Perceived Influence of Mentoring Programme on the Professional Behaviour of Student-Teachers in the Assin North Municipality

Abstract

The motivation behind this review was to investigate the perceived influence of the mentoring programme on the professional behaviour of student-teachers in the Assin North Municipality. The study was conducted in the Assin North Municipal Assembly in the Central Region of Ghana. The descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. A sample of 200 student-teachers and 130 teacher-mentors were selected for the study through simple random sampling. The instrument for collecting data was adapted. The data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation. The study revealed that general interest in teaching, behaviour of pupils, nature of supervision by mentors, personal attributes of mentors and nature of supervision from college tutors influenced the attitudes of student-teachers towards teaching. Also, it was found that mentors provided help to student-teachers in unearthing their potentials in teaching, acted as role-models for student-teachers, and helped improve teaching abilities of student-teachers through regular feedback. The study showed further that for most of the student-teachers, mentoring helped them overcome shyness when speaking in public, develop the habit of regularly being at school and on time, gain appropriate skills of effectively planning and preparing lessons. Finally, the study showed that inadequacy of learning facilities, congestion in classes, intimidating presence of supervisors and difficulty individualizing instructions were challenges encountered during mentorship. It was recommended that authorities of Colleges of Education fully prepare teacher-mentors to effectively assist their student-teachers during the mentorship period.