Exploring the mentorship activities of UEW mathematics education interns

Abstract

The study explored mentoring activities experienced by mathematics interns during the internship programme. It further explored interns’ evaluation of mentors' professional competences and how it shapes their conception and vision of teaching and learning of mathematics and how the student internship programme can be improved. The study surveyed 134 mathematics interns from UEW. Data was collected using questionnaire and interviews. Among the interns surveyed, five were selected for interviews. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic narrative approaches. The major findings were that mentoring activities experienced in UEW partnership schools were in consonance with the guidelines of the Student Internship Programmeme (SIP). Interns’ evaluation of their mentors’ revealed that mentoring practices were generally satisfactory. The findings further showed that mentoring practices shaped interns’ conceptions and vision of teaching and learning mathematics. However, interns strongly advocated for an extension of the duration of the Student Internship Programme to one full academic year. This will enable them build enough confidence and be exposed to varied classroom situations geared towards their professional development. Supervision by university lecturers should be more than once.