TUTORED PRAXIS-SHOCK: TEACHER CANDIDATES' OPINION ON THE MENTAL EFFECTS OF SCHOOL MENTORING

Abstract

Teacher training is a key element of the quality of the education system. Staying in the teaching career is determined by many factors, however, overcoming the so-called praxis-shock means the first step for beginner teachers. For teacher students, mentoring during practical training is the main support, that is why it is important to know how the triadic relationship between the school mentor, the teacher and the university works. In our heuristic research, interactions between mentors, students and university actors, as elements of the mentoring process were examined (Sternberg, 2016, Ben-Harush & Orland-Barak, 2019) . During our research (2021-2022) we asked mentors working in Hungarian teacher training and student teachers who had just completed their coherent teacher training practice. Research was carried out with mixed methods, qualitative (scientific literature exploration, focus group interview in 4x8 groups) and quantitative (self-developed questionnaire based on the results of focus group interviews with 280 mentors and 351 students. In the triadic relationship, the teacher candidate and his developmental process are in the focus. In our lecture we present a segment of the results of teacher candidates: how their professional development and self -efficacy are influenced by the activities of mentor, the organizational support of the school and the communication with the university. The results show that teacher candidates are fundamentally uncertain in assessing the impact of school as a supportive environment (teacher colleagues, leaders), they are rather linked to the person of the mentor. It is surprising that almost exclusively the intensity of the personal relationship with the mentor influences self-efficiency and professional development. The results are important primarily for mentors and schools, because it seems that it depends on them to what extent they can prepare candidates for the mental difficulties of the future career in a kind of "tutored reality shock".