TEACHING PRACTICE MENTORS - AN ANALYSIS OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT NEEDS AND PRACTICES

Practicum is essential in initial teacher training (ITE), while mentoring represents an important part of it. The need for the practicum mentors’ training is recognized, being highlighted both by studies (Czerniawsky et al., 2016; Guberman et al., 2020) and by the recommendations of the European Commission (2021). However, the mentors are precariously prepared (Clarke & Mena, 2020), the literature pointing out the limited training and insufficient knowledge regarding mentoring activities. This study aims to identify the training needs of mentors in Romania, and the further training undertaken, to carry out mentoring activities in ITE. The study was run between December 2021 and February 2022, based on the questionnaire elaborated by the International Forum for Teacher Educator Development (InFo-TED). By analysing the answers of the 276 mentors from Romania who are guiding the practicum in ITE at all levels of pre-university education, we can highlight: the types of activities considered useful and less useful in mentoring, the training activities already accessed, the desirable training directions, and the way in which research is valued as part of the role of mentor in order to inform didactic practices. Data from Romania, compared to the results from the international study InFo-TED (Czerniawsky et al., 2016) revealed similarities regarding the training needs for educational research and differences regarding the types of preferred training activities. The comparative analysis by education levels highlights specific training needs, which can become the basis for developing training programs for better mentoring.