Young Children Volume 81 • No 2 Toward Intentional Teaching: The Need for Educator Agency | Seite 76

INNOVATIONSINHIGHEREDUCATION

Mentoring

Preservice Teachers

Applying a Developmentally Appropriate Practice Lens

David Barry and Daris McInnis

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.

74 Young Children
Summer 2026