INVESTIGATING STUDENTS' - FUTURE TEACHERS' VIEWS ON THEIR INTERNSHIP: BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES

: In several countries worldwide, the internship is part of teacher education programs and aims at the professional and personal development of teachers. In Greece, the Pedagogical Departments of Primary Education (PPT) include in their curriculum the students’ practical education which is an internship supervised and supported by teachers - mentors. Through this process, students gain the opportunity to acquire more knowledge of teaching and improve the needed skills, attitudes and values associated with the efficient performance of their job. This case study seeks to unearth the benefits of the internship program and also intends to explore the potential obstacles encountered by students - future teachers during their internship. The qualitative method of research using the semi-directed interview tool was adopted to study the opinion of students future teachers about the internship program. The survey involved eleven students future teachers of the Department of Education and Social Work of the University of Patras, who participated in internships in schools in the region of Patras. The results showed that students - future teachers benefited from the development of integrated teaching skills with the proper guidance and support of mentors, yet they simultaneously indicated some potential inhibitory aspects and challenges which arise through their relationship with mentors.


Introduction
Social and technological developments in the production of knowledge necessitate the professional development and modernization of the teacher's knowledge. Modern educational needs require the upgrading of the role of the teacher and the establishment of institutions that will equip them with abilities and skills for their future work, linking, at the same time, theory and practice effectively. Therefore, the preparation of students in the Pedagogical Departments of Primary Education plays an important role in leading to a better performance in their professional work as well as to a more effective operation of schools. In the Greek educational system, students -future teachers in Primary Education, visit the schools during their practical training before their graduation, observe the classroom teacher and then engage in teaching. In this way, as Parveen and Mirza (2012) mention, internship programs help trainee teachers to understand the connection between theory and practice as well as the knowledge and capabilities they have in order to succeed in the teaching profession.
The benefits of internships for the trainee students have been described in a variety of surveys and the level of personal development can be grouped into five areas. Therefore, in internship programs the trainees (Rajuan & Verloop, 2007in Fragkoulis & Michalou, 2018: a) at an academic level, are equipped with the knowledge, b) at the teaching level, develop effective teaching strategies, c) at an advisory level, practice problem-solving procedures, d) at the level of personality development, develop a multitude of cognitive, social and emotional skills, e) at the level of metacognitive skills, develop their critical thinking.
In general, as identified by Green-Powell (2012), trainees (protégé/mentees) in mentoring programs develop interpersonal relationships and skills by defining and achieving their professional goals, while they also develop professionally by seeing the mentor as a role model. At the same time, their self-confidence is increased as they become ready for the new role they will take on in their future school environment. Thus, the trainees are urged to move forward, and set new goals and higher personal and/or professional boundaries as they are provided with a framework for dialogue on professional issues to improve their teaching practice (Bentley, Workman & Overby, 2017). Another aspect of the benefits the internship has for the trainee is the development of a form of professional relationship which promotes the guidance and support of the trainee. It is through this relationship that the trainee's commitment to personal and professional development emerges (Anagnou & Fragoulis, 2014).
More specifically, throughout the practical training of the students -future teachers, the mentor provides psychological, teaching and professional support (Hatzopoulou & Kakana, 2013). He is the one who not only gives advice or solves problems but also asks questions, is a listener and a model of thoughtful thinking, while at the same time the trainee student actively participates in the process, asking questions and trying to think critically (Boreen, Johnson, Niday & Potts, 2009). The value of mentorship in teacher training programs is important for the candidates' preparation when they start working in their field (Hobson, Harris, Buckner-Manley & Smith, 2012). The mentor's obligations are structured in three categories according to Chrysafidis (2013). These are practical applications, references to theory, as well as the formation of professional self-perception. The value of the mentorship relationship may even become more important than the academic performance itself for the development of a sense of the effectiveness of the students -future teachers. The good academic performance of the latter, although necessary, is not related to their sense of effectiveness in teaching. On the contrary, the perception they have about the kind of support they receive from their mentor together with the positive feedback are the elements that are positively linked to the development of their effectiveness (Moulding, Stewart & Dunmeyer, 2014).

