Abstract

DU PLESSIS, Annelize  and  PIENAAR, Marius. Rethinking university-based mentoring: Supporting pre-service teachers holistically beyond assessment. Journal of Education [online]. 2026, n.103, pp.79-99. ISSN 2520-9868.  https://doi.org/10.17159/2520-9868/i103a05.

University-based mentoring during teaching practicums is often framed as an assessment-driven supervisory process, with limited attention to pre-service teachers' emotional and relational needs. In this article we contribute to debates on reconceptualising university mentoring to support more holistic and developmentally responsive teacher preparation. While Hudson's five-factor mentoring model (2004) has shaped much of the mentoring literature, it does not explicitly theorise emotional support as a core mentoring dimension, leaving a conceptual gap in how holistic and relational mentoring is understood during teaching practicum. Drawing on qualitative insights from 170 final-year pre-service teachers, our findings indicate that emotional support, mentor accessibility, and constructive feedback are central to effective mentoring relationships. This study makes a conceptual contribution by extending Hudson's model through the articulation of emotional support as a distinct sixth factor, thereby reframing mentoring as a relational-developmental rather than a primarily evaluative practice. This reconceptualisation offers direction for strengthening university-based mentoring and supporting pre-service teachers' professional identity development and well-being.

Keywords : holistic support; Hudson's five-factor mentoring model; pre-service teachers; teaching practicum; university-based mentoring.

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