Mentor teachers’ descriptions of preferred actions related to scenarios describing emotionally challenging episodes in work-based learning

ABSTRACT Work-based learning is an influential period of teacher education, where a mentor teacher is assigned to support the student teacher. Mentoring conversations between the mentor teachers and student teacher seldom cover how student teachers cope with emotional challenges. Therefore, we aimed to investigate mentor teachers’ perspectives on student teachers’ reports of emotional challenges. The study had a particular focus on actions the mentor teachers described as preferable in reacting to scenarios of emotional challenges reported by student teachers. We conducted a constructivist grounded theory study and interviewed 22 mentor teachers. The findings of the study show that mentor teachers’ main concern revolved around student teachers’ understanding of challenges as learning opportunities. According to mentor teachers’ descriptions, the preferred actions in their role as mentor teachers were to regulate, engage/help, be exemplary, and take charge. Thus, our study shows that mentor teachers intended to aid student teachers in navigating emotional challenges.


Introduction
Mentor teachers (MTs), who support student teachers in work-based learning (i.e.field training or practicum), are influential actors in teacher education (Rozelle & Wilson, 2012).They are, in fact, argued to be the most influential person in teacher education (Orland-Barak & Wang, 2021) when it comes to student teachers' pedagogical instruction (Clarke, Triggs, & Nielsen, 2014;Rozelle & Wilson, 2012).MTs often encounter diverse and multifaceted understandings student teachers have about teaching.For example, student teachers might have trouble navigating emotional tensions and dilemmas regarding the notion of care in relation to teaching (Deng et al., 2018;Lindqvist, Thornberg, & Colnerud, 2020).In a study by van Ginkel, van Drie, and Verloop (2018) MTs recollected differences and similarities between student teachers they had mentored.The notion of care was a prominent theme that showed differences between the student teachers.
When influencing student teachers, MTs could adopt different mentoring roles.Student teachers feel better prepared when MTs model effective instructions and coach using frequent and adequate feedback (Matsko et al., 2020).Merket (2022) found that mentors' roles were characterized as either active, direct, or diverse.According to the study by Merket (2022), MTs' roles were related to the roles adopted by the student teachers.An active and direct mentor role was related to a reactive student teacher role, and a diverse mentor role was associated with an active student teacher role.In comparison, Olufsen et al., (2022) found that MTs perceived student teachers with more specialized content knowledge as progressing faster in their studies, as better at applying different instructional strategies, and as more reflective during guidance sessions.Mentoring roles and expectations about student teachers might relate to how student teachers experience and learn from emotional challenges.
MTs usually experience their roles as mentors as positive.They highlight the importance of work-based learning and their commitment to supporting student teachers (Gillett-Swan & Grant-Smith, 2020).Teachers who decide to become mentor teachers describe feeling appreciated when being asked to mentor a student teacher.MTs hold conceptions about their own teaching competence that motivate them to become mentors; but not skills specifically connected to mentoring (Kuhn, Hagenauer, & Gröschner, 2022).MTs are expected to guide student teachers in choosing appropriate actions when they struggle to find a suitable response to challenges and aid them in developing resilience and overcoming adversities (He, 2009).Mentoring could contain several dimensions.Ambrosetti, Knight, and Dekkers (2014) suggest a framework where mentoring is considered to be relational, developmental, and contextual to fully adapt mentoring for the complexities of work-based learning.Therefore, research on MTs' understanding of how best to support student teachers who are facing work-based emotional challenges is important.
Considering the need for inquiry-based, deliberative, and diagnostic ambition in mentoring practices (Orland-Barak & Wang, 2021), it is important to examine how MTs understand and make sense of student teachers' emotional challenges in work-based learning.MTs could act deliberately and in accordance with an inquiry-based model to address student teachers' experiences of emotional challenges.In a vignette study by Jaspers et al. (2022), MTs stated how they thought they would intervene in described scenarios.MTs described that they valued students' learning over mentoring values.MTs spoke of intending to intervene when they reflected on situations where student teachers made mistakes about content in teaching, or when they faced difficulties managing the classroom (Jaspers et al., 2022).In our study, MTs reflect upon and discuss possible actions when presented with scenarios student teachers described in previous research as emotionally challenging during work-based learning.
Therefore, our study adds to previous literature on MTs' perspectives by investigating the actions they believe to be preferable in relation to student teachers' experiences of emotionally challenging episodes.

