Mentoring Magazine

M E N T O R I N G

MAGAZINE

WELCOME FROMTHE EDITOR

@HUGHESHAILI

Iamsoexcitedtosaywelcometoourveryfirstissue of'MentoringMagazine'-thefirstofmanyIhope!For those of you who don't know me, I am Haili Hughes andIamtheUK'sonlyPrincipalLecturerinmentoring andprofessionaldevelopment Ialsowrotethebook 'MentoringinSchools'andworkasHeadofEducation at IRIS Connect, so as you can see, mentoring and teacherdevelopmentissomethingIbelieveinatmy verycore.

Ifmentoringistohavethetransformativeeffectthat I believe it can have, we need to collaborate and share good practice and this magazine is an opportunitytodoexactlythat.

Itfeaturesarticlesandthoughtpiecesfromthosewhoarereallymakingadifference in their schools and contexts, supporting new teachers or other colleagues. As Professor Rachel Lofthouse often says, mentoring is the Cinderalla profession; mentors are quietly working away in the background of a school and it is time they aregiventhestatustheydeserve.Hopefullythismagazineisastartinhighlightingall oftheincredibleworkyoudo Ihopeyouenjoyourfirstissue!

HailiHughes

Contributors

Rachel Lofthouse is Professor of Teacher Education at Leeds Beckett University and founder of CollectivED The Centre for Coaching, Mentoring, Supervision and Professional Learning She has worked in education for 30 years and has maintained a keen interest in understanding and enabling professional learning at all career stages and across education sectors

Neil is a passionate and innovative SEN Teacher with experience in a wide range of special schools and specialist provision over 10 years He has a keen interest in academic research in SEND In his current and previous roles, Ihe has researched and implemented innovative assessment, learning and teaching methods as well as mentored colleagues and ECTs He has undertaken a course with Education Training Foundation on mentoring as well as currently completing his ILM L5 Coaching and Mentoring qualification He is keen to further develop his mentoring/coaching experiences through observation and sharing within the community of practice

Duncan Partridge is a coach and trainer and MD of Educe Mentoring and Coaching Prior to this, Duncan held senior leadership roles in a range of schools and educational organisations around the world His new book, Coaching for Educators: How to Transform CPD in Your School, is published by McGraw Hill

Mark Quinn is a Programme Leader at the Centre for Educational Leadership in IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society He is the content development lead for the Centre’s Early Career Teacher Development programme. He is a CollectivEd Fellow, and Founding Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching For over 20 years, he was a school leader and teacher of History and Government & Politics in London schools

Professor Rachel Lofthouse

Neil Mullen

Duncan Partridge

Mark Quinn

Contributors

Dave Fowler is a Partnership tutor at Manchester Metropolitan University, Geography Subject expert for Cheshire East SCITT and Educate teacher training Dave spent 10 years teaching Geography at Sandbach High School and for 6 years he was the Professional mentor for ITTs and ECTs In September, he started 3 new roles in initial teacher education.

Jaspreet has been teaching MFL for seven years and was appointed as ECT mentor in 2021 She is passionate about providing quality first coaching for early career teachers and has an interest in the experiences of teachers from minority ethnic backgrounds Prior to teaching, she was a research fellow in sociolinguistics at the University of Birmingham

Shel is a tattooed ska-punk parent to two magical teenagers and life-partner to a very hairy and handsome fellow. A Teacher and Mentor currently working in inner City Birmingham Leading with laughter and always learning Twitter: @AitchEnglish

Elaine Long is a Programme Leader for the Early Career Teacher Programme at UCL Centre for Educational Leadership Prior to this role, she worked for over 20 years as an English teacher, mentor, and senior leader in schools across the UK and internationally.

David Fowler

Jaspreet Kaur Parkes

Shel Hodges

Elaine Long

Contributors

Emma Sheppard

Emma is the Founder of The MTPT Project, the UK's charity for parent-teachers. A former English Teacher and Lead Practitioner, she spent twelve years mentoring and leading ITT provision in schools in Hertfordshire, South London and Vietnam Emma qualified as a coach in 2022, and now coaches teachers, expats, new parents and school leaders alongside her work with The MTPT Project

Barthorpe

Nicola is currently Head of Humanities, ITE and ECF lead tutor at Ashton Sixth Form College She is passionate about supporting teachers at all stages in their careers It is her belief that excellent teachers, who feel supported in their own practice, will encourage learners within their care to thrive

Hannah has been teaching for the last nine years in schools in the UK and Portugal, teaching Science and supporting students with university applications In addition to coaching teachers (and students!) in school, Hannah volunteers as a coach for a Lisbon based charity

lKevin has over four decades of experience in education and continues to be passionate about teaching He now works as an educational consultant, author, mentor and coach, sharing his vision with schools and teachers His motivation is underpinned by an empathy for the teacher/learner experience and the building of relationships

Nicola

Hannah Bradley

Kevin Hewitson

Contributors

Rachael Philpot

A self-proclaimed pedagogy geek, Rachael is currently working as a Lead Practitioner in a large four-form entry Primary school in Ramsgate, Kent She leads the on the delivery of the ECF, mentoring and ITT across the school She also leads on pedagogy and writes and delivers CPD that relates to improving classroom practice for teachers

When I was a trainee teacher, my subject coach portrayed herself to me as the perfect teacher. She seemed to never make mistakes, and nothing ever went wrong for her.

I got the feeling that she didn't understand the struggles that I was facing in the classroom, and so eventually I just stopped bringing them up.

Perhaps she saw appearing infallible as a route to gaining respect and admiration, but this invulnerability became a barrier between us. I was struggling a lot, and she seemed never to have struggled. I couldn't relate to her and I didnt feel like she was relating to me. Our relationship became superficial, and I started to distance myself, holding back during our conversations or offering up inauthentic bravado. As a result, I probably found that first year harder than it needed to be, because I didn't vocalise the things I most needed support with.

MODELLING VULNERABILITY FOR AUTHENTIC COACHING CONVERSATIONS

In its original meaning, the term vulnerability (derived from the latin “vulnus”) means to be “weak and easily hurt," think a city being vulnerable to attack, or the most vulnerable in society. Now, it's common to hear the term vulnerability in conjunction with emotions and relationships, boosted into popularity by the researcher Brené Brown. Her work on vulnerability attempts to change the way people erroneously classify vulnerability with fear, shame and disappointment, and instead show how vulnerability is an important component of love, empathy, creativity and a meaningful life. She describes this vulnerability as a superpower, something that involves embracing “uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure."

In a society that often reinforces appearing weak or imperfect as undesirable and even shameful, vulnerability can be a very big ask. It requires us to change the way we think about and communicate our emotions, our past actions and experiences, exposing them to potential judgement and rejection from others.

Whether consciously or unconsciously, we worry that people won't like, admire or accept our true selves. There is a risk of being perceived as incompetent, if we admit that we too, don't always have perfect behaviour in our classroom, or that we too, haven't read this year's newest literature on teaching and learning. In our minds, it's often easier to play it safe, putting on our armour of expertise and excellence at work in order to impress our colleagues.

It takes courage to be vulnerable. But when we are vulnerable, we build connections and deeper relationships.

Hannah Bradley

Brené Brown describes vulnerability as “the core, the heart, the center, of meaningful human experiences". And what is coaching if not a meaningful human experience? When we coach others, we want them to be open with us, we want them to be honest about their experiences, emotions and needs. And we know that requires trust and courage on our coaching partners' behalf.

It's perhaps worth considering if as teachers, we are even less used to sharing our emotions and perceived failures than some other professions. While there is definitely an argument for showing elements of vulnerability in teaching, we spend a lot of the day disguising our emotions and feelings from students, in order to be seen as the calm, knowledgeable adult in control of the room. For some teachers, perhaps it's hard to disconnect from this classroom act and be vulnerable in coaching sessions. For others, perhaps the converse is true and they really crave an outlet to talk through their emotions. Either way, coaching provides a supportive environment to encourage people to open up, reflect and make progress.

