Accounting Student Teachers’ Experiences of Mentoring during Teaching Practice

Mentoring during teaching practice can be a challenge for student teachers, with some student teachers reporting some difficulties with their mentor teachers during teaching practice. This qualitative study explored the experiences of accounting student teachers regarding mentoring during teaching practice, and it was located within an interpretive research paradigm. An exploratory case study was adopted as the research design while situated learning theory served as the theoretical lens of the study. Fourteen third-year accounting student teachers from one ODeL institution in South Africa were randomly sampled, and document analysis was employed to collect data. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data. The study revealed that student teachers have mixed experiences in terms of mentorship during teaching practice. The study further revealed that student teachers received professional and pedagogical mentorship from the mentor teachers. It also appeared that some student teachers experienced lack of mentorship from some mentor teachers. Based on the findings, this study recommends that the stakeholders involved in teaching practice should increase positive experiences that shape accounting student teachers’ experiences and eliminate those that lead to student teachers experiencing teaching practice negatively.