Purpose statement and research questions
We investigated MTs' perspectives on scenarios regarding emotional challenges student teachers might face during work-based learning.The scenarios are based on research about student teachers' emotional challenges in work-based teacher education.The study had a particular focus on actions MTs described as preferable when reacting to the scenarios, inquiring as to how they thought they would act if they had been the MT in the situation, similar to the study by Jaspers et al. (2022).We were guided by the following questions: (1) How do mentor teachers describe their actions when thinking about student teachers' emotional challenges in the classroom?(2) How do they think about student teachers' needs in an emotionally challenging episode? and (3) How do they describe student teachers' learning from an emotionally challenging episode?

Emotional challenges during work-based learning education
In a previous project, we have investigated student teachers' emotional challenges in relation to teacher education (Lindqvist, 2019;Lindqvist et al., 2017Lindqvist et al., , 2019aLindqvist et al., , 2019b)).For example, student teachers experienced emotional challenges connected to professional ideals connected to feeling responsible for students' well-being, and when meeting teachers who act as negative role models.Student teachers sometimes felt powerless in these situations, even though they expressed ideals about teaching that they wanted to enforce (Lindqvist et al., 2017).
In other studies, student teachers reported the emotional flux of teaching, which is characterized by a wide range of emotional experiences (Teng, 2017), and by conflicting emotions; such as experiencing both distressful and rewarding emotions at the same time (Wu & Chen, 2018).Hayes (2003) found that student teachers' previous experiences of work-based learning could both enable and prevent learning during successive work-based learning placements.In addition, Yuan and Lee (2016) explored how student teachers navigated emotions.Student teachers' emotional accounts revealed hidden emotional rules about what emotions to suppress or express during workbased learning.In a case study, isolation, inadequacy, resentment, and vulnerability were found to be significant emotions connected to student teachers' experiences (Bloomfield, 2010).From conducting a literature review Hawkey (2006, p. 145) conclude that: /M/uch of what a trainee learns comes via the mentoring relationship in the individual context of the particular school.These relationships are emotionally charged partly due to the supporting/assessing tension in mentoring, and partly due to the current culture of standards and targets which may exacerbate any difficulty.
Different ideas and purposes of mentoring can reveal tensions of mentoring, such as mentors passing on skills or learning from and with other people (Aderibigbe, Colucci-Gray, & Gray, 2016).During phases of disillusionment in teacher education, key experiences play an important role (Meijer, De Graaf, & Meirink, 2011).Negative key experiences during phases of disillusionment might result in uncertainty and feeling unfit to be a teacher.Conversely, coming out of the disillusionment phase was often the result of a positive key experience.Positive key experiences involved having conversations that encouraged professional growth among student teachers (Meijer, De Graaf, & Meirink, 2011).Therefore, mentoring conversations between a MT and a student teacher could have an emancipatory potential.Given the emotional challenges student teachers might encounter during their education, and the role of mentoring during work-based learning, it is important to further investigate MTs' described preferable actions when encountering the student teachers' emotional challenges during work-based learning.

Mentor teachers' conversations with student teachers
A MT in a study by Stanulis et al. (2019) described conversations with student teachers as 'emotional cheerleading' (i.e. offering emotional support for immediate needs), which is an insufficient mentoring strategy (Stanulis et al., 2019).Mentoring conversations should also include co-planning, observing, and debriefing.Therefore, emotional support is not all there is to mentoring (cf.Ambrosetti, Knight, & Dekkers, 2014).In addition, Stanulis et al. (2019) concluded that mentoring is more than cooperation and argues for the intentional creation of educational experiences for student teachers.This could be described as 'educative mentoring' and involves collaborating on tasks, with MTs continually discussing and describing what they are doing and why in conversations with the student teachers they are mentoring.
Likewise, Hennissen et al. (2008) found mentoring conversations mainly cover (1) instructions and organization, (2) the students and the class in question, and (3) subject matter.Mentoring conversations are the dominant tool used to help student teachers understand their practice (Hobson, 2016) and are used to give advice and support.In these conversations, Manderstedt et al., (2022) found that student teachers preferred structured conversations based on documents, while MTs wanted the conversations to be short and flexible.In addition, Hobson (2016) proposed that mentor teachers should intentionally avoid 'judgementoring' and instead engage in a developmental, growthoriented, and empowering models of mentoring conversations.This would involve providing appropriate challenges, as well as efforts to support student teachers to be more autonomous and agentic.
Studies propose different models for mentoring conversations.For example, it could be arranged as a triad, with two student teachers and one mentor teacher which has been shown promising results (Ambrosetti, Dekkers, & Knight, 2017).In addition, Helgevold, Naesheim-Bjørkvik, and Østrem (2015) discuss the use of a lesson study to stimulate focus in mentoring conversations.Another model described by Stanulis et al. (2019) involves using observation, debriefing, and analyses of student teachers' work to allow MTs to become educative mentors.This could be achieved by focusing on a single area of observation rather than on everything that happens inside a classroom.If MTs carry out these actions, it would constitute another focus in their mentoring conversations.Orland- Barak and Klein (2005) found that MTs often described and visualized mentoring conversations as collaborative and democratic; even though the study found them to be more along the lines of controlling and prescriptive.In the light of mentoring conversations as (a) technical, and (b) controlling and prescriptive (Orland-Barak & Klein, 2005) or with a focus on emotional cheerleading (Stanulis et al., 2019), our study contributes to the literature by focusing on MTs descriptions of their preferred actions in situations prompted by student teachers' reports in research of emotionally challenging episodes.

