Young Children Volume 81 • No 2 Toward Intentional Teaching: The Need for Educator Agency | Innovations in Higher Education

Mentoring Preservice Teachers

By David Barry and Daris McInnis

Applying a Developmentally Appropriate Practice Lens

Early childhood education programs play an important role in teacher preparation, “serving as field sites where emerging professionals can develop their knowledge, skills, and dispositions under the mentorship of experienced early childhood educators” (NAEYC 2020b, 28). As such, the relationship between preservice teachers (candidates in teacher education programs) and their assigned mentor teachers (those individuals with whom preservice teachers are placed to complete field work as part of teacher education programs) is one of the most important they will have during their preparation program.

Research on the stressors experienced by preservice teachers indicates that when they perceive a positive relationship with their mentor teachers, they have less stressful field experiences and become more optimistic about their roles as teachers. When the relationship is perceived as negative, the reverse occurs (Gold 1985; Murray-Harvey et al. 2000; Horgan et al. 2018; Barry 2024). Given the ever-increasing attrition rates experienced by early career teachers due to factors such as stress, feeling underprepared to enter the field, and lacking adequate support in the workplace (Ryan et al. 2017; Dunn 2018; Diliberti & Schwartz 2023), teacher education programs must center effort and attention on the mentor-mentee relationship.

Mentoring preservice teachers is a dynamic and relational process that is influenced by the triad of teacher candidates, mentor teachers, and teacher educators. We have held all three roles and experienced the challenges of each:

While there are many examples of the results of high-quality mentoring (Costa et al. 2015; Zeichner & Bier 2015; Wetzel et al. 2017), more attention needs to be paid to the relationship between mentor teachers and preservice teachers, an idea echoed in Standard F of NAEYC’s Higher Education Accreditation Standards (NAEYC 2025). We argue that the framework of developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) should be applied to the work mentor teachers do with preservice teachers. (See “The Mentor Teacher’s Role in Teacher Education Programs” below.)

In this article, we describe two activities mentor teachers can implement: The mentor teacher interview assignment and the observation and documentation project. These activities align with DAP as well as with NAEYC’s “Professional Standards and Competencies for Early Childhood Educators” position statement, notably Standards 4 (Developmentally, Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Teaching Practices) and 6 (Professionalism as an Early Childhood Educator) (2020b). Our recommendations are based on our research and experiences and the broader literature. While not exhaustive, these suggestions are flexible activities that mentor teachers can tailor to their contexts and the unique needs of the preservice teachers they host in their settings. In turn, these activities prepare preservice teachers to provide developmentally appropriate learning experiences to their future students.

The Mentor Teacher’s Role in Teacher Education Programs

Mentor teachers are part of a triad of supports that helps teacher candidates learn about and implement DAP. They play an important role in supporting preservice teachers’ identity development and their future performance as classroom teachers (Izadinia 2018; Lafferty 2018; La Paro et al. 2018). Though there are several approaches and methods a mentor teacher may employ with their mentees, research demonstrates that mentors are most effective when they receive direct, explicit preparation and guidance in how to be strong mentors (Izadinia 2018; Lafferty 2018; La Paro et al. 2018) and how their work aligns with coursework and other experiences in candidates’ preparation.

DAP as a Framework for Teacher Preparation

Developmentally appropriate practice helps each child achieve their optimal developmental and educational goals in a positive, joyful, and engaged manner (NAEYC 2020a). Educators cannot provide developmentally appropriate learning experiences for children without considering the unique assets children bring from their families and communities (Howard 2018). For anyone in early childhood education, these ideas most likely sound familiar. What may feel different is to think about DAP as a framework for preparing educators (Katz 1977).

Typically, preservice teachers teach in the ways they were taught as pre-K–12 students. Unfortunately, these previous learning experiences may not have corresponded with DAP; preservice teachers may have attended schools that emphasized rigid, one-size-fits-all teaching and assessments or passive learning experiences over joyful, playful, and individualized learning (Weisman & Hansen 2008; Brown et al. 2020; Whitaker 2020). But decades ago, Lilian Katz wrote about the ways in which teacher educators must implement teaching methods that are “congruent” (1977, 4) with how they want preservice teachers to teach children (when appropriate). That is, the methods used to prepare educators should broadly reflect those used to teach young children. The extant literature shows a path forward: It highlights the significance of considering educators’ developmental, contextual, and experiential assets and needs. It also highlights the contradiction of stressing the application of DAP to children but not to teacher candidates. Compared with children, adults are more independent and possess more life experiences. They apply those experiences to their own learning and growth (Vartuli & Fyfe 1993; Muñoz et al. 2018).

