Perceptions of Mentor Teachers in a Professional Development School

The professional development school (PDS) is an innovative teacher education program, designed to foster simultaneous teacher and student development in K-12 schools and teacher training institutions. Built as a partnership between professional education institutions and K-12 schools, the program aims at preparing new teachers, promoting the professional development of practicing teachers, and improving student performance through the application of inquiry-based practices. This study examined the perceptions of mentor teachers in an urban elementary professional development school regarding mentoring strategies used to enhance teacher development, benefits to mentor teachers in a PDS, and support and guidance strategies used by the partnering university to enhance the work of mentor teachers. The participants were elementary school mentor teachers, teaching at different grade levels, with mentoring experiences ranging from one to more than five years. Data were collected using an online survey questionnaire and interviews. Results revealed that mentor teachers were willing and fully committed to promote the PDS partnership agenda. Mentor teachers perceived reflective teaching techniques and collaborative mentoring strategies to be very effective in promoting mutual teacher development. Perceived benefits included using the best teaching techniques to demonstrate teaching, applying reflective teaching techniques to improve practice and adapting new ways of teaching from the interns