A purpose and research questions
The purpose of this research was to investigate and record the opinion of students-future teachers, in a University Department focusing on teacher education, with regards to the possible benefits resulting from internship participation and the ensuing interaction with the mentor. More specifically, students of the specific Pedagogical Department of Primary Education were asked about their practical training and the factors that may inhibit the relationship between mentor and student -future teacher.
Therefore, the following research questions were raised: 1) What did the students -future teachers learn from their mentors during their internships in schools? 2) What factors do students -future teachers consider as challenges or obstacles as far as the role of the mentor is concerned?

Participants
For the purposes of this research, feasibility sampling was selected, as the sample was selected to meet the research needs of the researcher (Cohen & Manion, 1997). The sample consisted of eleven (11) students, future teachers of the Department of Education and Social Work of the University of Patras. Specifically, there were six (6) women and five (5) men who carried out their internships in primary schools of Patras during the academic year 2018-2019. The survey was conducted during the period November -December 2020 and all interviewees had completed their internship. The ten (10) interviewees were graduates of the PE70-Teachers branch from the Department of Education and Social Work and had completed their studies in 2019. Only one interviewee was still a student -in the 6 th year of this Department-having however also completed his obligations with the practical training. For eight of the eleven interviewees the specific department was their first choice of studies and all, except one, who had completed his internship and intended to get a degree in the next examination period (with 1 course left), had finished their studies in the course of four years. More specifically, the people who participated in the interviews were (6) women and five (5) men, with the place of residence for seven of the eleven in Patras and for each of the other four, Kalamata, Salamis, Kalymnos and Erateini Fokida. Also, eight of the eleven interviewees (seven of them are the ones who had the school in question as their first choice) continue their studies at the postgraduate level, while the remaining three think they will do so afterwards.

Analysis
The research tool used in the present research for the collection of data was the semistructured interview which enables the in-depth investigation of perceptions, opinions and values, to show the phenomenon under study through the "eyes" of the respondents and to highlight the "voice" and the perspective of the participants in the research (Iosifidis, 2003: 112).
The thematic axes of discussion were created based on the research questions of the research to facilitate the interview and the subsequent analysis, linking the theoretical framework with the research questions. The thematic axes that were created were: • Benefits relating to the mentor and to the participation in the internship for students in the Department of Primary Education. • Challenges and obstacles between mentor and student -future teacher during the implementation of the internship. The questions asked during the interview emerged from the axes discussed above. The questions were divided into two parts. In the first part of the interview, closed questions were asked regarding the profile of the teachers e.g. age, gender, place of permanent residence, the first choice for admission to the university, years of completion of their studies, postgraduate studies, the future practice of the profession in question and satisfaction from studies. The second part was followed by open-ended questions, which were answered orally. The open questions asked during the interview were the following: 1) During your internship, what do you think your mentor taught you or provided you with in general? Did it help you? If so, what did it help you with? 2) Is there anything more you would like the mentor to have done or to have taught you? 3) What do you think makes the relationship between mentor and student difficult and what facilitates it? Before the start of the interview, participants were fully informed about the purpose, nature and process of the survey. The average duration of each interview was about 15-20 minutes and all interviews were recorded with the consent of the interviewees.
The participants' responses were recorded on electronic media and then transcribed. For the analysis of the data, qualitative content analysis was applied (Mason, 2003) and the coding was done according to Kerlinger (1970), who defines it as the transfer of responses to special categories. Specifically, to analyse the data collected from the interviews, the responses were codified and then categorized to facilitate their analysis.
In qualitative research, it is important to ensure the validity and reliability of data collection instruments. Therefore, an attempt was made to formulate the questions in a clear manner in order to ensure the greatest possible degree of understanding and the least possible degree of misunderstanding (Cohen & Manion, 1994:388;Josephides, 2008:272). Like any research, the present one also involves some limitations. It is worth noting that one of the most important limitations concerns the sample of the study which is limited in number and comes from a single geographical area of the country, the University of Patras (Department of Education and Social Work (former P.T.D.E). Also, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the interviews were conducted online as a result of the restrictions in place and of the implementation of physical distancing mandated by the university at the time.