This view of professional learning and growth resonates with a DAP framework (NAEYC 2020a), and in the following sections, we will describe how mentor teachers can begin implementing DAP with preservice teachers they mentor.

How Mentor Teachers Prepare Preservice Teachers in Developmentally Appropriate Ways

Currently, mentor teachers do not have a standardized framework within which to support their mentees, and they often do not receive training in quality practices for use with preservice teachers (Zeichner & Bier 2015; Izadinia 2018; Lafferty 2018; La Paro et al. 2018). Preservice teachers’ experiences with mentor teachers can be inconsistent, and mentor teachers may have unrealistic expectations, resulting in a strained mentor-mentee relationship (MacDonald 1993; Murray-Harvey et al. 2000). We believe that using DAP as a mentoring framework holds promise for the learning outcomes of preservice teachers.

When mentor teachers view mentoring through a DAP lens (NAEYC 2020a), they

We argue that preservice teachers should be taught and assessed in ways that echo DAP. This upholds the principle of advancing equity so vital to DAP (NAEYC 2019, 2020a) and encourages preservice teachers to teach in developmentally appropriate ways in the future. Our goal is to widen this view to include mentor teachers and their interactions with preservice teachers.

Following are practices that mentor teachers can implement with preservice teachers. These practices enhance mentor teachers’ capacity for developing candidates’ knowledge, skills, and dispositions for DAP and support positive mentor-mentee relationships. Mentor teachers can adjust these activities for their settings: Just as tailoring instruction to the unique needs of each child and their individual contexts is an essential component of DAP (NAEYC 2020a), so is tailoring these activities to the unique needs of preservice and mentor teachers. (See “Scaffolding with Children and Teacher Candidates” below.)

We created and reflected on these activities through the lens of DAP. The DAP position statement works in concert with NAEYC’s other core statements, including advancing equity and professional standards and competencies (NAEYC 2019, 2020b). More specifically, the activities align with the expectations that

Scaffolding with Children and Teacher Candidates

It would be unfair to expect a young child to perform a task beyond their current level of knowledge or skill (Berk 2022) without offering assistance and scaffolding. So too should mentor teachers acknowledge and build on teacher candidates’ strengths and capabilities, which will vary between and call for different supports for individual candidates (NAEYC 2020a). With appropriate scaffolding, mentor teachers can support the growth and development of each preservice teacher to develop their knowledge, skills, and dispositions related to DAP. Scaffolding inherently promotes equity, a key component of DAP (NAEYC 2019, 2020a), by starting with an individual’s assets and prior experiences and intentionally supporting them toward new knowledge and skills.

If, for example, a preservice teacher has never worked with kindergartners before, they can start with one-on-one interactions and receive feedback from their mentor. Then, they can plan, teach, and reflect on a series of small-group lessons with their mentor teacher. Eventually, they can create and lead a series of whole-group activities, with the mentor observing and offering feedback before and afterward. If a preservice teacher has observed and taught individual and small groups of kindergartners before, then their starting point and the scaffolding would differ. In this way, a mentor teacher’s scaffolding should be based on individual strengths and needs rather than a standardized approach applied to all preservice teachers.

Mentor Teacher Interview Assignment

At the close of each semester, all of the students in our field-based courses say they wished they had jumped into their work with children earlier in the semester rather than waiting for permission. This fear of stepping on a mentor teacher’s toes is common among preservice educators and can inhibit them from taking the lead in their assigned classrooms (Barry 2024).

