Collaborations that promote growth: music student teachers as peer mentors

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research was to explore the experiences of four music student teachers engaged in peer mentoring. This was an intrinsic case study with a focus on the peer-mentoring programme. Data included reflections on peer-mentoring activities and individual and focus group interviews. Five themes resulted from data analysis: expanding professional knowledge, support, contextual awareness, multiple mentors, and future colleagues. Participants experienced professional growth through sharing ideas with one another. The support received from their peers seemed especially valuable to the student teachers. They became aware of the saliency of context within their teaching situations and appreciated the opportunity to learn from multiple individuals as part of the experience. Participants had different expectations for peer mentoring with future colleagues. Music teacher educators may want to consider promoting collaborative peer relationships through their preparation programmes. Suggestions for further research on peer mentoring in music student teaching are provided.

KEYWORDS:

• Student teaching
• peer mentoring
• preservice teachers
• collaboration

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributor

Tami J. Draves is an associate professor of music education in the Fred Fox School of Music at The University of Arizona. Her research focuses on preservice and inservice music teacher preparation, support, and mentoring.

Notes

1. Pseudonyms are used to identify all participants.

2. High School is Year 9–12.

3. Elementary School is Kindergarten through Year 6 in this research. In the USA, students must be age five to enter kindergarten. Other configurations of Elementary School in the USA exist.