Results
A total of eleven interviewees who will be referred to as E1, E2, E3, ....E11, participated in the interviews. The majority of interviewees stated that they wanted to practice the profession of teacher in the future and one of them (E6) even mentioned that he is already working as a teacher in a school. At this point, it is noted that one of the interviewees (E7) who had as his ninth choice the said school, mentions that he will seek through the master's degree he implements, to acquire "work beyond the boundaries of the school class," as he characteristically says, and another, the E8, that he "wants to exercise the profession of teacher in the future under ideal conditions." Finally, two of the eleven interviewees (E3 and E8), both women, state that they are not satisfied enough with their studies, in contrast to the other nine who are satisfied.
The research questions of this paper served as a guide to the thematic analysis of the interviews. Therefore, after the careful reading of all the transcribed texts of the interviews, there followed the analytical process phase (codification) based on the words of the interviewees and the transition to the level of the subjects. As a result, the topics presented below were compiled per research question.
Research Question 1: What did the future teachers learn from the mentor during their internship in schools?
The analysis of the interviews showed:

a. Confusion as to the role of the mentor
The question used in the interview to answer this research question was the following: "during your internship, what do you think your mentor has taught you or provided you with in general? Did it help you? If so, what did it help you with?" To this question, the answers given vary. It is clear that there is confusion as to who they consider being a mentor. In particular, confusion exists between the class teacher, the head of the labs they carried out at the university and the person in charge of the traineeship. It should be noted that several interviewees consider as mentors the person from the university who was in charge of the internship and visited them at the school during its implementation. A typical example of this confusion is interviewee E2 who states that the mentor had given everyone teaching-related guidelines. This could not have been done by the mentorteacher of the actual school class for all the students considering that only one or two students (maximum) were in his class. On the contrary, the head of the laboratories could do so since large groups of students attended the labs. Also, this interviewee believes that the teachers of the class have a supplementary role. Finally, when the interviewees refer to the mentor they often distinguish between the teacher of the class or the lab. In other words, they do not consider themselves a mentor only one of the people involved in the internship programs. More specifically they mention:

b. Inability to focus on specific knowledge from all interviewees
According to what they say, a mutual difficulty emerges for all interviewees who seem to be unable to focus on something common that they learned during their internship. Each one refers to something different, thus there exists an essential inability to group together what they have learned. Nevertheless, it is reported that they had freedom and experimented with non-traditional methods, learned to approach pupils, contemplated/reflected, designed and implemented teaching plans, received advice on the teaching they implemented, and built, together with the mentor, the way they taught as well as their identity as teachers. Interviewee E6 is the only one that makes a distinction by talking about social and professional skills as well as academic abilities. Finally, there was E4 that states that s/he would like more feedback stating that "What I felt was missing is sufficient feedback on the quality of our work and our teaching." Similarly, E11 states that "I wish I had been able to watch my mentor in action so that I could have a better picture of the proper management of a class....". Indicative answers given include the following:

c. Psychological support
A significant number of the interviewees report that they were psychologically supported. Specifically, they state:

e. Lack of cooperation with negative consequences at the level of learning
Furthermore, there have also been cases where there was no special cooperation between the interviewee and the mentor, so the person instructed in these cases felt that he did not benefit from his mentor. Research Question 2: What factors are considered to inhibit the relationship between mentor and student/ future teacher?