We drafted a Mentor Teacher Interview that teacher educators can craft in partnership with mentor teachers. Through the interview, teacher candidates learn about expectations, special rules or policies, and how they should engage with children. (See “Sample Mentor Teacher Interview Questions” below.) Mentor teachers learn about candidates’ strengths, goals, and how they best respond to feedback, giving mentors a clearer picture of how they can support mentees (Gold 1985; Murray-Harvey et al. 2000; Horgan et al. 2018; Barry 2024). Perhaps most importantly, this assignment helps establish the preservice teacher’s agency and presence in their placement site, which can be seen in the following vignette.

Olivia, a preservice teacher, takes the first day of her field placement to settle into Ms. Monica’s Head Start classroom. As her mentor teacher, Ms. Monica has arranged to be interviewed as part of Olivia’s course. They talk while Ms. Monica is setting up her classroom that day.

Olivia: What’s the best way to get in touch with you?

Ms. Monica: You’re welcome to text with anything that’s time-sensitive, but feel free to email me for anything that isn’t urgent. My response time might be on the slower side—I have to pick up my kids from school, and I’m also in contact with families outside of school hours. What’s the best way to get in touch with you?

Olivia: I’m the same. Email for most everything, but please text if there’s an emergency.

Ms. Monica: Have you worked with preschoolers before?

Olivia: Actually, I’ve never worked with children this young before. I’m nervous!

Ms. Monica: Don’t worry. That’s why you’re here! I’ve had student teachers in the past who had worked with preschoolers before, and they still had challenges. Thank you for telling me. This gives me ideas of what I can do to help you throughout your field placement.  

Later in the interview, Ms. Monica encourages Olivia to “jump right in” working with the children and to not feel flustered if Ms. Monica redirects Olivia. Ms. Monica recounts how she used to get redirected by her mentor teacher and that it made her a better, more prepared teacher.

We have observed many benefits of this assignment, like the conversation between Olivia and Ms. Monica. Candidates have told us they felt more comfortable asking about expectations and boundaries because they were part of a class assignment. Mentor teachers have reported enjoying being interviewed and that it helped them get to know the unique needs and experiences of their mentees.

The interview also surfaces how mentors and mentees see and experience the world, including beliefs and biases that influence how they plan, teach, and assess young children. This relates directly to the DAP core consideration of context, which states that all individuals are rooted in unique cultural and social contexts (NAEYC 2020a). Mentor teachers need to reflect on and may have to overcome their own biases to effectively support each and every candidate. This is particularly important in mentoring relationships where mentor teachers and preservice teachers do not share the same social or cultural identities and backgrounds. For example, preservice teachers of color can experience exclusion in teacher education programs (Amos 2010; Cheruvu et al. 2015) and may “ha[ve] to negotiate their racialized relationships with peers and mentor teachers” (Cheruvu et al. 2015, 259). By having open and honest conversations early and often—such as in an interview or a guided conversation—mentor teachers and preservice teachers can support each other in countering such biases and strengthen their relationships (Gold 1985; Murray-Harvey et al. 2000; Horgan et al. 2018; Barry 2024).

Sample Mentor Teacher Interview Questions

Here are some other questions that can be included in an interview assignment like the one we created:

Not all teacher education programs will have such an assignment. In these cases, mentor teachers can initiate guided conversations, such as sharing responses to common concerns or questions that previous candidates have had. They can even share questions they had as preservice teachers. This could include

Whatever form this activity takes, it reinforces an important consideration about adult learners: Each preservice teacher comes into the classroom with their own experiences, interests, skills, and areas for growth (Muñoz et al. 2018). All have the potential to learn and grow over time. Mentor teachers contribute to that growth by getting to know each candidate, sharing expectations early on, and offering individualized supports, as echoed in the tenets of DAP (2020a).

The Observation and Documentation Project

David began developing this project when he was introduced to it by his dissertation supervisor during his doctoral studies, and he has continued to refine it. In this project, which was originally developed to assess children, preservice teachers are asked to collect informal documentation for one child in their field placement, including work samples, observation notes, scribed conversations with children, and written reflections. They connect the documentation to relevant early learning standards or goals and explain what each shows about the child as a learner. Then, they craft communication to the child’s family, describing the child’s strengths and growth areas as shown through these samples.

