The Power of Students: Using Positioning Theory and Frame Analysis to Explore Power Dynamics in Mentoring Relationships

INTRODUCTION: Power plays a crucial role in mentoring relationships as mentoring is inherently a social and relational practice. Power dynamics can function as a gatekeeper to students' learning opportunities and experiences, making it crucial to build a better theoretical and empirical understanding of how it operates in and through mentoring relationships. This study explores how students participate in power dynamics in mentoring relationships during their internship. It starts from the view that power is not solely tied to hierarchy, but is in a continuous flux, recognizing that students also participate in power dynamics and shape mentoring relationships. METHODS: The study draws on a multiple case-study of four mentoring dyads in undergraduate general practice internships. Non-participant observations were combined with periodic interviews and audio diaries. We took a discursive perspective on power dynamics that was operationalized through the integration of positioning theory and frame analysis. RESULTS: The analysis resulted in four enactments of power by students: resistance, imposed power, empowerment, and vested power. The four enactments can be situated on two axes, that is, doing power versus being enabled to do power; and whether the mentors' and students' frames align or not. DISCUSSION: The findings documented the potential power of the students by introducing a novel discursive framework. Students enact power by doing power themselves or being enabled to do power by their mentors; supporting that students also have responsibilities in the mentoring relationship. Making students' and mentors' expectations and goals explicit can provide insight in supporting students during mentoring experiences.