" ... I can't say that the first mentor -teacher in the class has taught me anything because
The participants in the research consider that there are factors that facilitate and factors that make the relationship between mentor and mentee difficult. Regarding the latter, according to what they state, they seem to emerge either from the side of the mentor or from the side of the mentee or both sides. The factors identified are listed below. A. General factors that facilitate the mentor-mentee relationship: • listening to each other; • mutual respect; • consistency; • a positive, two-way willingness to cooperate; • intimacy; • the degree of the mentor's approachability; • open channels of communication; • the feedback; • mutual-two-way communication; • absence of a culture of competition; • lack of criticism from the mentor; • a bigger level of support regarding the theoretical background. Sample answers from which the above factors arise are:

B. Factors that make the relationship between mentor and mentee difficult
Here the factors are divided into three categories; those that arise a) from the side of the mentor, b) from the side of the mentee and c) from both sides.

a. Factors arising from the mentor's side
• "interventions during teaching"; • "irony"; • "absolute and negative attitude towards the students, seeing them as inferior" • "the possible age difference"; • "work fatigue of the mentor"; • "the perception that students disrupt the class"; • "lack of appropriate education, experience and knowledge"; • "lack of dialogue"; • "disagreements"; • "conflicts of interest"; • "difficulties in meeting"; • "abuse of authority and the exploitation of the student"; • "an authoritative and controlling relationship"; • "student criticism"; • "the stress of negative evaluation".
b. Factors arising from the side of the mentee • "lack of trust in the mentor and their abilities"; • "the sense of lack of freedom"; • "the constant negative criticism of the teacher's work".
c. Factors common to both • "disrespect"; • "selfishness, when one or both of them see the other as a rival"; • "lack of willingness to cooperate"; • "the difficulty of understanding".
Sample comments from the interviews from which the above result can be found below: "... One of the elements that does not facilitate the relationship between mentor and student is the lack of respect on both sides ......not to offer feedback, to intervene constantly when the student is teaching, to be mocked and generally to have a negative attitude towards students under no circumstances does it contribute to the maintenance of harmonious relations between the student and the mentor. ".... The elements that may make the relationship between the mentor and the student difficult may come from: (a) the mentee, for instance the unwillingness to cooperate, .... not trusting the mentor and his/her abilities, as well as the sense of lack of freedom, (b) from the mentor, for instance the view of the mentee as inferior to them, but also the lack of proper education, experiences and knowledge, and also (c) from both sides, for instance the difficulty of communciation, the lack of dialogue, the existence of disagreements, the conflict of interests and the difficulty in meetings due to busy schedules." (E6) "... As far as the mentor is concerned, it is difficult when he abuses his authority and exploits the student. For example, when he threatens him through evaluation...... It is also difficult if the mentor himself sees the students as his subordinates and with insufficinent knowledge. .....Also I will mention here that many students are looking for a friend in the person of the mentor. .....Finally, the big age difference between the mentor and the student makes their relationship difficult..." (E7) "What makes the relationship difficult is selfishness, when one or both of them sees the other as a rival..." (E8) "If the mentor or student is not willing to work together there will be a problem in their relationship. But if they have good communication, then their relationship will go smoothly." (E9) "..........if the relationship is created based on the grade or the criticism of what you did wrong, then this interaction does not actually progress, it is a relationship of imposition and control. When the student feels that he is being mocked by the mentor or that he is being considers as inferior, there is no way that the student will learn anything. Obviously, the student must have a similar behavior....." (E10)

