Mentor Support to Pre-service Teachers on Theory-Practice Gap in Practicum: An Online Practice

Recent research has put much emphasis on the mentor teacher as an important stakeholder of the practicum period of teacher education. Also the issue of theory-practice gap has been studied in the field. With the developing technology in mind, this study aimed at investigating the mentor teacher support to pre-service teachers on theory-practice gap issues during the practicum. The qualitative data were collected through a) semi-structured interviews, b) online reflection and feedback, and c) a focus group interview. As a result of the content analysis, the emerging themes were mentor role vs. teacher role, knowledge of recent theory and personality traits. The findings were discussed under these sub-headings along with online collaboration among the participants