Methodology
In the study, we adopted a qualitative research design.We based our study on constructivist grounded theory methodology because of our focus on mentor teachers' perspectives in a previously unknown area.When studying social processes, meanings, and interaction, and in this case, a particular focus on participants' perspectives, constructivist grounded theory is a suitable research design (Charmaz, 2014).Furthermore, constructivist grounded theory was chosen for the benefits it offers in investigating relationships between codes (Lindqvist & Forsberg, 2022).Regarding the need for studies about the emotional aspects of the work-based learning experience, constructivist grounded theory helps us develop a theory that could be used and further modified to better understand challenges faced by student teachers and MTs.Making use of constructivist grounded theory meant that we focused on theory construction via abductive logic (Charmaz, 2017).Along with informed grounded theory, theoretical agnosticism and theoretical pluralism were guiding principles during theory construction (Thornberg, 2012).

Participants
For the study, 22 mentor teachers were recruited (17 females and 5 males, age span: 37-58 years, M = 47.63,SD = 5.71).The MTs represented schools covering fourth to sixth grade (upper elementary school, including students aged 10-12 years), and seventh to ninth grade (lower secondary school, including students aged 13-15 years).The MTs in the current study represented different school subjects, including Mathematics, English, Sloyd (i.e.'Crafts'), and Geography, among others.The schools where the mentor teachers worked were situated in various socioeconomic areas that included both rural and urban environments.The mentor teachers came from five different municipalities and were assigned student teachers from three different universities.Most of the mentor teachers had worked as a teacher for a long period of time (9-31 years of experience, M = 20.04,SD = 5.67).The reasons mentor teachers described for signing up for mentoring a student teacher included: (a) exposure to input, new ideas, and additional ways of working; (b) helping new teachers with their understanding of the teacher occupation; and (c) helping to reduce society's teacher shortage.

Background information: mentoring during teacher education in Sweden
In Sweden, student teachers have 20 weeks of work-based learning, commonly located at different schools during their teacher education.These weeks of work-based learning are divided into segments and regulated by specific learning outcomes that the mentor access from the partnering university.Student teachers have short-term placements where they shadow a teacher during their first year.Following this, they have several periods of work-based learning throughout their teacher education.Student teachers are expected to take an increasingly active role as they proceed through their teacher training.The longest period of workbased learning is located at the end of teacher education and takes place at one school, where student teachers are expected to assume the same responsibilities as professional teachers.
MTs evaluate student teachers' achievements, including their teaching, classroom and conflict management practices, and ability to interact socially; all of which are reported back to the university.In Sweden, there is a policy mandating MTs to complete a university course in mentoring, but many mentors either took the course a long time ago or are waiting for admission to the course.To mentor a student teacher in a specific subject in lower secondary education, a teacher must teach and be a qualified teacher in the same subject.

Procedure
Data were collected through intensive interviewing (Charmaz, 2014), and the first author conducted the interviews.During the interviews, he aimed to adopt a nonjudgmental approach and foster an open climate of conversation by being attentive to participants' tones and facial expressions.He also returned to previous statements and used follow-up questions to increase the richness of data and to show that he was attentive and curious about participants' perspectives to encourage them to feel welcome to elaborate upon their experiences (Hiller & Diluzio, 2004).Interviews were recorded using a recording device and transcribed verbatim.Pseudonyms have been used in the transcriptions and findings to secure confidentiality.The length of the interviews varied from 36-66 minutes (M = 50.09,SD = 6.61).Ethical approval of the study was granted by the Ethical Review Board in Sweden (ref. no: 2019-04099).Participants gave informed consent and were informed that their participation in the study would remain confidential.

