A Guide to Mentoring

Thank you for agreeing to mentor a trainee on the Primary ITT course at the University of Huddersfield. It is impossible to over emphasise the importance of the work of the mentor to the teaching profession. The mentor is at the heart of driving the quality of the new teachers that enter the education system and in turn the learning of the children they teach. The relationship between the mentor and trainee is unique and mentors have a primary influence on the success and outcomes of these novice teachers.

This guide seeks to establish our expectations for good practice along with tips and guidelines for effective mentoring. We hope that you will find this a useful document and we hope that you enjoy your mentoring experience.

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What is a mentoring?

The purpose of mentoring is to support and encourage people [trainee teachers] to manage their own learning in order that they may maximize their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become the person [teacher] they want

to be

While there is no doubt that effective mentoring can be a demanding role and has a number of challenges, it can also be extremely rewarding and we feel it is important to first consider the rewards of being a mentor.

Rewards of Mentoring

Professional competency: As mentor teachers assist their trainees in improving their teaching, they also improve their own professional competency.

Reflective Practice: Mentors report that mentoring has forced them to be reflective about their own beliefs about teaching, students, learning, and teaching as a career. 

Renewal: A number of mentors have reported that they experience professional renewal, are re-energized, and often strengthen their commitment to the teaching profession

Empowering: The experience of mentoring empowers experienced teachers and gives them a greater sense of significance to their roles as educators. Mentors derive satisfaction from helping less experienced colleagues.

Collaboration: Mentors report that continued contact with trainees provides some of their richest collegial interactions

Contributions to Teacher Leadership: Mentor training and experiences can build mentors' capacity for leadership through structured professional development including training and experience in classroom observation and coaching skills.

Mentoring Combined with Inquiry: Working with new teachers can lead mentors to participate in university research projects or teacher research.

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Then of course there are the challenges of juggling the mentor role with the competing priorities of the daily tasks of teaching and other school priorities.

Challenges of Mentoring

Managing the relationship: The mentoring relationship can be difficult, and, like all relationships, has to be worked at. Expectations have to be managed on both sides. Depending on the stage of training the trainee will need different levels of support. For them the relationship is vital – their daily well- being and future development depend on it. However, for the mentor it is just one of a range of duties and it won’t always feel to be their highest priority. To be successful the relationship needs to be collaborative and active. While the mentor, as the experienced professional, will be modelling practice, giving advice and identifying opportunities the trainee needs to drive these experiences and take responsibility for proactively following through on the guidance given.

Finding quality time to give to trainees:It is important from the beginning of the relationship to be clear about when, where and how the trainee can meet or contact the mentor (both in and outside of school). The trainee needs to know what is acceptable. Equally it is important that the mentor then endeavours to keep to these arrangements. Having protected time to work with the trainee is crucial and while the competing demands placed upon mentors (class teaching, subject leadership or senior management) can make this difficult at times it is important to plan and timetable time outside of the on-going daily opportunities for advice and feedback.

Consistency across the Partnership:One of the major issues that can face mentors is making judgments about the trainee’s attainment across the teaching standards and giving final grades at the end of a placement. ‘Is my trainee Requires Improvement, Good or Outstanding?’ ‘Is my judgement of ‘good’ the same as a mentor in another setting?’ The need for consistency across the partnership is crucial and we will be addressing this through mentor development sessions that will specifically explore these questions.

The day to day role of the mentor is complex and a more detailed description can be found in the School Based Training (SBT) handbook and associated podcast on the primary mentor site www.hud.ac.uk/edu/resources/ primarymentor

But in brief:

Responsibilities of the mentor:

• To ensure that the trainee receives two formal observations per week.• To carry out a weekly mentor meeting with your trainee.• To induct the trainee into the school and clarify phase expectations.• To help create a suitable timetable - supporting the development of subject

knowledge over time and securing the trainee’s development.

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• To engage in joint / supported planning with the trainee.• To monitor progress towards meeting the standards, setting targets and

reviewing trainee progress, ensuring that trainees work towards Good or Outstanding outcomes.

• To contribute to Review of Weekly progress (ROPS)• To contribute to the Ofsted grading of your trainee (on reviews) • To monitor the trainees collection of evidence for their Standards File/PDP

A Training Relationship:It is important to understand the relationship between mentor and trainee. While the mentor will obviously be aiming for a ‘friendly’ relationship it is important not to confuse this with forming a ‘friendship’. This is a professional relationship which involves both guidance and assessment. The mentor therefore has a dual role and to avoid conflict between the two needs to retain a

level of objectivity. The trainee is in school to develop their understanding of effective teaching and learning strategies and will not always get things right. They have to be prepared to receive constructive criticism and to be challenged to reflect upon their practice. Openness to advice is often seen as the main success indicator on any training course. This advice needs to be given in a constructive, clear and explicit manner and the guidelines for this should be shared at the beginning of the relationship.

