Abstract
This analysis considers the possibilities of a transformative relationship between an inductee and master teacher in the liminal stage of the student teaching experience. The mentoring process, considered in the teaching profession a rite of passage, is underestimated for its capacity to foster in the student the positive efficacy essential to effective pedagogy. The current state of educational malaise brought about and perpetuated by the so-called "age of accountability" has placed undue demands upon the apprentice. Overemphasis on the routines and rigors of teaching inherent in the process of preparing a neophyte for professional responsibility have usurped the potentially transformative power of the master-disciple dyad. Through a systematic process of open and reflective peer observation and a dismantling of the idea of a "privatized" classroom, the Master teacher can be identified for work with a suitable protégé. Only then can the intellectual and spiritual activities necessary to set the neophyte on the path to mastery begin, thereby deflecting the ruinous effects of unpreparedness and uninspired teaching.