Abstract
This study aimed to elucidate the intentions of elementary school and other school administrators in their selection of student-teacher supervisors as well as the criteria used for evaluating progress of student-teacher supervisors during the student-teaching period. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight experienced school administrators, and the data was analyzed using the modified grounded theory approach (Kinoshita, 2020). Theanalysis generated 24 concepts, four categories, and five subcategories expected by school administrators as indicators of the progress of student-teacher supervisors. The relationships among the concepts and between the categories were summarized in a diagram. It became clear that school administrators help teachers serving as student-teacher supervisors develop professionally by providing indirect support. Further, following the developmental path of teacher educators, improvements in teaching aptitude are expected, enabling the student-teacher supervisors to eventually demonstrate positive educational leadership. However, more complex factors underlying administrators' intentions as school managers were also revealed. Future studies will be necessary to regard student-teacher supervision as an arena for growth as teacher educators and managers, as well as an opportunity to improve their teaching skills and aptitude so as to enhance the quality of in-service teacher training.