It is also crucial to consider the following point. The mentor is a ‘role-model’ in their own classroom and the trainee will often seek to emulate them in every way. However, the trainee is developing their own teaching identity and it is necessary sometimes to step back and identify what may be different but equally effective. As a mentor you are not seeking to develop a clone of yourself.

Giving Feedback:

One of the mentor’s main contacts with the trainee will be the observationof lessons and the consequent provision of feedback. As with all training this feedback needs to focus on the positive as well as the negative and it is important to begin with ‘what went well’.

The mentor must at all times remember the point of feedback. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it ‘feed-forward’ as it focuses on future development.

Commenting on everything that happened in the lesson in a chronological, narrative form (ie a running commentary) isn’t especially helpful to the trainee as it lacks specific focus on future development. It also contains far too much

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input for the trainee to process. Link feedback to on-going targets and how these are being met. Select key themes that can then be developed into new targets. After all feedback is a type of assessment for learning.

Using Questions

How do you think it went?This is always a good place to start. It is vital for the mentor to know what the trainee thought of their own lesson as a central factor in determining their progress.

There are three questions that can be seen as a guide to exploring the success of any given lesson:

What did you want them to learn?Did they learn it?How do you know? The aim is to direct analysis immediately to learning via the learning objectives of the lesson. While there are obviously other issues, such as behaviour management, that need to be considered the focus needs to begin with the learning intentions.

Trainees need to plan lessons from learning objectives rather than on the basis of exciting activities (a common issue) and they need to be clear about the final outcome before they begin planning. They need to see the lesson as a journey that is leading to a known destination.

This understanding can be surprisingly hard for trainees, but entirely essential to their development, so the mentor must always focus on this in their feedback. The evaluation of the children’s learning is also the evaluation of the trainee’s teaching.

Target Setting and Monitoring:

The mentor will be setting targets for the trainee and this will be a focus of your weekly meeting. It is important that these should be SMART and focused on a small number if they are to be achieved successfully. As the training progresses they will be both reactive in terms of responding to issues identified through observation and proactive in terms of recognising when the trainee is ready to develop something new. So while one target may

focus on much clearer ‘modelling’ of the task set during whole class teaching (responding to children’s uncertainty during independent work) the second might focus on introducing new ‘self-assessment’ opportunities for the children in relation to success criteria being accessible on their tables.

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It is vital to monitor targets during the weekly meeting when last week’s targets are reviewed before the next are set. The targets need to be clear and specific – the aim is to be able to address them within the week. Therefore targets such as ‘improve behaviour management’ lack clarity and direction and need to be broken down. Rather ‘be consistent with following the class reward system’ gives the traineea clear action and the mentor something tangible to monitor.

Some targets are best addressed by having the opportunity to observe a range of colleagues in practice and such observations can be undertaken during the trainee’s Professional Development (PD) time. Once a model of good practice has been identified by the mentor it is the trainee’s responsibility to follow up and arrange such opportunities.Collaborative Working: It is clear that collaboration is at the heart of the mentor/trainee relationship and this collaborative working and learning ranges across many areas including planning, teaching and assessment.

Planning – while it is useful to be given an example of planning to have as a template it is the thinking behind the planning that is crucial. For this reason we suggest that initially some joint or supported planning takes place. This will include the trainee attending planning meetings – not just to observe, but also to contribute ideas.

Team teaching – sometimes the best way to understand a teaching strategy is not only to observe it, but to also to deliver it within a supportive structure. Team teaching one or a series of lessons allows for immediate feedback and implementing of skills – it also allows for ‘risk taking’ with the knowledge that the mentor will act as a ‘safety net’ should it be necessary. Again negotiating the ground rules for immediate, but tactful, interjections within a trainee’s lessons allows for things to get back on track smoothly and immediately without the trainee feeling undermined or losing confidence.

Assessment (marking and moderation) – looking through the children’s books will give the trainee a basic guide to how to mark, but being involved in joint marking early in the placement will allow for a focused dialogue on the why as well as the how of following the school’s marking policy. For more experienced trainees the opportunity to experience the moderation of work with colleagues will enhance their understanding of progression.

Observations – while the mentor will undertake regular observations of their trainee’s lessons the trainees also need to be making structured observations both of their class mentor and identified colleagues. This is not a matter of making judgements, but rather being able to identify effective practice and its

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impact on learning. Trainees in the early stages of training should be advised to focus on specific areas and not the whole lesson e.g. behaviour management or differentiation. Observations arranged to support targets should be reviewed at the weekly meeting to encourage reflection and identified actions.