Modelling vulnerability is one way to inspire others to be vulnerable. It communicates that in this relationship it is safe and encouraged to show your authentic self. It's inspiring because stories of failure and setback can illustrate that the path to success is accompanied with struggle and setback - think Oprah Winfey being fired early in her television career and Micheal Jordan being put on the bench of his high school basketball team.

As a coach, you can create a microculture, where both you and your coachee feel comfortable enough to be honest when sharing experiences and vocalising mistakes and failures. This will cultivate trust, compassion, respect and collaboration, all of which are important for setting the stage for authentic coaching conversations, where our coachee feels accepted, heard and willing to expose their needs.

But what do we mean by modelling vulnerability as a coach? It isn't a tell-all about our personal life or a competition for who is having the worst day, in fact vulnerability without boundaries can erode trust and lead to disconnection. Vulnerability at its core is about being open, honest and compassionate.

You can follow Hannah on Twitter @hannahbradley_9

Tips for coaches to model vulnerability in coaching conversations

Show that the coaching conversation matters to you. Be organised with the date, time and location. Choose somewhere calm and quiet that is free of distractions and interruptions. Give your full attention during the coaching conversation. Don't rush or interrupt your coaching partner and consider your body language - are you making eye contact? Are you showing that you are thinking deeply about what they are saying? After the coaching conversation, thank your coachee for sharing their experiences and feelings with you and if you mean it, tell them that you enjoyed the conversation.

Take time to formulate your responses. Don't be afraid of pausing to think of how you will ask and answer questions and share ideas, and don't interrupt or rush your coachee when they are doing the same. Build the norm that authentic contributions are valued above fast ones.

Name emotions. We often fear that giving language to difficult feelings and situations grants those feelings and situations power over us, so we avoid doing it. In your coaching sessions, demonstrate that the converse is true - verbalising and naming our feelings allows us to analyse and reflect, giving us more control to plan for solutions. In practice this might look like “I am hearing that you are frustrated with how your class entered the room yesterday. Tell me more about that.”

Have the courage to admit it when you get something wrong. This might be a misstep or misunderstanding in the coaching conversation, or using a past mistake to exemplify something. Show self compassion and talk about yourself with kindness, while also taking responsibility and considering your own role in a situation. Talk about what you have learned from your experiences, to demonstrate to your coachee that reflecting upon our experiences helps us to grow.

Be okay with uncertainty. You don't always have to land on a definitive answer if your coachee asks you a question, it's okay to say you don't know. If we can accept the reality that there is no single perspective on a situation, we are much better equipped to be reflective, compassionate and considerate in our evaluations.

Show a willingness to learn from your coachee. Be curious, ask questions and show them that you value their contributions and suggestions by taking the time to think carefully and discuss things in detail. Avoid leading questions that might imply that you think you know more about a situation than them, and instead use open and non-judgemental questions that put the spotlight on the situation, not the individual.

Make sure any praise is well thought through and meaningful, especially if your coaching partner is having a hard time and really needs a boost. When a coachee is given a compliment that they don't believe to be authentic, trust in future compliments and judgements will be eroded. Try to acknowledge unique traits and contributions rather than holding individuals to narrow standards.

Open yourself up to feedback. Ask for it. Especially if you think your coachee might say something you don't want to hear. Once the feedback is out in the open you can discuss it and use it in order to better serve the needs of your coachee.

"Modelling vulnerability is one way to inspire others to be vulnerable. It communicates that in this relationship it is safe and encouraged to show your authentic self."

Mentoring Mothers

Emma Sheppard

How the #mentorme campaign is transforming support for teacher mothers

#mentorme Case Study

In January 2022 , three current and aspiring senior leaders took part in the #mentorme #letmementor campaign. Emma Blake , Caroline Spalding and Helena Marsh held the positions of Lead Practitioner , Assistant Head Teacher and Principal, respectively All were mothers , and all had recently returned to work following their first (Emma, Caroline) and third (Helena) maternity leaves The social media format meant that their disparate geographical locations across England did not act as a barrier to their connection and mentoring conversations

WHY ADOPT FEEDFORWARD?

PERSONAL REFLECTION

BY KEVIN HEWITSON

LA couple of years ago I was sharing some of my ideas about my concept of Learning Intelligence, this is our ability to manage our learning environment to meet our learning needs.

I was with a colleague and friend in the Netherlands when she offered me “feedforward”. This was not a mistake, a mistranslation of “feedback” from Dutch to English, this was a specific strategy and one I not heard of before. The more I investigated it the more I realised how important it is and I have used it in my work with teachers ever since, here is why.

The idea of feedforward is attributed to Marshal Goldsmith and I use it often when mentoring and it also features in my book for teachers. But does it make any difference if we call it feedback or feedforward? Well, it does, because in any learning situation it’s about moving forward, about being prepared for new challenges.

Comparing feedback with feedforward We know that feedback starts with what has been done or achieved, it is based in the past. There is an analysis of actions, strategies or the outcomes. Feedback is influenced by “hindsight” and can be accusatory if using “Why?” in the reviewing process.

It is our natural response to seek to defend what we have done and therefore we may not listen to the comments or advice offered in the way it is intended, or indeed recognise the meaning.Even if in teaching, the feedback comes after a lesson observation, we may seek to protect ourselves from the comments, by inwardly suggesting we did not see everything and asking how a single observation can have any real merit.

Feedback Issues

Feedback can create a lack of respect or trust in those giving it. This is in part due to the conclusive nature of feedback.

Regardless of the person giving the feedback you may feel on opposite sides. Once the activity or whatever feedback will be given on has taken place then there is clock ticking and with each moment the memory of what has occurred, what was meant by an action can diminish. Feedback needs to be timely to be most effective. Those receiving feedback can struggle to look forward because it means letting go of the past, something we are often reluctant to do.

Feedforward benefits

Feedforward is about moving forward, it is based on the future actions we could take; what can be done next working from where you are now. There needs to be a recognition of what has gone before or been produced and this needs to be agreed in the same way as feedback. The difference is that this is a starting point not the end point. It is not about what has happened so much about what can be done, there is a different focus that affects any dialogue. In a way it breaks the cycle of the feedback loop and strikes a forward path instead The questions involved in feedforward are not so much about “Why?” but “How?” This dialogue is reflected in the part played by the person offering the feedforward; they are on the journey with you.

Feedforward involves both parties in being creative, of solving problems, together. This personal investment is a key characteristic of feedforward and supports the building of relationships that can lead on to trust and mutual respect.

Feedforward involves planning; there is a different clock at work than the one in feedback and one that can be driven by opportunity and enthusiasm about trying something new. Feedforward encourages objectivity. Feedforward builds on the past by requesting we let go and take from that only that which supports our learning. Not one or the other, but both!

Further

Feedback is an excellent way to support learning if done correctly and timely, but I think there is a greater risk in doing it poorly than there is of providing poor feedforward. I would argue that putting yourself in the feedforward mind frame can lead to a dialogue that involves greater objectivity and less defended ownership.

The very nature of feedforward encourages you to think about the next step in the learning process. Consider these questions that I use in my mentoring sessions and see if you can see the influence of a feedforward thinking process.

It might look like questions like this:

“Did that go 100% according to plan? (It rarely does and a question that encourages reflection)

“What message were you trying to get across? Okay, what I heard was " “Knowing where you are is important but how about where you need to be and how to get there?”

I am not suggesting we replace all feedback with feedforward, but we may avoid some of the issues of poor feedback if we adopt a feedforward approach to the process of mentoring.

Practical tips

Jaspreet Kaur Parkes

EFFECTIVE MENTOR MEETINGS

I was appointed as an ECT mentor over a year ago, working alongside the Director of ECTs at my Academy to oversee the delivery of CPD and implementation of the ECF across a cohort of 13 ECTs! The last year has been a rollercoaster and equally an immense privilege to be entrusted with the development of new teachers at an arguably unstable time for the profession.

In the 12 months leading to November 2021 around 36,300 full time teachers left teaching (DfE, 2022). With teacher retention being as low as it is, effective mentoring has never been so important.

