Using interviews and concept maps to access mentor teachers' practical knowledge

Mentor teachers' practical knowledgeoften remains implicit for the student teachersthey supervise. Practical knowledge consists ofvarious cognitions that clarify mentors' ownlessons and the feedback given to studentteachers. The aim of the present study was toevaluate two instruments, the interview andconcept map, for accessing practical knowledgein the context of teacher education. Seventystudent teachers participating in apostgraduate teacher education programme in theNetherlands interviewed their mentors anddiscussed a concept map made by these mentors.They summarised their mentors' explicatedpractical knowledge about 'teaching' and'order', wrote down their learning experiences,and evaluated both instruments. Severalcategories of learning experiences andevaluations were derived from the reports thatwere analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. The summaries of practicalknowledge were analysed using two distinctions:(1) 'absolute' versus 'situational' and (2)'descriptive' versus 'analytical' statements.At least half of the student teachers evaluatedinterviewing and concept mapping positively foraccessing practical knowledge. The analysisshowed that concept mapping had elicited morereasons underlying teaching than interviewing.It was concluded that both instrumentscan help student teachers to access practicalknowledge, each revealing qualitativelydifferent information: interviewing yieldedmore concrete, practical information while thatproduced by concept mapping was moreabstract.