The Role and Motivation of Pre-Service Teacher (PST) Mentors from Pro-Social to Cognitive-Effective Perspectives
The purpose of this quantitative descriptive study is to shed light on the driving forces of the mentor’s positions in teacher training processes in Israel. The research is based on an exploratory cross-sectional study which included 170 preservice teacher mentors in the north of Israel. The mentoring position, despite its importance, is often unappreciated, even by the mentors themselves. It is barely rewarded, in money, status, or prestige. The current study focuses on the internal motivation of mentors for choosing to serve in this role in addition to their main role as classroom teachers. In this regard, the theory of cognitive-effective perspective can help us to understand the reasons behind these motivations. Our findings indicate that mentors exhibit internal motivation from the pro-social and cognitive-effective perspectives. The average score for attitudes was M = 2.92 (SD ± 0.42). The total score was higher for the cognitive components than for the effective ones (M = 2.98, SD ± 0.44, and M = 2.85, SD ± 0.52, respectively). The main motivations of the mentors were based on their strong desire to improve the level of teaching in Israel. Contributing to the future of education was a dominant part of their personal educational philosophy. These insights depict the mentor as a pillar of the teacher training community in Israel. Our findings also indicate that, while a supportive school climate and autonomy in the mentor’s role are factors that promote mentoring practices, a lack of theoretical knowledge about teacher training and a lack of clarity about the mentors’ responsibilities are factors that hinder such practices. It is important to address these factors in order to enhance the desirable variables while decreasing the undesirable ones, in order to translate educational philosophy into stable and sustainable improved teacher training processes.