I would like to share some of the tips I have amassed over the last year, from working with and observing mentors, about what makes an effective mentor meeting:

Meeting tips

References

There is ALWAYS a positive

I always start off every meeting asking my mentee about one thing they are proud of that week Teaching is the most reflective profession, but sometimes, particularly during those dark November days, when behaviour can be challenging, assessments are piling up and data drops are due, even the most experienced practitioner can struggle to find that light Just like the kids we teach, the wellbeing checks we make on our ECTs are vital As mentors, it is our job to find a positive for our mentees, and this is of particular importance if they are struggling to narrate the positive (Lemov, 2015) This is a tough job and wins NEED to be celebrated no matter how small A good mentor’s glass should always be half full (unless it’s a Friday night that is!

Let’s get granular

Like many others, I remember observations being, at times, frustrating. All that intricate planning, accounting for each minute on the lesson plan, all to be met with a “your planning needs to get better” or “your questioning isn’t good enough” This lack of precise feedback consequently led to a higher chance of it not being actionable, because where was I to start from such a vague comment? As mentors we need to observe, pick an area for development, and then find the step that is going to act as the highest point of leverage for that teacher, with a checklist of specific criteria. The more specific the feedback, the more likely your mentee will know what to do, and master that step in the next observation.

(Deliberate) practice makes perfect!

Now you have set the granular step, it is time for you to share your expertise, so your mentee can see what success looks like Doing this in a low-stakes environment outside of the classroom, in the safe space of your meetings, will help build confidence when the teacher comes to demonstrating the step in the more highstakes environment of their classroom. Several rounds of deliberate practice should be carried out in a meeting, so the mentee is clear about what is expected of them when they re-enact the step in front of their students. The process addresses any misconceptions, but also helps the mentee to align that step to their own style of delivery which makes them the unique practitioner they are!

Department for Education (2022) Teacher Recruitment and Retention in England Lemov, D. (2014). Teach like a champion 2.0. John Wiley & Sons

P E R M I S S I O N T O T A K E R I S K S :

P S Y C H O L O G I C A L S A F E T Y I N

T H E M E N T O R - M E N T E E R E L A T I O N S H I P

As our understanding of the nature of early career and trainee teacher learning develops, we are increasingly aware that, in order to improve their practice, trainees and ECTS need to be willing to ‘push beyond their comfort zones ’ . Deans for Impact’s influential model of deliberate practice in teacher preparation states that “challenges that push novices just beyond their current abilities” and “the support necessary to work through those challenges” (Deans for Impact, 2016, p 4) are crucial elements of successful development programmes In other words, novice teachers need to be continuously ready to strive to move into their zone of proximal development, and mentors and trainers need to be geared up to provide any scaffolding that is required to support them to do so.

So far, so Vygotsky However, there is an important element of this process that I fear we are in danger of overlooking If we really want our inexperienced practitioners to demonstrate an authentic ‘willingness’ to stretch themselves professionally; we need to also provide them with an environment where making mistakes is seen as a desirable element of the learning process, and where risk-taking is seen as ‘safe’

Duncan Partridge

Harvard professor, Amy Edmondson has written extensively on the importance of ‘psychological safety’ in well-functioning organisations Edmondson (2022) defines psychological safety as “ a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas concerns or mistakes, and that the team is safe for inter-personal risk-taking

Now, I would venture that there are very few schools or training providers who would not seek to associate themselves with a commitment to providing a ‘psychologically safe’ environment for all their teachers, whether they be experienced practitioners ECTs or trainees Similarly, surely every mentor would want their mentee to feel safe to take risks, and to make and learn from mistakes

However, I believe, the reality can be somewhat different and that there are three factors which sometimes mitigate against the creation of truly psychologically safe learning environments for mentees These are:

1 The high stakes nature of the current schooling system

2 The limited emphasis on professional agency in some teacher development models

3 The heightened sense of professional vulnerability inherent in being a novice

The high stakes nature of the current schooling system

New entrants into teaching will very quickly pick up that they are joining a profession where the stakes are high Inspection regimes progress measures and performance related pay are just a few of the elements that contribute to a situation where teachers and leaders are under constant pressure, and where any number of accountability measures are in sway at any one time While I do not wish to debate the merits and demerits of the current system here, it is difficult to deny that schools currently operate in an environment where making mistakes can have profound implications for teachers and leaders alike In these circumstances, it is possible that trainees and ECTs may witness more experienced people around them exhibiting behaviours such as deflecting, back-covering and even blame-shifting when things go wrong Knowing as we do, that people become inculcated very quickly into pre-existing cultures, there is therefore a risk that mentees will adopt some of these behaviours themselves

Although a mentor can do little to alter the wider context, they can still offer a counterbalance to this by acting as a role model to their mentees, talking openly about their own mistakes, and explicitly

highlighting the importance of productive struggle in learning

The limited emphasis on professional agency in some teacher development models

In recent years, a range of reforms to the teacher education landscape have profoundly altered the way we prepare practitioners for the classroom Many of these changes are rooted in a shift towards standardisation, typified by the Early Career Framework’s two-year programme, the content of which is laid out in detail in weekly sessions While there is an argument that such a centralised approach, ensures that all new teachers are exposed to the most up to date knowledge we have about ‘what works in the classroom’ there is also a risk of tight control undermining professional inquiry and risk-taking as part of the learning process The truth is that highly scaffolded approaches to teacher education may in themselves mitigate against novices pushing beyond their comfort zones

A highly structured teacher education curriculum risks sending the message to inexperienced practitioners that there is one way of doing things and that the mentor is the holder of the key to effective practice, who hands down

tablets of wisdom which are to be put into effect by the mentee Of course, a mentor, guided by a curriculum, will have plenty to share with a mentee; I am not arguing here for this to be withheld, rather that a strictly hierarchical relationship, where mentor and framework always hold sway, undermines a novice’s capacity to believe that their own ideas and insights have value and currency

The heightened sense of professional vulnerability inherent in being a novice

It is very easy for novice teachers to shy away from professional risk-taking due to imposter syndrome and likewise for mentors not to fully consider this in their work with mentees Even the best mentors run the risk of forgetting what it feels like to be an inexperienced teacher For this reason, when encouraging new teachers to push themselves beyond their comfort zone, mentors need to constantly remind themselves just how challenging this can be for novices and to factor this in to how they support and encourage their mentees

Jim Knight’s Partnership Principles

If we want new teachers to enter the profession with both professional competence and confidence we need to ensure that they are not only presented with current understandings of ‘what works in the classroom’ but also provide them with a psychologically safe environment in which to challenge ideas, take risks and make mistakes

To conclude, I share Jim Knight’s (2018) Partnership Principles, developed as part of his pioneering work in teacher coaching, and which I have always found to be particularly useful when thinking about the qualities which facilitate psychological safety in the mentor-mentee relationship: Equality, Choice, Voice, Dialogue, Reflection, Praxis, Reciprocity

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defines mentoring as a process that is “primarily listening with empathy, sharing experience (usually mutually), professional friendship, developing insight through reflection, being a sounding boardwhilstalsobeingencouraging”.This definition provides a template of what effective and impactful mentoring should be.Mentoringcanbevitalforawiderange of colleagues, as it can foster development within their own personal characteristics, their working practices and their overall wellbeing Effective mentors can not only develop mentees but can also be transformative for their approach to tackling problems, reaching and setting goals for themselves as well as their critical thinking including deeper self-reflectivepractices.

Why it is vital that mentoring is shown to be developmental & transformative rather than viewed as another performanceindicator

Effective mentoring brings about both developmental but also transformative benefits. Effective mentors will build positive and collaborative working relationships with mentees, using and applying mentoring models such as GROW,ONSIDEandOSKARtosuitmentee's needs. Coupled with these skills, an effective mentors will also use key mentoring practices, such as active listening, empathy, being nonjudgementative, use of silence to develop deeper self-reflections as well as being that trusted confident for a mentee to sound out ideas/problems or a goal that theyhave.

Vandermaas-Peeler, (2019) highlighted that using and selecting mentoring models suited to the mentee’s personality was particularly effective in bringing about developmental/transformative change within mentees. From my own experiences working with ECTs and more experienced colleagues too, the choice of mentoring model used is crucial, as this can be pivotal in developing the positive, trusting and collaborative process betweenmentorandmentee.Additionally, the selection of mentoring tools such as increased use of empathy, appropriateness of periods of silence, use/selection of challenging questions within models, can also bring about great andsustainedchangewithinamentee.

