Student-Teacher Mentorship: Do School Mentors Support and Guide Student Teachers?

This paper was undertaken to explore the support school mentors offer student teachers during teaching practice. Using a qualitative approach, this paper employed document analysis for fourteen (14) reports from university supervisors that were purposively sampled. Human learning theory was used to frame this study. This theory assumes that the mentor guides the learners in discovering hidden knowledge to achieve self-actualization. The findings reveal that some school mentors support student teachers by assigning classes and preparing them for evaluation, some need to improve mentoring expertise, some do not have time for student teachers, some dump work on student teachers without support, some do not pay attention to critical issues needed by student teachers. Others argue that they are employed to teach, not support student teachers. The paper concludes that some school mentors know their mentoring responsibilities, while others are unwilling to offer support. This paper recommends that school mentors be given incentives for supporting student teachers; they need to be workshopped about mentoring and made aware of the significance of mentoring. Higher education institutions should identify school mentors who are willing to support student teachers. Received: 9 October 2024 / Accepted: 20 June 2025 / Published: 05 July 2025