Forming a new concept of mentorship amidst contradictions: a change laboratory of initial teacher education

Mentorship plays pivotal roles in initial teacher education, setting significant challenges for heterogeneous communication. This article shows how concept formation based on participatory analyses of systemic contradictions in mentorship can contribute to transformation of initial teacher education. Using the Change Laboratory formative interventionist method, university staff, school staff and student teachers collectively analysed the contradictions of mentorship and co-developed a new concept of ‘tripartite professionalising community mentorship’, which led to tangible changes in the teacher education programme. This study contributes to theoretical and practical advances towards sustainable mentorship activities and equitable futures in teacher education.