Benchmarking preservice teachers’ perceptions of their mentoring for developing mathematics teaching practices

A literature-based instrument gathered 147 final-year preservice teachers’ perceptions of their mentors’ practices related to primary mathematics teaching based on five factors for mentoring (i.e., personal attributes, system requirements, pedagogical knowledge, modelling, and feedback). Results indicated acceptable Cronbach alpha scores for each factor: .91, .77, .95, .90, and .86, respectively. Furthermore, less than 45% of mentors were perceived to provide specific practices associated with mentoring system requirements. This paper discusses possibilities for using the survey instrument including benchmarking mentees’ perceptions of their mentoring for developing their mathematics teaching and as a reference point for delivering professional development for mentors.