Learning from Faculty Mentors Who Had to Mentor and Evaluate Teacher Candidates Completing a Remote Practicum in the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Canada

In the Spring of 2020, the COVID-19 global pandemic impacted all aspects of life throughout the world, including education. Teachers who had never taught online before, all of a sudden had one week to get ready to engage with their students in a virtual setting. On top of these changes, our small post-degree Canadian teacher education program had teacher candidates on practicum in K-12 schools. That meant our faculty mentors, responsible for recommending teacher candidates for certification, had to figure out how to mentor, support, and evaluate teacher candidates who were teaching remotely. This research aimed to address the following two questions: a) What were these faculty mentors’ experiences when having to move mentoring of teacher candidates on a remote practicum? and b) What recommendations do these faculty mentors have for teacher education programs trying to support faculty mentors having to mentor teacher candidates who are teaching remotely? Results illustrate challenges with workload, anxiety, screen time, teacher mentors limiting teacher candidate opportunities, and figuring out how to evaluate certification readiness.