What Is Discussed in Mentoring Dialogues? An Analysis of How Relations of Control Influence the Content in Mentoring

Both international actors, like the OECD, and Norwegian policies for teacher education aim to increase students’ academic competence and the collaboration between university and practice. Mentoring dialogues between students and mentors in practice are in the intersection between university and the profession. Thus, this gives the mentors the responsibility to realize these policy intentions. This actualizes what is discussed in mentoring and how the negotiation of control between mentors and students has impact on what policy intentions are recontextualized in mentoring. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate which intentions are realized in mentoring through the use of criteria and the selection of the content to be discussed. The findings indicate that the mentor has strong autonomy, and where what is discussed is focused more on practical issues than considerations about the academic subject. Given these findings, this paper discusses different perspectives on a close collaboration between university and practice.