Abstract
Many university faculties of education across Australia employ a model of internship for final semester pre-service teacher education students to help them make a smooth transition into the teaching profession. While a growing body of research has explored pre-service teachers’ experiences of their practicum, including the internship, which is the final professional experience within a course of study, very little work has considered micropolitics as a lens through which to interpret interns’ relationships with their school supervisors/mentors. This paper uses a micropolitical framework to interpret reflective reports written by 145 Bachelor of Education (primary) interns who recorded their perceptions of their professional learning experience within the context of a relationship with their school-based mentors. Several key themes are identified that highlight interns’ reports of a range of micropolitical strategies at play. The paper concludes by raising a number of implications for universities and schools regarding how better to facilitate interns’ transition into the profession.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abell, S. K., Dillon, D. R., Hopkins, C. J., McInerney, W. D., & O’Brien, D. G. (1995). Somebody to count on: mentor/intern relationships in a beginning teacher internship program. Teaching & Teacher Education, 11(2), 173–188.
Achinstein, B. (2006). New teacher and mentor political literacy: Reading, navigating and transforming induction contexts. Teachers and Teaching, 12(2), 123–138.
Awaya, A., McEwan, H., Heyler, D., Linsky, S., Lum, D., & Wakukawa, P. (2003). Mentoring as a journey. Teaching and Teacher Education, 19(1), 45–56.
Ball, S. (1987). The micropolitics of the school: Towards a theory of school organisation. London: Methuen/Routledge.
Barrott, J., & Raybould, R. (1998). Changing schools into collaborative organizations. In D. Pounder (Ed.), Restructuring schools for collaboration: Promises and pitfalls (pp. 27–42). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Bishop, P., & Mulford, B. (1996). Empowerment in four primary schools: they don’t really care. International Journal of Educational Reform, 5(2), 193–204.
Blase, J. (1988). The everyday political perspectives of teachers: Vulnerability and conservatism. Qualitative Studies in Education, 1(2), 125–142.
Blase, J. (1990). Some negative effects of principals’ control-oriented and protective political behaviour. American Educational Research Journal, 27(4), 727–753.
Blase, J. (1991). The micropolitical perspective. In J. Blase (Ed.), The politics of life in schools: Power, conflict and cooperation, (1–8). Newbury Park: SAGE.
Blase, J., & Anderson, G. L. (1995). The micropolitics of educational leadership: From control to empowerment. London: Cassell.
Blase, J., & Blase, J. (2002). The micropolitics of instructional supervision: A call for research. Educational Administration Quarterly, 38(6), 6–44.
Carr, J. F., Herman, N., & Harris, D. E. (2005). Creating dynamic schools through mentoring. USA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, coaching, and collaboration.
Carter, M., & Francis, R. (2001). Mentoring and beginning teachers’ workplace learning. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 29(3), 249–261.
Clawson, J. G., & Kram, K. (1984). Managing cross gender mentoring. Business Horizons, 27(3), 22–32.
Clutterbuck, D. (2004). Everyone needs a mentor: fostering talent in your organisation (4th ed.). London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Cox, R. (2004). The mentoring spirit of the teacher. New Zealand: Essential Resources, Inspiration, support and guidance for aspiring and practising teacher-mentors.
Curry, M., Jaxon, K., Russell, J. L., Callahan, A., & Bicais, J. (2008). Examining the practice of beginning teachers’ micropolitical literacy within professional inquiry communities. Journal of Teaching and Teacher Education, 24, 660–673.
Devos, A. (2004). The project of self, the project of others: mentoring, women and the fashioning of the academic subject. Studies in Continuing Education, 26(1), 67–80.
Ehrich, L. C., & Hansford, B. (1999). Mentoring: Pros and cons for HRM. Asia Pacific Journal of Human resources, 37, 92–107.
Elmes, M. B., & Smith, C. H. (2006). Power, double binds, and transcendence in the mentoring relationship: A transpersonal perspective. International Journal of Learning and Change, 1(4), 484–498.
Feiman-Nemser, S. (1996). Teacher mentoring: A critical review. Washington, DC: ERIC Clearinghouse on Teaching and Teacher Education.
