Mentoring a culturally diverse community of student teachers in practice teaching

PurposeThis in-depth case study examined the mentor's role in mediating a culturally diverse community of student teachers-as-learners in the context of practice teaching in university teacher education in Israel. Specifically, it explored how the mentor's response to cultural aspects of learning to teach shaped the group's learning environment.Design/methodology/approachData collection included 23 video-recorded meetings of the learning community and semi-structured interviews with all four participants.FindingsFindings proposed six actions of the mentor that aimed at promoting an empathetic and supportive learning environment that encouraged collaborative talk around culturally diverse issues that surfaced during practice teaching. Implications for teacher education programs are presented and discussed.Practical implicationsThe study offers a practical framework of tools (or mentor actions) that can help mentors to promote social interactions in culturally diverse mentoring conversational settings.Originality/valueThe study identified six actions that can serve as tools in mediating sensitive discourse to issues of diversity in communities of culturally diverse learners.