A survey of 94 teachers who served as cooperating teachers or mentored beginning teachers indicated that, despite few extrinsic rewards, they were motivated to undertake these roles; many had no formal preparation for them. Without clear expectations and high-quality training, their ability to enhance student and beginning teachers' practice may…

Explores the cooperating teacher's role as a central feature of the student teaching experience and as it relates to the cooperating teacher's own career. The paper stresses the need for K-12 schools and schools, colleges, and departments of education to acknowledge that teacher preparation is their joint responsibility. (SM)

Surveys of preK-12 cooperating teachers examined demographics, perceptions of field experiences, and perceptions of cooperating teachers' contributions, frustrations, and satisfaction with the job. Results indicated that participants believed they contributed to the development of prospective teachers and derived satisfaction from the task,…

This study surveyed three groups of teachers to investigate their perceptions of problems faced by beginning teachers. The study reexamined the usefulness of Veenman's (1984) meta-analysis of the perceived problems of beginning teachers. Participants were Wisconsin beginning teachers, experienced urban teachers, and cooperating teachers. The…

This study is based on a survey of classroom teachers who identified themselves as having served at least once as a cooperating teacher for a student teacher and at least once as a mentor for a beginning teacher in a formal mentoring program for beginning teachers. Analysis of the study data, based on 157 usable surveys and follow-up interviews…

This study, based on a survey of 302 cooperating teachers, investigated what cooperating teachers learn about themselves when working with student teachers, the impact of serving as a cooperating teacher on one's personal career path, satisfying or problematic features of the role of cooperating teacher, and contributions that cooperating teachers…