Working with some of my colleagues in a mentoring capacity, I have seen how the structure of the GROW mentoring model wasparticularlyeffectiveinworkingwitha mentee who identified struggles in their work/lifebalance.

The structure of the GROW model allowed this particular mentee to take ownership of sessions relating to deeper selfreflection, driving their own solutions to theirwork/lifebalanceaswellasgenerally feeling more confident, if another issue arose, that they had tools to deal with problems, or indeed set goals. It must be noted also, that effective mentors push themselves to be confident and competent in a range of mentoring models that suit mentees best. From my own personal experiences mentoring a wide range of colleagues, I have challenged my practice by immersing myselfinresearchandevidenceinformed practice and also with support from experienced mentors to build a wider toolboxofmentoringmodelstoaccess.

However, for some professionals the process of mentoring can often have a different meaning. Early career teachers (ECTs),professionalswhomayneverhave been mentored formally and others who may have a different view on it, can struggle to see its developmental and transformativeeffects.

Megginson, D (2006) highlighted that mentoringcanoftenfeellikeperformance management tool. This is a result of mentoring being a tool often used in supporting struggling colleagues and pressures around how they will be judged withinthementoringsessions.

Hudson (2016) advocated those mentees who viewed mentoring as a performance indicatorneededtrainingtopreparethem for the mentoring process. This was to ensure they had understanding of its intentions and effects, as well as developing the skills of looking inward upon themselves, to illicit deeper selfctions.

Within my own organisation, mentoring can often be viewed as this by older colleagues, who may be offered mentoring as additional support within their role. Highlighting what effective mentoring looks like, the benefits of a mentoring process, as well as presenting the approach of developmental/ transformative effects rather than judgements against the mentee, often leads to engagement from this type of mentee and a greater understanding of whateffectivementoringcando.

Hall and Liva (2021) make the crucial and important point that mentoring (when effective), is a process that aids development/transformations within individuals and doesn't add pressure/workload onto an individual. They add that often mentees do not have sufficient understanding and readiness to bementored.

in my own work with ECTs and more eriencedprofessionalswhohavenever n formally mentored, I have often d the first few sessions of the toring relationship are best used to ne what effective mentoring will be howitwill(hopefully)impactthemas viduals. Preparing these individuals to mentees, as well as what mentoring will look like, leads to a much more effective professional mentoring relationship. ETF (2021) run a course for practitioners around preparing mentees and this has been useful for myself to signpost colleagues prior to working with themmoreformally.

Additionally, older professionals who have yet to be formally mentored can find it tricky to view mentoring for the benefits mentioned above. These professionals can often misinterpret mentoring as an additionalperformancemanagementtool rather than a progressive and developmental process that can bring about real change to their working practices, and indeed their own personal approaches to work and their lives. Clutterbuck (2016) identifies that overcoming this reluctance/complacency can bring about a realisation within this group, where the intention of mentoring and its benefits become more clear, and consequentlythementor/mentee

relationship become stronger, more collaborative and positive towards meetingtheneedsofthementee.

Within my own experiences, I have mentored reluctant mentees who have beenidentifiedforsupportandviewedthe mentoring relationship with scepticism and a rose-tinted view of being under scrutiny. I took the approach of using some of Clutterbuck’s complacency techniques by asking questions about what the mentoring relationship is intended for, as well as giving ownership to the mentee on what they want to develop,ratherthanbeing'told'withinthe mentoringrole.

It must also be considered that it is not just the mentee who can gain developments and sometimes transformations. Hansman (2014) identified that mentors, through effective practice, can also experience transformations/developments through the use of a new mentoring model, sharing of shared experiences with the mentee-whichthenleadtodeeperselfreflections and success in working with reluctant/disengagedmentees.Withinmy own mentoring practice, I have learned from each mentee that I have worked with This can be challenges I have faced within engaging a reluctant mentee, use of mentoring techniques at appropriate times,aswellasdiscussingmypracticein supervisions with more experienced colleagues.

The key to showcasing the developmental/transformative benefits of mentoring is to make this clear to menteesthatyouareworkingwith.

From my own personal experiences, as well as talking with other mentors within the community of practice, it is vitally important to highlight this to mentees as well as prepare them for their role within the mentoring process. This enables them to know the benefits and how best to engage with the process. From this starting point a proactive, positive and productive mentoring relationship should be established, as well as developmental and/ortransformativepracticeforboth. Supportandtraininginmentoringmodels that foster developmental/transformative approaches can be found across a wide rangeofmedia.Twittermentoringspaces, theETFwebsite,InstituteofLeadershipand Management courses, supervisions from more experienced mentors, mentoring webinars/conferences and research articles can all help provide confidence, knowledge and tools to help mentors become effective in providing the environment for mentees to bring about self-awareness, self-reflection and selfanalysistoo.

DavidFowler

Howtohitthegroundrunning

Every year schools across the country open their doors and arms to the newest members of the profession. As with everything in life, a strong and purposeful start can mean the differencebetweensuccessandfailure.

Schools and departments need to make sure they provide a wellstructured and meaningful induction to give new teachers the best chances of thrivingduringtheirplacement.

In the last academic year, just over 37,000 people started their teacher training in England (Initial Teacher Training Census, DfE 2022), with the majority of those starting a postgraduate course through the variousITTroutesavailableinEngland.

A wide range of people train to teach each year, with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, and schools need to be aware of this when planning induction for ITT students. Whenyoulookatthestatistics,itshows thatpeoplearemorelikelytostarttheir training under the age of 25 and in the past 3 years, the mean age for ITT students has dropped This may suggest that the amount of time for gaining experience before starting a course is shortening, so this must be taken into consideration during the planningofplacementinduction.

All training providers have different suggestions for placement induction, with different activities suggested and different lengths of time devoted to this induction period. This is often dictated by the length of timethattheITTwillbeonplacementandthe needtogettheITTupandrunning

Traditionally, the first 2 weeks of placement are dedicated to induction, andthisisakeytimeforanITTtogainan understanding of school policies, ethos, andexpectations.

Firstcontact

Iamsureyoucanallrememberyourfirst dayonteachingplacement,thesleepless nightbeforehand,arriving2hoursearlyto make sure you weren’t late and the nervous wait in reception, this day is so important for the placement and if you cansettherighttonewiththetraineeson that day, it makes the whole experience of placement a lot easier for all concerned.

During the first day, you need to accomplish a great deal with your new ITTstomakesuretheyarereadyfortheir placement; from the simplest admin tasks, ID badges, computer Log, and cashless systems, to the sharing of policies, safeguarding information, teaching and learning policies This can beafull-ondayforboththementorsand the ITTs and you need to consider this when planning a successful induction period.

Suggestedactivitiesforthefirstday ofplacement

Meet the headteacher/SLT ITTs should feel like they are part of the school team from the off and are valued members of staff. The chance to meet seniorstaffcanhelpwiththisprocess

·Touroftheschool.SomeofyourITTsmaynothave stepped foot in a school since their last A-level examinationsoalotmayhavechanged Aguided tourfrompupilsallowstheITTstofindoutwhatthe school is like and give them a sense of the atmosphereoftheschoolduringtheteachingday. InductionmeetingwithProfessionalmentor Thisis where expectations are set by the professional mentor and policies are shared. The ITTs should have chances here to ask questions and find out further information about the school they would not be able to find on the school’s website. Here it is important that the Professional mentor outlines expectationsintermsofplanningandworkingwith their class mentors so there are no misconceptions Thisisalsothetimetocheckthat alladmintaskshavebeencompletedandthatITTs have full access to ICT and other systems needed intheschool Youcanfindoutabitmoreaboutthe new starters and plan your support based on experiencesthey'vehad.

·Meeting with class/subject mentor ITTs should be given time with the class/subject mentor on their firstdayandduringthismeeting,itisachancefor the mentor to outline expectations and share information about the departments The class mentorshouldusethistimetosharethetimetable with the ITT and explain how they are going to gradually build up their timetable The class mentor should show the ITT where the departmental resources are held and provide SOWs/Learning journeys so they can start to understand the teaching and learning style of the department.