Materials
During the interviews the MTs read short scenarios that were produced from a previous research project on student teachers' emotional challenges (Lindqvist, 2019;Lindqvist et al., 2017Lindqvist et al., , 2019aLindqvist et al., , 2019b)).Focus groups were carried out with other student teachers to validate the authenticity of the scenarios.The student teachers in the focus groups considered the scenarios to be authentic, and the analysis of the focus group data resulted in input that led to minor changes to the scenarios.In total, four scenarios were used in the current study (see Appendix 1).The scenarios were changed to address the relationship between the MT and the student teacher, changing the terms used for the person being addressed (from 'you notice' to 'the student teacher describes' and so forth).After reading the scenarios, participants were asked to describe how they would act in their role as MTs in such situations, and why they would act in such a way.All MTs reported that they considered the scenarios to be authentic.The scenarios are shown in Table 1.

Data analyses
When analyzing the interview data, we used grounded theory tools of coding, constant comparison, memo writing, and memo sorting (Charmaz, 2014;Glaser, 1978;Glaser & Strauss, 1967).We assumed a constructivist position, which positions researchers as influenced by their context and their previous training, and methodological knowledge as influenced by data-gathering, analysis, and findings (Charmaz, 2014).Analyses started first by initial coding, where the analysis stayed close to data and focused on process and action.Initial codes were constructed by naming segments of data that summarized these data segments, either word-byword, sentence-by-sentence, or segment-by-segment.Proceeding to focused coding, the most significant or frequent initial codes that made the most analytic sense were adopted as focused codes.The focused codes were used to sift through large amounts of data, and were elevated to tentative categories by giving them conceptual definitions (Charmaz, 2014).They were constructed, tried out, and constantly compared.Theoretical coding was used in parallel with focused coding to explore, analyze, and try out possible relationships between the codes (Glaser, 1978;Lindqvist & Forsberg, 2022).
In line with this iterative approach, in addition to theoretical sampling of grounded theory (Charmaz, 2014;Glaser & Strauss, 1967), concepts and hypotheses constructed from the on-going analysis were investigated further in the following interviews as the analysis progressed.In addition, and in line with theoretical sampling, the interviews were designed from previous analyses of other interviews undertaken with the participants (analyzed and reported elsewhere), and because of this theoretical sampling procedure, data saturation was achieved.The six factors needed to achieve data saturation described by Aldiabat and Le Navenec (2018) could be considered fulfilled (e.g. the researcher's experience in the qualitative field, triangulation of data collection methods, understanding the philosophical underpinning of the research method, using a guiding theoretical framework, and using sensitizing concepts).The first author led the analyses and conducted the coding.The data was coded using ordinary computer software (Microsoft Word and Excel).A student teacher describes a scenario from a previous school the student teacher had visited.The student teacher describes a bullying situation with a student who was ignored, lonely and abused.When discussing this with her MT at that school, the MT proclaimed they did not think this was a case of bullying 3: Derogatory talk in teachers' lounge In the teachers' lounge, teachers discuss parents as unfit and blame them for the student's misbehavior and lack of attention in a learning situation.This happens when the MT and student teacher are in the teacher lounge together.4: Student leaving classroom During class, a student leaves the classroom without asking for permission or giving any reason.Other students become noisy and the student teacher who oversees the teaching raises his/her voice, but this only leads to the students talking louder.This happens when the MT and student teacher are in the classroom together.

Trustworthiness and credibility
At different stages of the work, the first author presented the analyses and iterative theory for the research group, and they critically scrutinized his work.
The research is conducted in a research group, focusing both on medical students and student teachers.This enabled further elaboration and ensured the trustworthiness of the coding using a critical dialogue procedure.Using critical dialogues in the research group resulted in active discussion about codes, categories, and analytical work.The research group have engaged in extensive discussions about the data, and in comparison to medical students we have had to critically engage in specifying contextual differences.This could enable us to disclose potential biases.When working with the coding process, the direction of the iterative grounded theory has been scrutinized in the group when the first author has presented the analyses.In addition, we argue that our findings' transferability can be interpreted and discussed by readers in terms of possible pattern recognition and context similarity (Larsson, 2009).In addition, the scenarios were shown to groups of student teachers who gave input to their authenticity, and that they recognized the scenarios described.That the MTs also described the scenarios as authentic adds to the trustworthiness of the material used.

Findings
MTs' main concerns described student teachers' need to see challenges as learning opportunities.In this section, we present mentor teachers' descriptions of their conceptions of preferable actions related to student teachers' emotional challenges described in the scenarios.We end with presenting a grounded theory.

