Student Mentoring During School Experience in Some Zambian Districts

The book examines the extent to which staff responsible for mentoring student-teachers in schools were qualified and experienced to effectively perform their mentoring duties. This is because it was unclear whether staff responsible for mentoring student-teachers during School Experience had the rightful training and skills to effectively discharge their duties. Interview guides and questionnaires were used to collect data from mentors and student-teachers in schools. The study revealed that mentors lacked sufficient training and experience to provide quality mentoring to student-teachers as only 10% of mentors had training in mentoring. The study concluded that generally mentors showed good mentoring characteristics and relationships with student-teachers although these relationships were not supported by sufficient training and experience in mentoring. One key challenge that mentors faced was lack of mentor¿s guides to help them with their work. This study recommended a college-based training for mentors and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes for student-teachers.