Subject-Specific Mentoring For Increasing Preservice Teachers’ Inclusive Practices: A Lens Of Affordances

Authors : Tuğba Kamali Arslantaş, Onur Emre Kocaöz

Pages : 306-331

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Publication Date : 2023-10-29

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :This research focuses on a case study based on a series of observations, interviews, diaries of mentors and material analysis that were developed by preservice teachers guided by a subject-specific mentoring approach. In this study, subject-specific mentoring brought together special education (SE) faculty members and preservice Instructional Technology (IT) teachers. In order to guide the preservice IT teachers’ integration of technology into pedagogical practices related to inclusive education, eight Special Education faculty members (three female, five male) were assigned mentor roles. In total, 42 preservice IT teachers (24 female, 18 male) were assigned mentee roles; additionally, they undertook the function of being instructional designers. The study aimed to explore the understanding of participants’ affordances of this particular mentoring study. Affordances of the study’s mentoring program clustered around four emerging themes; namely "mediating elements,” "social support,” "structured process,” and "subject-specific focus.” The study points toward subject-specific mentoring as a way of enhancing knowledge construction of preservice teachers to conduct instructional decision-making in SE.
Keywords : Kapsayıcı Eğitim, Öğretmen Adayları, Konuya Özel Mentörlük, Öğrenmede Evrensel Tasarım