Mentoring and Monitoring of Student Teachers in Their In-School Placements—The Case of the University of Santiago de Compostela

Abstract

(1) The in-school placement is a key scenario in linking theory and practice in the processes of initial teacher education (ITE) and constitutes a crucial element in the understanding of professional competencies and the experimentation of educational innovation proposals. For this reason, the pedagogical model that guides teaching practices and the set of learning activities that university and school mentors develop is especially relevant. This paper aims to analyze the current individualized monitoring processes of student teachers, as well as to detect difficulties and needs for improvement. (2) The center of interest corresponds to the internship mentors of the ITE degrees of the Faculty of Education Sciences at the University of Santiago de Compostela. This research was carried out through a descriptive study with a survey method and a study sample of 202 mentors. (3) Results show that there are discrepancies in the activities that university and school mentors implement with students, as well as in the observation and supervision processes. (4) We propose a learning reflective methodology based on the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) model to coordinate agents involved in the internship, connecting them through a specialized eLearning environment equipped with specific tools to facilitate the processes of individualized monitoring, reflective learning, and self-regulation.