Scenario 1: problematic teacher behavior
This scenario focus on a teacher in the classroom acting angry, diminishing the students.The students seem to be afraid of the teacher.All the MTs in the study could relate to this scenario but did not recall sharing this kind of experience with a student teacher.This meant the MTs could recall a colleague, past or present, that fit parts of the description.

Actions to counteract the emotional challenge
MTs described two different approaches to dealing with the emotional challenges that student teachers might experience in this situation.One approach involved telling student teachers that it was a good thing that they described what happened, and then taking charge of the situation.Gunnel reported how she viewed it as her obligation to object when she witnessed something she considered unsuitable occurring among colleagues.
To not close your eyes, because I think this is a student teacher that have seen-it happens that you see a teacher do the wrong things in daily life too, and it's a duty to object: 'I don't like that you talk to your students that way' or 'I saw this, I don't think it is okay'.That's what I think.(Gunnel, MT, grades 4-6) In addition to discussing the unethical teacher behavior with the student teacher, MTs reported that they would mention the situation to the colleague or the principal.Taking charge could also involve just listening to the information given by the student teacher and then not taking any action, since the problematic teacher most likely would be known to the school anyway.Another approach, as described by Anne, involved actions dependent on the student teacher.This approach involved student teachers voicing their concern with the principal or engaging the student teacher in a conversation with the troublesome colleague.
I think I would advise the student teacher to contact the principal in that case, because I feel like, it's not my assignment to correct my colleagues.Well, I would probably say that then you must contact the principal, because it's better if it comes from that direction, I think.That's probably how I would react.(Anne, MT, grades 4-6) All the MTs mentioned that experiencing a similar scenario always involved discussions in mentoring conversations.During these conversations, the mentor teachers clarified their position.It was reported to be necessary that mentoring conversations included encouragement for voicing concerns and reflecting together as to why unethical teaching behavior could occur.This was described by Nora: It would be important to discuss the matter in a way that the student teacher understands that his is not okay.It is not an okay behavior, if a teacher is often irritable, this is something that must be addressed and fixed, if this is the case.You can feel certain tensions in a classroom sometimes that 'this is not a nice atmosphere'.Even though no one says anything or are doing anything in particular, you can still feel it in the air.So, I think a student teacher might have felt something, and then it's important that the student teacher understands that you have listened and taken part, and that this is important information.(Nora, MT, grades 4-6) The MTs recognized the emotional challenges that the scenario could involve.They also commonly described that they could visualize the teacher in the scenario.Mentor teachers also discussed that the scenario might be a temporary state the teacher is in and that they would tell the student teacher that they would investigate why the teacher was irritable: 'but in this case, with this description it feels like a colleague who's not feeling particularly well' (Fredrik, MT, grade 7-9).When using this mode of reasoning, mentor teachers commonly tried to widen the understanding as to why individual teachers might act in a problematic way.

Scenario 2: bullying at previous work-based learning
In the second scenario a student teacher describes a bullying scenario they had experienced.When telling the previous MT, the student teacher did not experience the MT took the situation seriously.All MTs argued that the student teacher should be praised for telling the previous MT about the situation with the bullied student.In addition, a recurrent pattern among the MTs was that they described engaging in a process of trying to understand how this scenario could happen.

Actions to counteract the emotional challenge
In this scenario, the focus of the MT commonly shifted from assisting the student teacher to solving the issue for the bullied student.A common concern among the MTs included reaching out to the other school to inform them about the situation described by the student teacher.
Elvira: If you think that this is, it looks pretty serious, so you could start by reaching out to the school, but then again, it's a matter of how much time has passed since this incident, and that's hard to know.
Interviewer: Exactly, it could be several months ago.
Elvira: And then the student teacher should have taken it there and then, it might be hard to do anything in retrospect.(Elvira, MT, grades 7-9) MTs reported they would focus on emphasizing that the student teacher's actions were correct.They pointed to the need to help the student teacher understand that it was not his or her fault that the previous school did not take the bullying seriously.This was thought to lend confidence to the student teacher, and help mitigate the feelings of powerlessness the situation might give rise to.In addition, the MTs described trying to serve as examples themselves.This involved showing the student teacher the current school's plans for actions in relation to bullying.
First and foremost, the student teacher must feel that it was correct to react.That we don't want it to be like this, we can't have this in our schools.It must be clear for the student teacher that we are distinct in that area.MTs argued that student teachers had to learn to let go of emotionally challenging experiences and walk away.They described that student teachers should be reinforced in feeling that their actions were correct, but that it was beyond their responsibility to do more than voice concerns.For example, Ronja argued that what happened in another school was not her responsibility.Consequently, it should be a topic for discussion about what could be done at the present school.
Well, I wouldn't act at all in this situation.We would talk about it.But I don't see it as my task to contact another school or principal.It isn't on my table.I can't do anything.(Ronja, mentoring teacher grades 7-9) The useful actions related to Scenario 2 are limited by the fact that this scenario is designed for MTs to focus on experience-based learning for student teachers.The fact that it is common to engage in resolving the student's situation, and not focus on the student teacher's experiences, could indicate the action orientation of MTs reasoning.When actions were taken, but the problem was not resolved, student teachers should feel empowered to walk away knowing they did all they could.