Fletcher, S. (2000). Mentoring in schools. London: Kogan Page.
Galvin, P. (1998). The organizational economics of interagency collaboration. In D. Pounder (Ed.), Restructuring schools for collaboration: Promises and pitfalls (pp. 43–64). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Gitlin, A., & Price, K. (1992). Teacher empowerment and the development of voice. In C. Glickman (Ed.), Supervision in transition (pp. 61–74). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Glaser, B., & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Chicago: Aldine.
Haggarty, L. (1995). The complexities of effective mentoring in initial teacher Education. Mentoring and Tutoring, 2, 32–41.
Hansford, B. C., Ehrich, L. C., & Tennant, L. (2004). Outcomes and perennial issues in pre-service teacher education mentoring programs. International Journal of PEPE Inc, 8(2), 6–16.
Hodkinson, H. K., & Hodkinson, P. (1997). Micro-politics in initial teacher education: Luke’s story. Journal of Education for Teaching, 23(2), 119–130.
Hoyle, E. (1986). The politics of school management. Great Britain: Hodder & Stoughton.
Hudson, P. (2004). Subject-specific mentoring for developing primary teaching practices. International Journal of Practical Experiences in Professional Education, 8(2), 18–28.
Hughes, M., & James, C. (1999). The relationship between the head and the deputy head in primary schools. School Leadership &Management, 19(1), 83–95.
Hurst, B., & Reading, G. (2002). Teachers mentoring teachers. Indiana: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation.
Kane, I., & Campbell, A. (1993). Mentor and mentor-training in the North West articled teacher scheme. Mentoring, 1, 16–22.
Kelchtermans, G., & Ballet, K. (2002a). The micropolitics of teacher induction. A narrative-biographical study on teacher socialisation. Teaching and Teacher Education, 18, 105–120.
Kelchtermans, G., & Ballet, K. (2002b). Micropolitical literacy: Reconstructing a neglected dimension in teacher development. International Journal of Educational Research, 37, 755–767.
Kochan, F. K., & Pascarelli, J. T. (Eds.). (2003). Global perspectives on mentoring. USA: Information Age, Transforming contexts, communities, and cultures.
Lasley, T. L., Matczynski, T. J., & Williams, J. A. (1992). Collaborative and non-collaborative partnership structures in teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 43(4), 257–261.
Marshall, C. (1991). The chasm between administrator and teacher cultures: A micropolitical puzzle. In J. Blase (Ed.), The politics of life in schools: Power, conflict and cooperation (139–160). Newbury Park: SAGE.
Mawhinney, H. B. (1999). Reappraisal: The problems and prospects of studying the micropolitics of leadership in reforming schools. School Leadership & Management, 19(2), 155–170.
Mayer, R. C., Davis, J. H., & Schoorman, F. D. (1995). An integrative model of organizational trust. Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 709–734.
McIntyre, D. (1997). Teacher education research in a new context: The Oxford internship scheme. London: Paul Chapman.
Millwater, J. (1999). Learning to teach: An internship. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis. Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD.
Millwater, J., & Ehrich, L. C. (2008). Power relations: The intern and the mentor. Sunshine Coast: Paper given at ATEA conference.
Millwater, J., & Yarrow, A. (1997). The mentoring mindset: A constructivist perspective? Mentoring and Tutoring, 5(1), 14–24.
Podson, I. J., & Denmark, V. M. (2000). Coaching & mentoring. New York: Eye on Education, First-year & student teachers.
Portner, H. (Ed.). (2005). Teacher mentoring and induction: The state of the art and beyond. California: Corwin Press.
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (2nd ed. ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Tobin, K. (2006). Learning to teach in diverse and dynamic classrooms. Pedagogies: An international journal, 1(2), 123–135.
Wallace, M., & Huckman, K. (1999). Senior management teams in primary schools: The quest for synergy. London and New York: Routledge.
Webber, S. S., & Klimoski, R. J. (2004). Client–project manager engagements, trust, and loyalty. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25(8), 997–1013.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ehrich, L.C., Millwater, J. Internship: interpreting micropolitical contexts. Aust. Educ. Res. 38, 467–481 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-011-0035-7
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-011-0035-7