To know is not enough : mentoring interns through a liminal phase

Mentoring has been used as a mechanism to introduce undergraduate teaching students and newly qualified teachers to the reality of the ‘elementary school’ workplace. At CQUniversity the internship signifies the end point of being a student and the transition towards becoming a teacher thus we see this as a liminal phase. In this paper we suggest a challenge facing pre-service teachers during their teaching internships is the notion of the liminal guide and the liminal gatekeeper. Our paper elaborates on this challenge and what we can do to meet that challenge to improve education outcomes and serve the public good.