Mentor support to pre-service teachers on theory-practice gap in practicum: an online practice

Abstract

Recent research has put much emphasis on the mentor teacher as an important stakeholder of thepracticum period of teacher education. Also the issue of theory-practice gap has been studied inthe field. With the developing technology in mind, this study aimed at investigating the mentorteacher support to pre-service teachers on theory-practice gap issues during the practicum. Thequalitative data were collected through a) semi-structured interviews, b) online reflection andfeedback, and c) a focus group interview. As a result of the content analysis, the emerging themeswere mentor role vs. teacher role, knowledge of recent theory and personality traits. The findingswere discussed under these sub-headings along with online collaboration among the participants.