Mentoring of Pre-Service Teachers: Pre-Service Teacher Mentoring

Methods

Qualitative approach was used in compiling this chapter. Data for this chapter were collected using literature review. The chapter will be based on a social constructivist approach with the view that all knowledge and the meaningful reality is contingent upon human practices, being constructed in and out of interaction between human beings and their world and transmitted within the social context (Justus & Nangombe, 2016). Constructivism implies that hypothetico-deductive reasoning is a practice that all pre-service teachers must engage in when trying to understand the following topics: Mentoring and professional development; Teachers’ rights and obligations; Factors that discourage pre-service teachers to pursue teacher education; Teacher recruitment strategies; Teacher autonomy; as well as Dealing with diversity and bullying in schools. The scientific method and diagnostic reasoning have to be constructivist. Constructivism underpins many human interactions when dealing with and recognizing both the prior knowledge of pre-service teachers and the personal constructs of individual teachers in their training (Dennick, 2016). The following section will discuss mentoring and professional development of teachers in schools.