Scenario 3: derogatory talk in teachers' lounge
In scenario 3 a MT and a student teachers experience talk in the teacher lounge, and the focus of the conversation is parents being unfit and blaming parents for the student's misbehavior and lack of attention.All interviewed MTs but one recognized that there could be derogatory talk in the teachers' lounge, either at their present school or at a previous school.Even though the MTs had experienced derogatory talk, they also thought teachers needed to talk to colleagues about challenges.A recurrent theme among MTs was the need to let out steam in the teachers' lounge without being negatively judged.This was considered to be a necessary coping strategy among teachers.

Actions to counteract the emotional challenge
Mentor teachers reported two opposite actions.Either (1) take charge of the situation, and engage in changing the discussion, or (2) regulate emotions and discuss the situation with the student teacher later.Both these actions were described by Brian.
I would try to put the lid on it and say, 'well, this is the parents there is and it is him or her and we can't do anything.We can influence what happens here and what we say here doesn't really matter'.I've tried to indicate that no matter what we sit and talk about, the parents won't change.We don't talk to them, and we can't control how they deal with their child.We would probably try and 'let's go and do something else, we won't get any further' , but I would probably show that sitting around and talk about someone's potential addiction, or whatever the hell it might be, that's not something a student teacher should experience.(Brian,MT, In the discussion after the situation, MTs claimed that they would talk about the situation as being wrong, and act as an example by objecting to the nature of the conversation.In some schools, MTs talked about discussions in their school that had covered appropriate and inappropriate conversations in the teacher lounge.According to them, intervening would not be a big deal if a colleague engaged in derogatory talk.
Well, it might-we are extremely careful at this school that the students must not be discussed at all in the teachers' lounge among colleagues.It has been discussed and I would react in a way that they understood that I did not think it was suitable, even when a student teacher isn't present.If a student teacher was present, I think I would be even more explicit.(Nora, MT, This scenario was most often easily resolved; the MT should engage in changing the discussion and always discuss what happened later with the student teacher.In contrast, MTs also described that they did not feel it was their responsibility to correct colleagues.

Scenario 4: student leaving classroom
The last scenario was about a student leaving the classroom without asking for permission or giving any reason.The other students lose their focus and becomes noisy, and the student teachers have a hard time regaining attention to the lesson.This scenario was routine for the mentor teachers, and they explained how they would act in a situation like this.A recurrent pattern in MTs' discussions was that they had agreements with students who might need a break from the classroom.This information needed to be passed on to the student teacher.

Actions to counteract the emotional challenge
In this scenario, the MTs described either letting the student teacher fail and discussing the situation in hindsight or intervening to help the student in the classroom situation.This is exemplified by Adam: I would probably refrain from saying anything, but I would probably, I don't know how noticeable it would be, but if it was my class, I would probably easily register who it was that, yeah well, is spinning off.I would make my presence noticed, because they might have forgotten that when the student teacher is holding the class.So, I might move strategically, not to, well I would try not to be too noticeable.(Adam,MT, When discussing the scenario with the student teacher, MTs wanted to show how this scenario could be avoided.They commonly described using questions and open discussions as a way of letting the student teacher put words to what could have been done.The MTs who described intervening described their intervention as something that had been decided upon beforehand.MTs also described intervening as a way of showing how to handle a situation like this.For example, Emilia reported how this might help student teachers to learn from an emotionally challenging episode: When the others are starting to move, and it spreads, that's what I mean, they have to capture the group then, because when the student teacher notices they have stopped listening, because they wonder what happened, it's time to stop it all.Because 'now I saw Kalle went out through the door, was it Anna, or who was it, and what's my reflection about that'.'I notice you're disturbed by this', like, put it into words what the children are experiencing and they will be calm.Then they know 'the student teacher has reacted to the same thing we did'.Then it often subsides, and they can carry on.(Emilia, MT, grades 7-9) This scenario was not considered to be uncommon, and instead was reported as something easily managed and dealt with.MTs described managing order among students as something easily handled and addressed.This was related to the advantage MTs had based on an ongoing supportive relationship with their students.Amelie described how a student teacher had been angry with students who were disturbing order.The discussions after the incident included learning from the experience and exemplifying how emotional challenges can lead to learning.
I had a good moment when that happened.She was frustrated of course, but afterwards she took-because it's about her not knowing the students enough or having any relationship with them.But she managed to build from this, so it didn't happen again, you know.And that's what it's about, if the students know you and trust you then most often, they don't do that.(Amelie, MT, grades 7-9) Overall, this scenario was described as easy to manage.Reported possible actions could include letting the student teacher deal with everything themselves as well as helping the student teacher by stepping in.In sum, MTs described it as harder to engage in student teachers' emotional challenges when they were related to other colleagues (Scenarios 1 and 3) or the student teachers' previous experiences (Scenario 2).

