Mentorship in helping final year pre-service teachers’ transition

The research aims to investigate the transition of final year pre-service teachers from preservice stage to in-service stage. Meanwhile, the research explores their experience of mentorship, in order to discover how mentorship helps final year pre-service teachers’ transition and the ways of improving mentorship. This research has adopted qualitative research method. Semi-structured individual interviews have been conducted to five final year pre-service teachers who have recent experience of teaching practicum with formal mentorship involved.

In the findings of the research, it is understood that mentorship offers multiple forms of assistance to final year pre-service teachers, which can minimize their transition shock and difficulties. However, there are various limitations of mentorship such as lack of learning opportunities for mentees to experience in- service teachers’ work, which reduce the functions of mentorship in helping final year pre-service teachers’ transition. Moreover, the research also reveals the problem of communication and power relationships that appeared in mentorship. Based on the findings and discussion of this study, the research provides empirical data to discover the ways of mentorship helps final year pre-service teachers’ transition, and it raises suggestions to reduce certain barriers of mentorship.