Mentoring: Challenges and Opportunities for Collaborative Supervision in the University of New Hampshire Five-Year Teacher Education Program.

A description is given of a project, called "A Collaborative Approach to Leadership in Supervision," initiated between the University of New Hampshire and several public schools. This project was designed to address: (1) the continuing preparation of principals who have primary responsibility for supervising and evaluating teachers as part of their roles as instructional leaders in the schools; and (2) the preparation of cooperating classroom teachers as more effective supervisors of graduate teaching interns and undergraduate exploring teachers. The 5-year program is structured on the triad model for supervision. In this model, the unversity supervisor observes the graduate student teaching intern during the academic year, using a clinical supervision strategy in which the supervisor meets with the intern for pre-conference, observation, and post-conference sessions. Meetings often involve the cooperating teacher as well, thus forming a "triad." This paper describes the role and responsibilities of each of the participants in the program. The training of the cooperating teacher for supervisory responsibilities is also discussed, as well as the organization and structure of the collaborating team and the relationships between its members. Issues and problems in the collaborative supervision model are considered. (JD)