Stepping in or Stepping On: Mentor Teachers’ Preferences for Mentoring Inside and Outside of Interactive Teaching

Much research describes how mentor and novice teachers interact when pupils are not present (e.g., co-planning, debriefing). However, little research investigates how mentor/novice pairs interact when K–12 students are present. This gap in the literature is significant because research suggests that without intentional mediation, novices often fail to see much of what happens in classrooms. This article investigates and conceptualizes what 27 mentors think about mentoring practices that occur outside versus inside of instructional time. An analysis of mentor interviews found that mentors prefer to interact with novices outside of instructional time because they fear undercutting novices’ authority and autonomy when interacting with them during instruction. However, findings also suggest that hybrid practices (those that straddle the outside/inside boundary) are valued by mentors although they are rarely enacted. This finding has implications for programs interested in supporting mentors to diversify the practices they employ to support novice teachers.