Music Teacher Mentor Experiences and Perceptions of the Mentor Role

Experienced mentor teachers that are prepared for the task of mentoring pre-service teachers are highly valued. Few studies in music education address the music teachers’ role of mentor or the music mentor’s perceptions and practices within the mentoring process. This study investigates the experiences and practices of music mentor teachers and how they construct an understanding of their mentoring role. Guiding questions were: 1) How do music teachers describe their mentoring experiences and practices? 2) What do music teachers’ descriptions of their mentoring experiences and practices reveal about their understanding of the mentoring role? and 3) What types of preparation and support do music teachers feel they need to serve in this role? Four music teacher mentors served as participants for this study. Participants described their mentoring experiences and practices in working with student teachers and responded to questions in three in-depth interviews over three semesters. Each interview was audio-recorded, transcribed, and verified for accuracy and clarification. Findings indicate that 1) Mentors tend to rely on their own student teaching experience and beliefs about teaching when working with student teachers; 2) Mentors construct their own conceptions of the mentor role, mentoring style and relationships based on personality and their beliefs about what mentoring is and is not; 3) The rewards of mentoring are closely tied to student teacher growth and successful relationships, and challenged by issues of time and student teacher readiness; and 4) Learning to mentor is like learning to teach. It is a process learned over time and requires experience. Music education programs and teacher educators should consider preparing student teachers and the cooperating mentor teachers who work with them, by discussing mentor relationships and role expectations within the student teacher triad.