The Praxis of Mentoring from a Social Learning Perspective: The Case of Practising Trainee Teachers at a Teacher Training College in Midlands Province of Zimbabwe
Richard Nyika 
, Shoorai Konyana & Motalenyane Alfred Modise
Issue: Vol.6 No. 10 2025 Article 3 pp. 971 – 981
DOI : https://doi.org/10.38159/jelt.20256103 | Published online 31st October, 2025.
© 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Teaching Practice (TP) is a major component of any teacher training programme. During this period, the trainee teachers are attached to a mentor at a practising school. The mentoring process facilitates contextual and operational transfer of skills and knowledge between the trainee teacher and the mentor. Applying the Social Learning Theory plays a very important role at this stage. This is often not the case in many mentor-mentee relationships. This study, therefore, aimed at assessing the application of the Social Learning Theory as a form of learning during teaching practice. The study was a descriptive survey which used quantitative and qualitative data gathering techniques to establish how the mentor-mentee relationship modelled social learning theory. Twenty randomly sampled trainee teachers in Gweru district responded to questionnaires to elicit their views on what they learnt during their attachment to a mentor. Five mentors and five trainee teachers were interviewed to explore their views on mentor-mentee transfer of knowledge and skills. The results showed that the existing mentor-mentee scenarios were not ideal. Most of the trainee teachers were given more teaching loads than mentors and were regarded as teaching load relievers by mentor teachers. The study concluded that trainee teachers were not benefiting much from the mentor-mentee relationships. The study recommended that teacher training colleges should staff-develop mentors, incentivise mentors and ensure that trainee teachers were attached to good mentors. This study will help researchers to understand how mentoring relationships facilitate professional growth.
Keywords: Social learning theory, mentor, trainee teacher, mentoring, Teacher education
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Dr. Shoorai Konyana is a PhD holder from the Central University of Technology Free State (South Africa) and holds a Master of Education degree (Curriculum studies) from the University of Zimbabwe, Special Honours in Religious Studies and a Bachelor of Education (Primary Education) degree from Great Zimbabwe University. She was the Chairperson of the Reviewers Committee for the Teacher Education Research Conference in Zimbabwe (TERCZim) and a member of the TERCZim National Research Chairpersons (2016-2020). Currently she is a lecturer in the Educational Foundations and Curriculum Development Department at Robert Mugabe School of Education, Great Zimbabwe University. She is a member of the Research Committee at Robert Mugabe School of Heritage and Education. She is interested in integration of ICTs in education and in greening the Teacher Education Curriculum and how the teacher education curriculum addresses environmental, cultural and economic components of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and comparative teacher education. She has proven herself as a scholar by presenting papers in national and international conferences. She has published a number of articles on teacher education in addressing environmental issues and has supervised students’ dissertations at Masters Level. She is an affiliate member of the Southern African Society for Educators (S.A.S.E) and the Schools and Colleges Permaculture (SCOPE).
Dr. Richard Nyika holds the following qualification Certificate in Education (UZ), Bachelor of Arts (UNISA), Postgraduate Diploma in Education (ZOU), Master of Education in Sociology of Education (MSU) and Doctor of Education (CUT). He is a researcher and has published more than twenty peer reviewed article in reputable journals. He has been a teacher, School Head and a Sociology of Education Lecturer. He is a full time lecturer and Head of Department, Education and Training at Gweru Polytechnic and a part-time lecturer at Zimbabwe Open University.
Prof. Modise Motalenyane Alfred is an Associate Professor and the Assistant Dean Research and Innovation at the Central University of Technology Free State, former Departmental Manager, former Acting Assistant Dean: Teaching and Learning, former Acting Senior Director of research Development Support and PG Studies. His research interests include accounting, transformation and change, pre-service teachers’ development, pedagogical content knowledge. He is a member of the following committees: Member of Senate, Title Registration Committee, Faculty research committee Faculty board member, University Research & Innovation committee Research Forum, Ethical Committee, Promotion committee, Community engagement committee, International committee, Deputy President of SASE . He has proven himself as a scholar by presenting papers in national and international conferences. He has published papers in different Journals and supervised masters and PhD students. He received funding for different projects from different stakeholders.
Nyika, Richard, Shoorai Konyana and Motalenyane Alfred Modise. “The Praxis of Mentoring from a Social Learning Perspective: The Case of Practising Trainee Teachers at a Teacher Training College in Midlands Province of Zimbabwe.” Journal of Education and Learning Technology 6, no. 10 (2025): 971- 981. https://doi.org/10.38159/jelt.20256103.
© 2025 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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