The Effect of Peer to Peer Mentoring on Initial Teacher Professional Development at Holy Child College of Education

Abstract

In order to equip pre-service teachers with the required professional teaching competences, the Colleges of Education in Ghana have structured their curricula such that subject content knowledge is taught during the preliminary years (1-3) at college. During the final year, the colleges have partner schools that engage the final year pre-service teachers on teaching practicum known as mentorship. That notwithstanding, research suggests that pre-service teachers are not fully adequately prepared for the mentorship programme while at college (Amankwah, Oti-Agyen & Sam, 2017). Very little is done by way of preparing the pre-service teachers for the final year mentorship programme while at college (Fletcher, 2012).  To forestall this situation, the researchers instituted a peer to peer mentorship programme spanning one semester at Holy Child College of education in Takoradi, Western Region of Ghana in the 2019/2020 academic year. During the peer to peer mentorship programme, third year pre-service teachers preparing for final year mentorship practicum were assigned to second year pre-service teachers to be mentored. Each mentoring group forming a stratum, was assigned to a professional college of education Tutor for continuous coaching and monitoring. The researchers together with two other facilitators organised a five (5)-day orientation training for the pre-service teachers prior to the commencement of the mentorship programme. During the 5-day orientation training, the pre-service teachers were introduced to ethics of the teaching profession, the teaching practicum policy, collaborative lesson planning and delivery, teaching learning resource preparation and storage as well as innovative pedagogical approaches. Both peers were guided on how to keep a teaching practice journal and also how to develop teaching philosophies to guide their professional practice.The explorative case study design with multiple data source was used to conduct this study. The stratified purposive sampling technique was employed to collect data on 210 second year pre-service teachers who had been assigned to 10 different mentoring groups (strata) based on their subject specialty. The subject specialty of the pre-service teachers included: early childhood, primary education, junior high subject specialties as well as home economics and languages. Participant observation schedule, questionnaire and End of Mentorship Discussion Forum (EMDF) were used by the researcher to collect data for the study. The use of the multiple data source ensured triangulation, rigor and credibility of the information obtained. The different instruments used in collecting data from the same study enabled the researcher to describe the findings as authentic and trustworthy.Findings from the study revealed that, Peer mentoring has contributed immensely towards the development of efficient pre-service teachers. Peer to peer mentoring has equipped pre-service teachers with the skills involved in classroom organisation and management, increased their professional commitment, and harkened the development of skills in lesson planning, preparation and delivery. The peer to peer mentoring programme has enabled the pre-service teachers to become aware of their role expectations going into the final year mentorship programme. They have cultivating the professional act of continuous lesson reflection with the aim of improving professional practice in line with their developed teaching philosophies. The researchers highly recommend that colleges of education in Ghana channel efforts at engaging pre-service teachers in peer to peer mentoring prior to macro-teaching to sharpen their professional skills and prepare them adequately for the final year mentoring programme.

Keywords:pre-service teachers, classroom management, mentorship, teacher professional development, innovative teaching approaches

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/14-20-01

Publication date:July 31^st 2023