Timeinthedepartment Afterthemeetingsstated above it is good to give an ITT time to explore the department and carry out short observations within the department to help ingratiate them into theteam.

Inductionperiod

ThefirstdayfortheITTscanbeverylongandcan be a case of information overload, so in the first couple of weeks, there must be a chance for the PM to catch up with the ITTs and reiterate expectations, and check that all the ITTs are happyandaresettlingintotheirdepartments.

During these induction periods, the ITTs will have specific tasks given by their ITE providers, but it is also important that the school provides a structuredplanforalltheITTstolearnfromexpert teachers and staff across the school, before their teachingloadincreases.

Activitiesduringtheinductionperiod

·Observing in the department. This is vital so the ITTs can be exposed to the culture and expectations of the department. It will also help with their subject knowledge. The ITTs shouldobserveclassestheywillbetakingover alongwithotherclassestogivethemafeelfor teaching and also provide an opportunity to buildrelationshipswiththeirfutureclasses.

Observingoutsideofthedepartment Thiscan be done in several ways including a pupil trail or LSA trail, this gives the ITTs further opportunity to dial into the school’s culture and expectations, and it also gives them a chance to experience what a pupil experiences throughout a normal school day, which can be useful for when they begin to teach.

·Meetingwithsafeguardinglead Youwillhave alreadygiventheITTstheschoolsafeguarding policyhoweveritissoimportantfortheschool andtheindividualstheyknowwhotheschool's DSLisandtheschoolsafeguardingstructures.

·Catch-up meeting. Once the ITTs are settled in the school it is a good idea for the professional mentor to meet with them either as a group or one-to-one to make sure their needs are being met before they start taking lessons

ContinuousSupport

Even once the induction period is technically over, there is still a great deal thataprofessionalmentorneedstodoto make sure the ITTs are being supported and are progressing as they should be. The professional mentor needs to be available to ITTs and mentors so issues can be dealt with quickly and effectively, which can make all the difference in the successofaplacement

Poorstandardofinduction

If you do not provide a structured induction for ITTs it can lead to issues further down the line for the school and also in terms of added support and mechanisms that may need to be put in place for the trainees, whose progress may be slowed due to a disjointed start of the placement and lacking knowledge of school policies and expectations. This may also add further workload issues to class mentors and class teachers, who will be having to support an ill-prepared ITT.

AsIhaveoutlinedabove,astrongstartis so important for the newest members of theprofessionandinthecurrentclimate, we must give the ITTs the best opportunity to progress during their teaching placements and be given the best opportunity to become successful teachers.

Setting a goal, breaking a habit...

Why mentors need to be more like ECTs in reflecting on their own bad habits and developing newer, more effective ones

Let’s take a moment to reflect on all those goals that we set ourselves that ended up in Goal-No Man’s land; lost and forgotten about forever. All those ‘Eat Better, Drink Less, Exercise More’ goals that are made with the best intentions, and backed up by the best evidence, but still remain unactioned and forgotten.

When we don’t achieve the goals that we set ourselves in our personal lives, it’s only really about us and so the stakes are relatively low. However, when we set goals that relate to our professional lives, to our teaching practice, and we still don’t achieve them, then surely it’s time to unpick why we haven’t. Especially when we consider that meeting these goals and sticking to them could have a positive impact on pupil attainment and progress and that’s when the stakes become higher.

The ECF works on the principles that novice teachers need the input from an expert teacher to diagnose development points and support classroom practice. Paul BambrickSantoyo continues that this is supported through direct instruction and deliberate practice. The ECF, through whichever delivery partner you are working with, facilitates just this, through computerised systems and mapped out mentor meetings. However, how do we do this as mentors? How do we look at our own practice as expert teachers and make changes without the support of an expert directing us, and without the support of the ECF?

Let’s consider a case study An expert teacher has inherited a class that exhibit particularly challenging behaviour. The expert teacher identified that they have missed a lot of schooling through COVID absences and lockdowns and last year the children had inconsistent supply teachers.

How do expert teachers make changes to their own practice too?

and their behaviour difficult to manage. As an expert teacher, she is able to see why the children are behaving as they are, and she is able to identify and understand that difficult behaviour. However, she wants to set herself a goal around how to address it in a different way as what she is doing is having little impact. She understands the context thoroughly but after a couple of weeks she is still finding herself behaving in the same way towards them and reverting back to old habits. What is going wrong?

The habit-Goal interface

Wood and Neal explore the ‘Habit-Goal Interface’ and consider the impact of habits on goal setting. They define habits as ‘learned dispositions to repeat past responses’; habits are unconscious, they are cold cognitive associations, meaning that they happen all the time without us even thinking about it. They can be triggered by entering the same space, doing the action that usually precedes the habit, or even being around the same people.

expert teacher stand in achieving her goal when her responses to it are unconscious? Expert teachers have such well defined mental models of classroom practice, of how to respond to situations and their classroom pedagogy. These models are so well formed, that in order to change a habit, expert teachers need to dismantle and then rebuild an entirely different schema.

Correnti et al, argue that teachers looking to change a habit need to find new ways of seeing and understanding a situation; to look at the behaviour in a different way and turn the unconscious habit into a conscious one. To do this, teachers need to gain an understanding of the impact of the goal and that understanding should be rich, deep and based around pedagogical technique and knowledge. This change in our mental models will allow us to ourselves, take on the role of the expert teacher, directing our own practice. It allows us to look at our practice through a magnifying glass and then reflect critically on it.

Once an expert teacher can fully understand both the context and their unconscious habit, reflect critically on their classroom practice and call out the thinking, the triggers and the behaviour that they are exhibiting; then they can look at setting steps to achieve a goal. As mentors, we observe ECTs between 3 and 8 times a term. Imagine a scenario where you identify that the ECT you work with needs to be more positive in the classroom and then imagine setting her a goal to, ‘Be More Positive’ and expecting to observe again and see change. I would posture that it just wouldn’t happen. We wouldn’t set the goal and if we did, we wouldn’t see progress. Instead, we think about positivity in the classroom as more than just something we are. It translates into many different pedagogical languages; it both impacts and forms a part of teacher mannerisms, tone of voice, instruction giving, sanctions vs praise, pace, behaviour management and the list goes on. By setting small actionable steps for an ECT, we support them to build their own mental model of what good teaching looks li

Why as expert teachers are we not following the same process? I would suggest that it is because of our detailed, rich and evidencedinformed mental models that we are hard-wired to see a problem, set a goal to fix it and then do just that to varying degrees of success. However, consider how much more successful expert teachers would be in achieving these goals if we set ourselves steps and wrote our own success criteria, like we do for the ECTs that we support When you take a moment to consider what success criteria you might suggest to this expert teacher, who wants to address her low attaining class’s behaviour,, you realise how enormous in number the steps are or could be. So, if we think back to all those ‘Eat Better, Drink Less, Exercise More’ goals, is it any wonder why we all revert back to old habits and those goals end up in No Man’s Land? To be more successful at changing our habits, we must be more like the ECTs that we support. Identify the problem, learn about the problem, call out our bad habits and repeat this process

Me,a mentor?

ShelHodges

Like many, I was ‘volunteered’tobecomean ECT Mentor. My first thoughts were essentially imagining the role as a giantHenryHoover,sucking up all and any free time I might have to do the millionteacher-ythingswe have to do on any given day. However, after a bit of sleep and a gallon of coffee,Irealisedthatitwas an opportunity to do somethingprettywonderful –helpsomeoneelserealise what I already knew: that teachingwasandstillisthe absolute best job in the world.

MymenteeandIareworking through the Best Practice Network programme of ECT mentorship. As others may already know, it is both rigorous and prescriptive in order to ensure equality of provision and support. However, with one in every six teachers leaving after just one year[i] and 44% of teachers in England planning to leave within five years[ii], it seems clear that the ‘resources by rote’ route still isn’t hitting the right supportive spot for new teachers. So, alongside attending the ECT Mentor meetings, printing off the resources, discussing with otherMentorsandwhatnot,I began to think back to the olden days of my first year aswhatwasthenreferredto asanNQT.