A grounded theory of emotionally challenging episodes as an opportunity for learning
All MTs considered the scenarios to be authentic and potentially emotionally challenging for student teachers.The MTs' main concern described student teachers' need to see challenges as starting points for learning.According to the MTs, the research-based scenarios showed the unpredictable setting of work-based learning.The MTs understood that student teachers might also experience situations they did not anticipate, or situations they seldom discussed with student teachers.MTs were not surprised by the scenarios but had not always thought that student teachers could have that type of experience.In addition, the MTs reported that they themselves had experienced emotional challenges in line with one or more of the scenarios.Over time they had felt less emotionally challenged by such events.
As exemplified in Figure 1, MTs' main concern was the need for student teachers to see challenges as learning opportunities.Learning was described as involving the adoption of a set of coping strategies.The problem-solving strategies involved engaging or helping in the situation, being exemplary, or taking charge.Emotionfocused strategies involved regulating emotional challenges through assessing responsibility, discussions, or letting go/walking away.The study exemplifies how approaching problem-solving strategies (such as using formal action plans, leaving some problems to school leadership, and not engaging in disciplining colleagues) were described as protective against feeling emotionally challenged.

Conclusions
The grounded theory constructed from analyzing the MTs described a process, shown in Figure 1.We concluded that mentor teachers' main concern was that student teachers should view emotional experiences as learning.The MTs were action-oriented in how they described their preferred action.Our study concluded that MTs wanted to engage in proactive engagement with student teachers' emotional challenges, and a strong commitment with supporting student teachers.This is as also described by Gillett-Swan and Grant-Smith (2020).However, their intention to intervene might be what they describe that they want (cf.Orland-Barak & Klein, 2005).One of the actions included in this study was taking charge and being exemplary.This is corroborated by Jaspers et al. (2022) who found that MTs wanted to intervene when student met challenges with classroom management issues.In sum, the conclusion shows that MTs main concern leads to their descriptions of preferred actions that included exemplifying problem-solving strategies.

Discussion
Our study investigated MTs' perspectives on scenarios from student teachers' reports of emotional challenges.The study had a particular focus on the preferred actions described by MTs when reacting to scenarios describing student teachers' emotional challenges.Our study highlights MTs' propensity for problem-focused coping strategies, as they most often attempted to explore actions that could help resolve the origin of the problem.For example, regulating emotions is problem-focused, since it would be of no use to try and change issues that are not the responsibility of the teacher.In our study, we noticed that there was a risk that MTs could forget the student teacher's perspective.Instead, the MT tried to solve the problem (Scenario 2).This included losing track of student teachers' needs regarding learning from an experience.The scenarios could be understood as negative key experiences (Meijer, De Graaf, & Meirink, 2011) that might reveal hidden emotional rules (Yuan & Lee, 2016).Being attentive to these key experiences and engaging in meaningful conversations about emotional challenges seems to be important steps in student teachers' development (Meijer, De Graaf, & Meirink, 2011).Likewise, our study shows MTs' intentions to help student teachers navigate emotional challenges.
The current findings illustrate the perspective of MTs and their description of preferred actions in relation to student teachers' emotional challenges.The findings show that the participating MTs were problem-focused and preferred to engage in deliberate discussions about coping with student teachers.There seems to be a gap between realizing the need for discussion about explicit coping strategies and carrying out these conversations.It appears the MTs described support as being dependent on whether student teachers told them about their experiences, as well as the uncertainty of events occurring during work-based learning.Meijer, De Graaf, and Meirink (2011) describe how students' negative key experiences can be changed to positive experiences.However, if the conversations between mentor and student teacher during work-based learning solely focus on (1) instructions and organization, (2) the students and class, and (3) subject matter (Hennissen et al., 2008), this opportunity might be lost.Furthermore, if workbased learning does not offer any challenging experiences, and students never receive support on how to reflect on learning from negative experiences, this process might also be missed.

