Mentors' use of dialogue within a secondary initial teacher education partnership

This paper analyses conversations between mentors and students, recorded during a major placement on a I year secondary Postgraduate Certificate in Education course. Analysis of dialogue between eight mentors and 15 students confirms the complexity of the mentor role which others have described. The importance attached to particular roles seems to vary from one mentor to another and this may Lead to a mismatch between the needs of individual students and what the mentor offers. Scrutiny of the nature of the interactions, based on discourse analysis, indicates significant differences between mentors. An extension of the range of roles which mentors are able to play together with the capacity to vary style of interaction may help to maximise the potential for student learning within the mentoring context.