of outcomes in terms of competencies, many researchers emphasize the more personal characteristics of teachers (Tickle, 1999). In this pilot study we wanted to identify the essential qualities of a mentor. Students were asked to reflect on positive and negative personal attributes related to being,good mentors, and list 10 essential attributes for each. The student-teachers (80) interacted for 2 semesters with 12 teacher-mentors in high schools and learned teaching from a model teacher. The reflection is based on the experience of mentoring (external influences), personal conception (internal influences) about a good mentor and attributes incompatible with mentoring.