Teacher's teaching style

An important factor of the professional preparation of future teacher, of the formation of not only theoretical knowledge, but also his/her relation to the teaching profession, his/her professional identity, is the personality of the mentor teacher who guides the student during teacher training, helps and supports him/her. A teaching style as a significant aspect of his/her personality transforms into the creation of the educational process. It is also one of the pedagogical categories that can be observed and analyzed during teacher training. The article appeals to the importance of the mentor teacher`s teaching style, but also to the need to prepare the student for its observation and analysis, as it is an important determinant of the creation of educational and teching conception of pre-service teacher and his/her specific teaching style. The aim of this study was to highlight the peculiarities of teacher`s teaching style and possibilities of its observation and analysis by students, future teachers, during the teacher training, based on the Ned Flanders' theory and his interaction analysis technique, as well as the need to purposefully develop the ability of pre-service teachers to observe and analyze teaching style of mentor teachers. We describe briefly the methodology of the use of N. Flanders' analytical observation scheme and the results of the observation of mentor`s teachers teaching style during the teaching training of pre-service teachers in Slovakia and Ukraine. We note the positive findings in relation to the teaching style of mentor teachers. We have identified the prevailing non-directive approach to students by them. At the same time, we emphasize the need to further analyze this teaching style in the context of the particular pedagogical situations that have been observed and recorded. In a further work with pre-service teachers we recommend focusing on a more consistent analysis of observed situations and their records and also on their reflection in the context of other determinants of the teaching process. It is also necessary to investigate and empirically verify the impact of observation of mentor teacher's teaching style and its subsequent reflection on the teching conception of future teacher and the development of her/his specific teaching style.