Using instrumental mentoring to prepare students for work-integrated learning

Work-integrated learning (WIL) encompasses strategies that integrate theory with the practice of work as part of the curriculum. Students’ WIL experiences are maximized by supporting their learning needs by careful preparation before, supervision during, and reflection after the experience. This chapter focuses on preparation, exploring a pre-internship initiative that employs instrumental mentoring. The chapter takes the example of a pre-internship initiative delivered to illustrate how WIL preparation might be embedded from the first year of learning. Teacher education was selected because pre-service teachers are among several student cohorts for whom internships feature work with clients or students as well as with peers. As such, deficits in WIL preparation can relate not to teaching ability, but to the interprofessional skills required to operate within a school as an organization.