Conclusion
The survey data highlights the difficulty that the interviewees seem to present regarding a common focus on what they learned during their internship. Although few report that the lack of cooperation was the reason they did not learn from their mentor, the rest of the interviewees referred more frequently to psychological support and classroom management. The above two elements are reported by interviewees as being provided to them mainly by the mentors. Specifically, when asked what the mentor helped them with during their internship, the interviewees often mention, I was "helped," I was "supported", without identifying what exactly the mentor helped them or supported them with.
Nevertheless, in some isolated cases the interviewees are more specific and report that they had freedom and experimented with non-traditional methods, learned how to approach pupils, contemplated/reflected, designed, and implemented teaching plans, received advice on the teaching they implemented, acquired techniques for classroom management, and built together with the mentor their teaching methods as well as their identity as teachers. Moreover, only one interviewee, E6, provided specific information regarding the nature of the said help by stating that s/he developed social and professional competencies as well as academic skills that helped his/her professional orientation. Therefore, although the elements discussed above are important elements that are acquired during the implementation of the internship, yet there has been a multifaceted view of the internship as a whole, to the extent that everyone mentions something different and as a result, there can be no grouping of what has been acknowledged. This finding leads to the thought that either each student -future teacher received something different from his/her mentor or that each mentor has offered something different to each student -future teacher, resulting in an obvious absence of a common goal setting for all the students / future teachers. There is also the question of whether this was the case because each student/future teacher had to fulfill different needs or whether this was because each mentor was focusing on something different. This finding deserves further investigation.
Overall, the results of this survey can be linked to other research studies that showcase how during internship students -future teachers develop teaching methodology skills, practice with appropriate classroom management techniques and engage in problem-solving practices (Chrysafidis, 2013;Rajuan & Verloop, 2007in Fragkoulis & Michalou, 2018. Indeed, according to relevant research, the mentor offers the student -future teacher psychological, teaching and professional support which in turn contributes to the development of a personalized professional identity (Hatzopoulou & Kakana, 2013).
As for the second research question regarding the factors inhibiting the relationship between mentor and student -future teacher, the participants cite a wide range of factors that either facilitate or hinder the relationship between the two. In fact, as far as the latter is concerned, it seems that these could stem from either the mentor or the student -future teacher, or from both. It is worth pointing out here that although the majority of these factors refer to the communication and the relationship that is created between the mentor and the student -future teacher, each interviewee cites a different factor. In this way, the elements required for the communication of two people in an ideal relationship, arise. However, most, if not all, of these elements are necessary for building any relationship, not just a professional relationship. At the same time, the factor referring to the mentor's criticism of the student is of particular concern. The interviewees argue that only when the criticism from the mentor towards the student is eliminated can the relationship in question be facilitated.
Regarding how the mentors' criticism can become an inhibiting factor, it seems that the participants of this survey depart from previous research on the evaluation and criticism received as students -future teachers. For example, Jensen et al, (2016) and Shanks (2017) report that criticism is constructive because the development of critical reflection and critical thinking concerns the professional development of both studentsfuture teachers and mentors. Assuming the role of a critical friend means that the mentor can support and encourage the mentee to adopt a self-reflective stance toward their practice. In this way, the mentor transcends the role of the coach and sets the ground for the creation of rapport grounded on mutual trust (Coppola, Rocha & Woodard, 2021).
At the same time, research findings are in sync with the present research when it comes to the establishment of a healthy interpersonal relationship between mentor and student -future teacher. The communication and cooperation between the two can set the groundwork for the support and strengthening of the students' -future teachers' roles instead of inhibiting them (Fun & Bella, 2018). Strong student -future teacher relationship can help bring to the surface problems the student -future teacher might be facing, guide them with appropriate teaching and support and thus foster learning and motivation (Izadinia, 2015;Zainol & Salam, 2021).
The present study could provide research evidence in support of the existing theory concerning the role of internships, which as it is evident has multiple benefits for students. In addition, it showcases the role of the University and particularly of the Pedagogical Departments in connecting students with their future work environment and in contributing to their timely preparation for practicing teaching. Finally, the importance of training future mentors who will be equipped with many skills, such as communication skills as well as knowledge and flexibility in teaching-related issues arises indirectly.
All in all, conducting a broader study that involves a larger number of participants and encompasses all the Pedagogical Departments of the country would be of interest and would contribute to a better understanding of what was studied in this research. The ultimate goal of these surveys would be the improvement of the initial training of future teachers, because only if they are aware of the role of the mentor and the mentoring can they seek, claim or evaluate anything that happens during the internship.