I remembered crying. Shouting. Panicking. I remembered the many scary dreams where I had forgotten to get dressed or my voice had stopped working Yet, I also remembered other more enjoyable things. The feeling that I might just be the greatest teacher that evertaughtalessonwhenI finallygotthatonestudent tounderstandthatasimile needs to fit in with the overalltoneofyourpieceof writing[i]. Or the time a colleague asked if I would send over my lesson plan as it was “great” and I ran to the stock cupboard and made squeaky noises whilstpunchingtheairand then texting my Mum “I thinkIcandothis!”

And this, I believe, is where any ECT Mentor program falls-down.

TheECFhasbeendesigned to support ECT development in 5 core areas: behaviour management; pedagogy; curriculum; assessment; professional behaviours. Our ECT’s will know their Vygotsky from their RosenshineandtheirBloom from their Bennett. However, nowhere on the ECT course is there a module on, and please excuse my language, “the benefitsofhavingabloody good sweary rant” or “how tonotlooklikeyou’vebeen cryinginthetoiletatbreak time when you have to teach immediately afterwards”. And that is where I think ECT Mentors canfulfilavitalrole.Noone is saying pedagogical theory is not important – it is.Butletssaypedagogyis Paul McCartney – amazing byitself(“TheFrogChorus” is his best work and you knowit)butsomuchbetter when paired with John Lennon – the emotional support part of this weird analogythatI’mstubbornly stickingwith

We are the cheerleaders for our ECTs. When they have had a sleepless night because their baby has a cold,itseemsfutiletospend anhourdiscussingtheentry routines of 8W2. And that is why,forthefirsttenminutes ofeveryECTMentormeeting, we have ‘whinge time’ –similartotheOrwellianHate Week but shorter and far more concise! We focus on whathasn’tgonewell,which member of the class is the one making animal sounds at fifteen years old, whose parent is trying to get them out of a well-earned detention… You get the gist. BecausethenweasMentors areabletodotheonething for our ECTs that their comprehensive course cannot – and that is empathize. Because we have all had that class last thing on a Friday. We have all had that parent talk for half an hour at Parents Evening And letting our ECT’sknowthattheyarenot alone is a huge factor in them knowing it will all be okay. There is a reason that the Collins Dictionary provides the following synonyms for Mentor: “adviser, confidante, counselor” Because these are all vital components to whatwearedoing.

Similarly,thereisnowayan ECT Mentorship can only take place in the one hour weeklyallottedtime School doesn’tworklikethat.There will be lunch times when you see that look in their eyesandknowtheyneeda quiet word. There will be break times when you praise them merely for wearing nice shoes, because you know they need to hear something positive.Therewillbetimes in the pub on a Friday where you have to quietly whisper “I know it’s been a rubbish week, but it does get better”. And that, I believe, is where we can make the most difference in our role as Mentor. We can all follow the minutiae oftheECTframework,butit takes a different type of mentor to also support the non-teacherinside. SoitisfairtosaythatIam a Mentor convert. My Mentee knows that I am here to celebrate her wins, commiserate with her fails and throughout the whole thingIamstilltheirnumber one supporter and hypeperson.Andletmetellyou, watchingthesamepassion that I have for teaching grow inside someone else hasbeen,andcontinuesto be, an absolute gift. So come on fellow Mentors, letsnotbeafraidtogooffscript! Let us not fear talking outside of that allottedhour!Forwehavea vital role to play and our ECTsneedus!

MENTORING MANIFESTO

Manifesto (definition) ‘a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer.'

Mentoring Matters

Mentoring has been the thread weaving its way through my professional life for over 30 years I have been committed to it as a teacher, mentor, teacher educator, leader, mentor developer and researcher I believe in its power and potential. But I fear for its future in English schools. This is my manifesto for dialogic mentoring Mentoring is a dynamic and multi-faceted practice. I acknowledge the importance of mentors facilitating the development of their mentee through modelling practice, explaining expectations, co-working, complementing centralised training with bespoke and contextualised resources and opportunities, making judgements and giving feedback against standards

At the heart of good mentoring is a sustained and sustaining conversation between two peopleThis mentoring conversation starts at first introductions, and its impact can last a lifetime

Two sides of the mentoring coin

Good mentoring is a goal worth striving for.

It is built on reciprocal appreciation between mentor and mentee

·It offers a safe space in which to understand and rehearse new professional responsibilities

It enables sense-making and problemsolving to develop appropriate professional practice.

MENTORING MANIFESTO

It acts as a method by which schools contribute to securing the viability of the profession.

It creates opportunities for mentors to develop a professional repertoire which can enhance their own future careers

Good mentoring cannot be taken for granted

Not all mentors want to be in the mentoring role.

·Mentoring usually adds to, rather than replaces, the existing burden of teaching and/or leadership workload

Mentoring can reinforce hierarchical and power-laden school culture.

·Mentoring can be distorted by quality assurance and accountability imperatives

Mentors can experience anxieties about being credible role models, expert advisors and infallible repositories of exhaustive professional knowledge.

Mentoring in the danger zone

We are facing a mentoring crunch and experiencing mentoring churn In England new ITT and ECF mentoring requirements demand a ramping up of mentoring hours, an expansion of obligatory mentor training and a tightening of the mentoring programme to meet the DfE designated curriculum frameworks

The more we externalise the mentoring agenda the less situated and personalised mentoring becomes. The more time we demand from each mentor the less likely it is that mentors can commit to mentoring as an ongoing aspect of their professional lives

As teacher recruitment and retention difficulties impact directly on the current teaching workforce the capacity for mentoring will be further eroded

My motives as an educator are to ensure the sustainability of the teaching profession.

·I want the profession to be brim-full of brilliant and energised people.

I want an education system which allows teachers and leaders who can do their best work without burning out.

·I want everyone who works in schools to be able to advocate for all children and young people without compromise

I want educators whose own ongoing education is the lifeblood of their professionalism and self-efficacy.

·I want new teachers to feel welcomed for the talents that they bring and the diversity they add

·I want mentors whose work breathes life into the profession and whose work is rightly held in the highest esteem

My manifesto challenges the status quo It demands a de-escalation of some of the routines now assumed necessary for mentors’ work with trainee and early career teachers

Dialogic mentoring; a manifesto

MENTORING MANIFESTO

We need to put conversation back at the heart of mentoring.

·We need to create a more bespoke mentoring workforce who have the attributes that enhance these conversations

We need to prioritise mentoring as a formative, generative and compassionate practice.

I believe that mentoring needs to be reconceptualised as a dialogic act

It needs to be an uncluttered space in which mentors and mentees can truly discuss, debate, deliberate and develop together.

·It needs to create meaningful connections with the mentees’ and mentors’ wider professional learning, providing opportunities for fact-checking, clarification, challenge and change.

·It needs to put people and ethics before process and false fidelity

It needs to honour the dignity of mentors and mentees at all career stages.

·It needs to enable professional development and personal growth through engagement, enquiry and empathy

Scaling up of practices based on human interaction, such as mentoring, rely on enhancing the quality and expanding the impact each individual mentoring relationship These relationships are built across moments in time, through authentic engagement and through the mentoring conversations. Such conversations have the potential to plants the seeds for contemporary and future professional and personal growth through modelling a critical, curious and creative stance.

There are serving and former teachers, teacher educators and school-leaders whose wisdom is untapped, and whose breath of experience in schools forms a reservoir of expertise that is too readily over-ridden by monologic training frameworks for which mentoring has become a delivery mechanism

A manifesto is more than a wish-list. It has to also be a call to action. It has to indicate what people can do Current mentoring in ITT and ECF is being squeezed into the new directed frameworks while also expanded to meet increased capacity demand. This may feel like an immovable object with a high degree of resistance It also creates an imperative to keep challenging the dominant discourses

In the enactment of our current education policy accountability and fidelity are the privileged dominant discourses They have become seen as essential components of scaling up But there are other ways of conceptualising this.

