Evaluating a specific mentoring intervention for preservice teachers of primary science

Using a two-group posttest only design, 60 final year preservice teachers (control group) and 12 final year preservice teachers (intervention group) from the same university were compared after a four-week professional experience program. The intervention group received a mentoring program for developing primary science teaching practices. The survey measured both the control group and intervention group perceptions of their mentoring in primary science across previously established mentoring factors (i.e., personal attributes, system requirements, pedagogical knowledge, modelling, and feedback). Results indicated that those in the intervention group perceived they had received more mentoring experiences on each of the five factors, and ANOVA results indicated that these differences were statistically significant for the first four of the five factors. It is argued that the specific mentoring intervention designed for developing specific aspects of primary science teaching has the potential to enhance the degree and quality of teaching experiences within a preservice teacher’s professional experiences.