| A qualitative research study designed to understand, from the in-service teachers perspective, what it is like to open their classrooms and mentor a preservice teacher. This study utilizes feminist research methodologies and responsive interviewing to explore how teachers' perceive the experience of mentoring a preservice teacher, and then, examines those experiences to reveal the possibilities for transformative learning within those experiences. Issues of teacher agency and power relations as they relate to the discourses readily present in the teaching context are examined to establish a gendered standpoint that recognizes how teachers are positioned with temporary power. Specifically, the role of the Professional Development School partnership in upholding inequitable relationships is considered. Additionally, the Transformative Learning that resulted from the Mentor-Preservice Teacher relationship is discussed. The Transformative Learning that occurred for Mentor-Teachers resulted in teaching practices that were more responsive to student diversity. Moving towards anti-oppressive Professional Development School relationships that promote an equitable relationship for Mentor-Teachers requires incorporating the Mentor-Teachers within the partnership such that their positions of power enable them to shape the educational discourses that constitute their work with children and preservice teachers. This is accomplished, not only, through the participation of teachers in the partnership, but reflects a complex and intersecting process whereby Transformative Learning supports the deconstruction of discourses and the conscious acknowledgement of agency through improved communication between Mentor and Preservice-Teachers. |
