THE MANAGEMENT OF SUPERVISOR-MENTOR PARTNERSHIP TO SUPPORT PRESERVICE TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT DURING PRACTICUM

Abstract

Producing highly competent teachers for the Malaysian education system is crucial to reinforce human capital in meeting global demands. Thus, ensuring preservice teachers’ professional identity development during practicum is vital in achieving this aspiration. Hence, this study seeks to explore the partnership management between university supervisors and mentor teachers during practicum and how it influences the preservice teachers’ professional identity development. Drawing on Pennington and Richards’ (2016) construct of ESL teacher identity as the theoretical lens, a qualitative single case study was employed, and semi-structured interviews were conducted on three preservice ESL teachers from a Malaysian public university. The data findings were analysed manually using Thematic Analysis and discussed per the existing body of relevant literature. Findings reveal that the supervisor-mentor partnership during practicum helps to further enhance preservice ESL professional teachers’ identity development in terms of their personal, contextual, and professional competence. The findings of this study recommend that relevant stakeholders provide more collaborative opportunities for supervisors and mentors to assist preservice teachers to develop their professional teacher identity further and become competent teachers.