I am fortunate that I can provide a space for such conversations between mentors, and others with a keen interest in professional learning through leading and hosting CollectivED The Centre for Coaching, Mentoring, Supervision and Professional Learning CollectivED is all about the power of people, to share, to support, to build trust, to reflect, to learn and to enable and empower. We form a community of professionals, academics and students with shared interests

This is one way that I intend to build on this manifesto for dialogic mentoring.But there are many others – what action does this manifesto call you to take?

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk /research/collectived/ @CollectivED1

Building a network for critical engagement through CollectivED

I read many, many coaching and mentoring books and papers every week and this is one that I know will always be on my desk My copy is full of highlighted sectionsandpost-itnotes,asitissofullof tangible,actionabletips

Its simple, direct style speaks straight to the reader and offers real golden nuggets of advice to all coaches - regardless of yoru experience It manages to put into wordsthewayIwishtohelpdevelopstaff Amustreadforanycoach!

This concise and easy to read book is packed full of useful tips and underpinned by robust research The case studies make it seem incredibly relevant and any coach will be able to recognise themselves, or one of the situations they have experienced, in them. It situates coaching inside CPD more widely, which is fundamental.

This is the book I needed a few years ago, when I was fighting an invisible battle of being a women trying to get into a leadershippositioninaschool

It is not only thought provoking, but it also sees the challenges through the lens of women ' s livedexperiences,bringingan

authenticity rarely seen in other coaching books I have seen I loved theexplorationofpersonalidentitywhich is something I have grappled with myself as a leader, and went away feeling a new self-awareness that was refreshing and reinvigorating An enjoyable and eye-openingread

Tune in on Spotify

LEADING THE WAY IN DEVELOPING CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE IN TEACHER TRAINING MENTORING

MENTOR TRAINING

DEVELOPING EXPERTISE

The University of Sunderland is once again leading the field as it sets out its aspiration to develop a National Centre of Excellence in mentoring

It is no secret that the Initial Teacher Training and Education (ITTE) sector is going through turbulent times The elevated status of mentors and their role in developing new entrants to the profession is integral to recent DfE reforms

Amonst these reforms is the need for more mentor training and the University is currently leading the way in the UK and internationally in this area, by providing free fortnightly training delivered by expert leaders and teachers, which is open to the whole sector

The training is based on the evidence and approaches underpinning the Core Content Framework and Early Career Framework and is followed by a phase/subject specific teach meet

So far sessions have been delivered by author and headteacher, Sam Strickland, author and lecturer Megan Mansworth and a plethora of other fantastic leaders and teachers from the North East All training is recorded and can be found on the University's YouTube channel here:

MENTOR

NETWORK

NATIONAL COLLABORATION

M

entoring lead Haili Hughes has created a mentor support group for those who are leading mentoring at scale, in ITTE organisations

The online space is a place to collaborate, get advice and share good practice so that the support mentors are providing for trainees helps them to provide the very best teaching for our students

The group has over a hundred academics teaching school hub directors and SCITT leaders in it from providers across the UK and internationally and is already proving to be a vibrant community of practice with members sharing ideas resources and interesting research

Haili said: “I believe that we all must unite across the sector and pool expertise to get mentoring right Effective mentoring is a vital ingredient to counteract the grim recruitment and retention statistics currently experienced by the school’s sector

I believe that if we work together we can support trainees and in turn give our students the best possible life chances ”

MENTORING CONFERENCE

TOPNAMESIN EDUCATIONTO COMETO SUNDERLAND

A

fter the success of last year's MentorED conference, sponsored by the University of Sunderland which was held online we are thrilled to be holding a face to face mentor conference on Wednesday 26th April 2023

We already have some incredible thought leaders confirmed to speak alongside exhibitions and stands and a range of mentoring workshops run by some of our brilliant partnership mentors

Details about the event will be advertised in the new year but save the date now as it will definitely be an event not to be missed!

TIME TO SHINE

WHY MENTORS ARE THE REAL STARS OF THE LEADERSHIP BALL

Once upon a time there was a group of poor, unrecognised people called mentors. They used to work diligently underground away from any public praise or recognition. How they dreamed of losing their ragged clothes, donning sparkling new attire and being invited to the leadership ball...

As Professor Rachel Lofthouse points out (TES Editorial, 2019), mentoring is somewhat of a ‘Cinderella’ activity in schools; it often goes unrecognised and unrewarded. Moreover, as Dr Mark Hardman (IOE Blog 2020) acknowledges, structures and systems need to be considered carefully if mentoring is to fulfil its promise.

So, how can we resolve some of these tensions? How can we free mentoring from its ‘Cinderella’ status; give it the ticket to the leadership ball it deserves?

Too often, we can be guilty of thinking about mentoring as a worthy but costly investment, fuelled by the goodwill of a gallant few who go above and beyond to help new teachers.

Elaine Long UCL

However, as ECF Programme Leaders at UCL, we are rapidly learning that the reverse is true: mentoring is an investment that ultimately pays out far more in dividends than it costs.

The rich rewards of investing in a mentoring culture were emphasised never more clearly than at our UCL Year 2 Mentor Conference when we asked mentors: how did the experience of mentoring Early Career Teachers in Year One of the programme help to widen or deepen your professional impact?

We were equally pleased to see that the role of mentoring went way beyond working on pedagogical content knowledge, but also included all of the below:

We were delighted to see a plethora of responses such as the ones above fly into our mentimeter poll, all emphasising the impact of mentoring on the development of their own expertise, reflective practice, leadership skills and the culture of the departments they worked in.

Not only could we see a ripple effect in terms of the development of a research informed culture, but also staff capacity for leadership.

In Year 2 of our programme, mentors will be taking this one step further by adopting an educative mentoring approach. They will be working alongside their mentees to solve a problem of practice in their classroom and improve the learning of their students. We have high hopes that this experience of practitioner inquiry will be as rich for our mentors as it will our mentees, that it will bridge that often overlooked gap between research and practice, and ultimately develop autonomous confident teachers who have the efficacy to be agents of their own growth.

Therefore, as we look forward to Year 2 of our Early Roll out Programme, we are incredibly grateful for the commitment of all our mentors.

Mentors, we hope that you are now walking slightly taller in the staff room and that others are beginning to recognise your true power. You are after all the pioneers of system change for early career teachers, and if anyone deserves to be the star of the leadership ball, it’ s you.

Relationships matter

Nicola Barthorpe

Mentoring is one of the most rewarding parts of my job I enjoy working with trainees and Early Career teachers, watching them develop as practitioners, alongside the impact they have on my own practice, encouraging me to challenge my own thinking and application in the classroom The relationship we build with our mentees is crucial to ensuring effective support in these formative times This article hopefully will offer some strategies to help you build an effective relationship with your mentee

Listen more and talk less

Sounds obvious, however if you were to be an observer of one of your mentoring meetings, what would you see? As a mentor, the most valuable thing I have learnt is to be quiet and still - all very zen! We need our mentees to want to talk to us, and they need to know we hear them - even when they are not saying an awful lot As a mentor, you really need to tune into what is being said and listen If a mentee thinks that they will not be heard the are not going to speak up, and if things are tough for them or not going well, they are less likely to say that things are not working In order to build an effective relationship, put some time into really listening to them and asking questions like “how are you?”

Think about where you meet

I used to believe that I could mentor people anywhere, this would often be in my office or my classroom. However, I have strongly come to the conclusion that mentoring should take place somewhere neutral when possible This could be in a staff room if its quiet, a meeting room or if you think that you may need to model things that you are talking about then in the mentee’s classroom so that can practice in familiar settings This has dramatically improved my relationship with my mentee as it has removed hierarchical barriers between us I had not considered before the barrier that went up by speaking to someone in my classroom or my office - no matter how hard I had tried, it became impossible not to see beyond the Head of department’s office or classroom By finding a neutral space, these barriers were removed, now I am the mentor, the critical friend, which makes having those conversations, even difficult ones, less provocative and more supportive

Remember you are human too

It is easy to often forget that we were once newly qualified or training It is easy to forget how hard those times were In order to build your relationship, I have found that allowing your mentee to see your human side and that teaching is tough for everyone really helps. This does not mean that you can moan about everyone and everything, but being able to call upon real life examples or just acknowledge that this is a difficult time of year is something that goes a long way to reminding our mentees that we are people and understand how tough it can be This does not mean that you get to tell them how you would do everything, but rather you can consider that you know things are tough, and offer helpful suggestions to manage things, particularly workload, or difficult students.