Implications for practice and future research
Previous experiences of student teachers -such as the scenarios used in this studycould be used as material to stimulate discussions with student teachers.Using the scenarios as a discussion material might enhance learning connected to work-based learning experiences.Another way to use the findings is to explore them together with mentor-teachers.For example, the results of the study could be used in courses about mentoring in teacher education.Mentoring that focuses on several dimensions student teachers' learning is valuable (cf.Ambrosetti, Knight, & Dekkers, 2014), since this influences the trust between the MT and the student teacher and might result in less 'judgementoring' (Hobson, 2016).In addition, as MTs mostly value their students' education over their assignment as mentors (Jaspers et al., 2022), having MT discuss potentially emotional challenges in work-based learning could be a valuable addition in their mentor training.This could include starting from the perspective of student teachers to close the gap between the experiences of MTs and student teachers (Orland-Barak & Klein, 2005).It could also involve MTs exploring their views of student teachers they have mentored, to explore differences in support that might be needed (van Ginkel, van Drie, & Verloop, 2018).
The limitations of the study could be useful for future research.The data are based on interviews with MTs.In the interviews, the MTs described their understanding of student teachers' perspectives on emotional challenges, and how they thought they would mentor student teachers in relation to these perceived challenges.In the study, it was considered important to explore how MTs understood scenarios student teachers described as emotionally challenging during work-based learning.No observations or performative data were collected.The focus in the current study has been on MTs' understanding of student teachers' perspectives, which is important to study because people's perspectives on situations will affect and guide their attitudes and actions in these situations (Charmaz, 2014;Charon, 2001).
Future research could involve observational data from work-based learning, as well as recordings of mentoring conversations.In addition, the present findings are based on a sample of Swedish MTs.It is reasonable to believe that mentoring and support vary across teachers' educational backgrounds and cultural settings.This study offers an interpretative portrayal and is not an exact representation of MTs' experiences (Charmaz, 2014).

Appendix 1
Scenario 1: Problematic teacher behavior.During the student teachers work-based learning education, the student teacher has noticed that a teacher says harsh and angry comments to students asking for help.The student teacher is uncomfortable with the choice of language that diminished the students' intelligence and is condescending to them as persons.The student teacher implies that the teacher seems irritable, and the students seem to be afraid of him.
Scenario 2: Bullying at previous work-based learning.During a previous work-based learning experience, a student teacher noticed a group of students attacking another student.The student teacher described that the student was often alone, was sneered at by three or four boys, and that the other students seemed to avoid the student.When the student teacher talked to their previous MT, the MT said this was a result of the student's own choices, that he was a little peculiar and wanted to be alone.The MT did not think the student felt attacked.Then, at break, the student teacher saw the same student being chased by the same group of boys, and that they were pulling his clothes, trying to strike down the student, and the atmosphere was tense.
Scenario 3: Derogatory talk in teacher lounge.During work-based learning you and the student teacher are in the teachers' lounge.It is recess, and the room is filled with teachers and other personnel having coffee.One of the teachers starts discussing a student with their colleagues.They talk about the strange behaviors of the student and the reason seems clear: it is the parents' fault.More people join in in the discussion, which focuses on the unfitness of the student's parents.
Scenario 4: Student leaving classroom.During a class the following happens, which you discuss after the lesson; suddenly, without saying why, a student stands up and walks out of the classroom.The student teacher is in the middle of a presentation and is forced to make a choice-should the student teacher go after the student or stay and continue with class exercises?The student teacher notices that more students begin to move about, they seem to wonder what happened, and a murmur starts that the student teacher interpret as the students not listening.The student teacher raises his voice, but that only results in the students starting to talk louder.
(Embla, MT, grades 7-9) Hopefully this is explicit at the start of work-based learning education: What do I do if I see things?Do I intervene?Who should I talk to?To include these things at the start of the work-based learning, about how to act.Since I experienced this before, what should I do if I experience it again?You can learn that way.(Petra, MT, grades 4-6)

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.A grounded theory of mentor-teachers described preferred actions related to research-based scenarios of student teachers' emotional challenges during work-based learning.

Table 1 .
Descriptions of scenarios.has been visiting a lesson in the school without the MT, and described the teacher in the classroom as angry, diminishing the students, and that the students seemed afraid of him.The student teacher brings this up for discussion with the MT.2: Bullying at previous workbased learning