Mentor:in sein

Motivationale Ziele von Lehrkräften für die Aufgabenübernahme als Mentor:in

Abstract

Pre-service teachers (students, trainee teachers) are supervised in practical phases by school mentors who are important persons in the socialization of pre-service teachers for the teaching profession. These mentors are recruited at the schools, but the two institutions that are responsible for the education of pre-service teachers (university, teacher training colleges) are not involved in this recruitment process. It is often assumed, at least implicitly, that mentors take on this task of their own accord, even various other obligations and a possibly experienced lack of qualifications for this task. In the study presented, it is examined what teachers motivate to take on the task of ‘being a mentor’. For this purpose, a questionnaire was developed based on existing instruments and was used primarily with in-service teachers in Hessen (Germany) in September–October 2020. The questionnaire was completed by N = 720 teachers and the data were analyzed using factor analysis and tests to investigate mean differences between different groups. The analyses indicate three motivational goals, interaction-based orientation towards own professional development, career orientation, and adaption to external expectations, which differ noticeably in terms of personal characteristics and, therefore, may suggest the requirement of different support for mentors.