The importance of observation, documentation, and assessment are echoed in NAEYC’s position statements (NAEYC 2019, 2020a, 2020b). Educators are called to assess “in ways that are ethically grounded and developmentally, culturally, ability, and linguistically appropriate to document developmental progress and promote positive outcomes” (NAEYC 2020b, 15). Mentor teachers can model this for preservice teachers in two ways: As mentors work directly with children (while the candidates observe and assist) and as they observe, document, and assess candidates.

Observing, documenting, and assessing candidates can take a variety of forms and methods. For example, some have used video recordings to document the progress of preservice and in-service educators (Schachter & Gerde 2019; Packard et al. 2022). The mentor teacher and preservice teacher can view a recording together, with the mentor offering feedback and eliciting the candidate’s questions, reflections, and goals for the future. Mentors can use these recordings to show how preservice teachers’ practices have changed over time, such as the difference between the first and tenth read aloud, making the growth concrete and clearer to candidates.

There are several other types of documentation mentor teachers can collect from preservice teachers (Brown 2018; NAEYC 2020b). These could include lesson plans, observation notes, feedback to children, and communication with families. When mentor teachers collect and use these artifacts to guide conversations with candidates, they provide the same “ongoing, strategic, reflective, and purposeful” assessment practices they use with young children (2020a, 19).

Asking preservice teachers to reflect on their growth by looking at recordings, work samples, and other documentation can be a rich and productive experience. Because teacher candidates often focus more on the challenges they face (Barry 2024), it can be hard for them to notice their improvement. Mentors can help mentees see their growth using the same developmentally appropriate approaches they use with young children, as demonstrated in the vignette below.

Throughout Olivia’s field work in Ms. Monica’s Head Start classroom, Ms. Monica has kept examples of Olivia’s work. In one instance, Ms. Monica saved the first lesson plan Olivia made in order to compare it with later lesson plans. When the two meet, Ms. Monica points out how much Olivia’s lesson plans have improved. There are stronger links between objectives and assessments, instructional steps include more hands-on materials and active engagement, and plans for differentiation are more tailored to individual learners. Olivia recognizes that she too has undergone a fundamental period of growth and development in the same way as the children in the classroom.

Ms. Monica also recorded two of Olivia’s lessons: One from her first time leading a small group activity and then two months later. Ms. Monica asks Olivia about any differences she notices between the two videos. Olivia notes in the second video her confidence in directing children who are off task, use of more developmentally appropriate language and shorter directions, and use of meaningful praise tied directly to students’ effort and problem-solving strategies.

For teachers, daily observation, documentation, and reflection about children’s development and growth are likely second nature. Applying these same principles to adult learners (i.e., preservice teachers) will likely become second nature in their roles as mentor teachers.

Next Steps for Mentor Teachers

An unfathomable amount of growth and learning happens for children during a school year. We argue that this is also true for teacher candidates: They enter teacher preparation courses and field experiences with a wide range of skills and identities. Mentor teachers play a crucial role in developing candidates’ knowledge, skills, and dispositions, and they can apply a DAP framework to think about, support, and reflect on candidates’ growth throughout their field placement. To begin, we encourage mentor teachers to revisit the NAEYC foundational position statements and ask themselves:

There are important differences in how we teach adults versus children (Katz 1977); however, providing developmentally appropriate, equitable experiences is just as meaningful for adult learners as for young children (Muñoz et al. 2018). If we hope that the next generation of early childhood teachers will employ DAP in their own teaching, they need to be prepared in and through DAP (Brown et al. 2020).

About the Authors

David Barry, PhD, is an assistant professor of early childhood education at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. As a kindergarten teacher of 10 years and now as a teacher educator, Dave is committed to providing developmentally appropriate learning experiences for students of all ages. dbarry@wcupa.edu

Daris McInnis, EdD, is an assistant professor of literacy at West Chester University, a former early elementary teacher, and a Tillman Scholar whose research centers on family literacy, Black children’s literacy development, early childhood, and critical literacy. DMcInnis@wcupa.edu

Innovations in Higher Education, co-edited by Anthony Broughton, PhD, and Elisa Huss-Hage, MEd, aims to recognize and support the efforts of educators, staff, and administrators who prepare early childhood professionals. The column examines stories from the field, connections to theory and research, and recommendations for practices related to coursework, clinical experiences, and professionalism.

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