Meet as scheduled

Time is perhaps the biggest enemy of the teacher

Under the new ECF there is a required commitment of time to meet with your mentee With the ever increasing list of commitments that teachers have, these can be a convenient excuse to move or even cancel meetings This is not good for the relationship between yourself and your mentee They need to know that you have time for them, that they are not an inconvenience Make sure you schedule out time in your diary, I do mine a half term at a time, sitting down with each mentee to look at when is best to meet and making sure that the meetings don't clash with other college events such as parents evenings, this way they are less likely to be the thing that we cancel in a busy day I then make sure it is in my college diary, which is online so it sends me helpful reminders This time is then treated as any other college meeting If time is a huge issue, then speak to your induction lead, as there is an expectation that you will have protected time for these meetings so they should be able to help

Set an agenda for the meeting

One of the things I like about the ECF is that with an approved provider there are areas of focus for each meeting. In a post 16 setting, which has post 16 ECT’s there is no statutory programme, however I have embraced the idea of having a focus for the meeting which is known in advance so that everyone can have had a think about the topic and then arrive with ideas. I sometimes set pre reading or a podcast which can support the meeting; this has significantly improved the relationships I have with all of my mentees as they are prepared and we can have a conversation around this topic with time then for us to talk more freely about other things

These “other” topics of conversation often come out of the initial discussion What this idea has done is ensure that there is a sense of balance between myself and my mentee, we both come to the meeting with suggestions and ideas that we can explore

When all is said and done, every mentor/mentee relationship is unique. These are things that have worked for me over my time as a mentor Nothing beats a cuppa and a biscuit whilst having a chat with your mentee and reminding them that teaching is the toughest yet most rewarding job in the world.

THE THEORETICAL AND THE APPLIED: NOT AN EITHER/OR SITUATION

MARK QUINN

The Institute of Education have described initial teacher education as “an intellectual and ambitious professional endeavour that reaches beyond a skills-based or technical approach to teaching” (UCL IOE 2021, para 3). Teachers are not mere technicians, versed in the application of a set of techniques. This is why, for the UCL design team working on the Early Career Teacher development programme, we wanted to be clear from the start that our early career teachers (ECTs) would not simply ‘learn teaching’; they must also, through critical reflection and experimentation, learn how to make judicious use of the repertoire of skills they acquire through induction

Our ‘theory to practice’ pedagogies (and – in the second year – where we adopt practitioner inquiry as the principal mode of professional development) are there so ECTs can engage more selectively, and more critically, with the early career framework (ECF) which underpins the programme.

In the first year of the programme, ECTs’ critical engagement with the theory of the framework is principally at the functional level: How should I apply this theory? With whom and when? Where can I seek support if I wish to teach in this way? In year 2 they are invited to engage at a more critical level: Which of these approaches works better for me? Or how can I make them work better for me? ECTs conduct a series of practitioner inquiries, each focused on a need that the ECT has identified from their module audits This achieves dual aims Firstly, the new teacher gains a much more profound understanding of the ECF, of where it applies very well to their context and setting, where it applies less well, and the areas of practice on which the ECF is more or less silent. Secondly, because practitioner inquiry is about the ECT’s own teaching and own classroom, the programme in the second year can be shaped in collaboration with the mentor to be entirely bespoke to that teacher

At all stages, ECTs are invited to adapt their practice upon critical reflection of the evidence Alone and with their mentors, ECTs read or listen to brief ‘research and practice summaries’, both to understand the theory itself and to consider its utility for their own classroom

For example, having read about how they themselves are key role models, who can influence the behaviours of their pupils, and having read the case study of ‘Sam’, who was struggling to establish her routines, ECTs are presented with some practical ‘theory to practice’ activities. They review these activities and, depending on their own development needs at that time, they tailor the amount of thought and time they put into completing them – more, where they want to establish the practice as a strength, or less if the ECT already feels they have some expertise.

As teaching is ‘an intellectual and ambitious professional endeavour’, learning how to do it will inevitably involve grappling with the theory. The UCL programme makes no apologies for that. In the self-study materials for ECTs and mentors, in the resources which support their weekly meetings, and in the facilitated peer learning sessions, theory is always foregrounded But it’s never heavy, arbitrary, or unnecessary.

We are plainspoken with our definitions Each summary is about practice as well as research. They always feature a case study or vignette drawn from the experiences of real teachers in schools, ranging from mainstream secondaries to all-through special schools, from primaries to alternative provision settings These case studies show how they faced a dilemma, and how they sought to resolve it. Exemplifications – bullet-pointed how-to’s, for ECTs who want to try this out in their own classrooms –are threaded throughout There are about 100 of these insights from real teachers.

ECF for all?

The framework is generic There are real advantages to that There’s little point in training a teacher just to teach in one school, or one type of school. Teachers frequently start in one phase and end up working in another It’s a rare secondary teacher who only ever gets to teach one subject. The ECF programme should be about learning how to be a great teacher not a great ‘X’ teacher The ECF therefore, rightly, aims to be for all The challenge was to create a programme that was applicable everywhere and for everyone The ECF was light on evidence drawn from or relevant to the experiences of teachers in Early Years and Special Needs settings. We therefore tapped into the expertise of our delivery partners to create a deeper reservoir of resources related to those areas. Although the framework rightly champions high expectations of all, it avoids making specific reference to pupils with particular learning needs, for example, or EAL learners, or LGBTQ+ pupils The UCL professional development programme was an opportunity to put flesh on the bones of the ECF. We try to do this through our case studies; our facilitators try to do this, as they adapt our resources for the local clusters they lead. Beyond the programme itself, we use our learning platform to spotlight blogs, and we have a full season of our ECF Staffroom podcast, where we hand the microphone to individual ECTs, mentors and induction tutors. Through all these mechanisms – the case studies and exemplifications, the podcast, blogs and adaptive facilitation – we think we have curated a programme which is, yes, grounded in theory, but absolutely about and applicable to real teachers In the end, the theoretical and the applied are not in competition with each other, rather they are two facets of the same phenomenon: learning how to teach

A DAY IN THE LIFE

ofa ofa ofa mentor mentor mentor

LUCY DREZNIN

WEDNESDAY

My trainee retruned to school today and I wanted her to feel resettled after a disruptive and emotional few days To help with this, I have reduced the number of lessons they were teaching for the remainder of placement.

Later on, we had a mentor meeting, to go through the interim assessment of teaching standards and talk through where improvement has been made and standards which require continual focus Between us, we decided to focus on one core teaching standard for the remaining lessons, to allow confidence to flourish and to streamline observation focus.

At the end of the school day, the trainee came to inform me that she has decided to take temporary leave from her PGCE and so I sat down with her and discussed her options

MONDAY TUESDAY

I came into school, having not heard from my trainee since Friday, so assumed everything was great On the previous Friday lunchtime, I had met with Quality Assurance Leader of our Schools Direct programme and my trainee to feedback on the lesson I'd observed that Wednesday, where we had reflected on strengths and areas for development

Sometimes I find myself in a really difficult position as a mentor. It is hard to try to help my trainee improve their approach to planning, adaptive teaching and progress for all, while also bulding their confidence

My trainee met with her university tutor yesterday and is unsure of whether she wants to continue. She is quite frutrated that due to a late start, she may end up finishing her placement later than planned

We managed to find a way through and agreed that they will complete the remainder of their placement with us, and then start to looking into gaining more classroom experience through cover agency work, while waiting for their next placement to be arranged.

I then had to communicate this to my school's Senior Mentor, so it has been a busy day!

THURSDAY AND FRIDAY

After informing the Senior Mentor about what happened yesterday, I started to make arrangements for mentoring a new trainee in January 2023, for a 7-week placement, across two languages I spent some time making a timetable and checking the timings and allocations with another more experienced colleague Although my trainee's placement was full of challenges, I enjoyed trying to support them and am looking forward to meeting my new trainee in the new year.

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Issue 2 due out January 31st 2023