Contact details:Your trainee will be assigned a university link tutor who will arrange to visit at certain

times during the placement (these will vary according to the training route), but generally the visits will occur near the beginning and towards the end unless issues arise that necessitate extra visits. The link tutor is the first point of contact for both mentor and trainee, but should issues need a little more ‘unravelling’ then please don’t hesitate to contact other members of the primary team. Please see below:

Jean Palmer Email j.f.palmer@hud.ac.ukPartnership Lead Tel: 01484 478242 Room: LS2/21

Liz Zsargo Email: e.zsargo@hud.ac.uk School Direct Lead Tel: 01484 478276 Room: CEG/12

Diane Hadwen Email d.hadwen@hud.ac.ukPrimary Programmes Lead Tel: 01484 478120 Room: LS2/25

Many questions can be answered by accessing the SBT handbook which can be found on the primary mentor site: www.hud.ac.uk/edu/resources/primarymentor

We do hope you will enjoy your role as a mentor working in partnership with the trainees of the University of Huddersfield

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The following has been taken from the ‘National Standards for school-based initial teacher training (ITT) mentors’ report 2016. Although the recommendations are presently non-statutory it seems likely that Ofsted will have regard to them when considering their priority of inspecting quality assurance and consistency across mentoring in ITT. They have been included in this guide for your information and because they reflect good practice not only in terms of the role of the mentor, but also regarding the support that mentors need to fulfil the role effectively.

In response to the Carter Review (2015) and its recommendations, the Government commissioned the Teaching Schools Council to develop standards for school-based ITT mentors, with the key aim of helping to promote the importance of the role and create a better shared understanding of the characteristics of effective mentoring across the ITT sector.

The TSC (2016) have developed a set of non-statutory standards that they believe will be useful to a broad range of ITT mentors with a diverse range of experience and responsibility - from the recently qualified teacher who has taken on their first mentee, to the professional mentor who is responsible for groups of trainees and teachers in the early years of their careers.

The TSC identified three main aims that they believe these standards will achieve: 1. To foster greater consistency in the practice of mentors by identifying the effective characteristics of mentoring, leading, in turn, to an improved and more coherent experience for trainees, so that they develop into effective teachers.

2. To raise the profile of mentoring and provide a framework for the professional development of current and aspiring mentors. The contribution mentors make to their colleagues’ practice will help raise standards and in turn improve the quality of teaching across the profession, leading to improved outcomes for children. We hope that the standards will support the development of a sense of identity for ITT mentors and support the growth of ITT mentor networks.

3. To contribute towards the building of a culture of coaching and mentoring in schools. Noting the recent White Paper’s announcement that qualified teacher status is to be replaced with a new stronger accreditation for teachers we believe the standards have resonance beyond the training period and into teachers’ early professional development, where high-quality mentoring and coaching are just as valuable.

The role of the school The sector experts we spoke to and who submitted evidence, told us that mentors should have excellent subject knowledge and a clear understanding of what constitutes high-quality teaching in a variety of contexts. They were clear that mentors play a central role in encouraging trainees and supporting their development and progress by drawing on a wide range of experiences, strategies and techniques to support trainees in meeting the Teachers’ Standards. Schools also have a role to

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play in supporting both mentors and trainees by creating and fostering a positive environment in which mentors and trainees are able to fulfil their professional expectations. Training needs should be identified and addressed so that mentors are familiar with course structures, and they should be given sufficient time as part of their timetable to observe trainees, provide constructive feedback and to have meetings and discussions outside of the classroom to monitor progress. TSC

The role of the mentor A mentor should understand the course structure and the requirement of trainees to meet the Teachers’ Standards. They should prioritise meetings and discussions with a trainee, monitor performance, and help develop their teaching practice and effective classroom management strategies. A mentor should also keep their subject knowledge up-to-date and have the awareness to signpost trainees to other expertise and knowledge, for example subject associations.

Recommendations: The standards, although not statutory, should be used by school-based ITT

providers to strengthen the quality of support that trainees receive whilst on school placements, to create consistency within partnerships and across the ITT system in England.

Ofsted should have regard to the standards in their inspection of ITT providers.

Standard 1 - Personal qualities Establish trusting relationships, modelling high standards of practice, and empathising with the challenges a trainee faces.The mentor should: • Be approachable, make time for the trainee, and prioritise meetings and discussions with them; • use a range of effective interpersonal skills to respond to the needs of the trainee; • offer support with integrity, honesty and respect; • use appropriate challenge to encourage the trainee to reflect on their practice; and • support the improvement of a trainee’s teaching by modelling exemplary practice in planning, teaching and assessment.

Standard 2 – Teaching Support trainees to develop their teaching practice in order to set high expectations and to meet the needs of all pupils.

The mentor should: • support the trainee in forming good relationships with pupils, and in developing effective behaviour and classroom management strategies; • support the trainee in developing effective approaches to planning, teaching and assessment; • support the trainee with marking and assessment of pupil work through moderation or double marking;

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• give constructive, clear and timely feedback on lesson observations; • broker opportunities to observe best practice; • support the trainee in accessing expert subject and pedagogical knowledge; • resolve in-school issues on the trainee’s behalf where they lack the confidence or experience to do so themselves; • enable and encourage the trainee to evaluate and improve their teaching; and • enable the trainee to access, utilise and interpret robust educational research to inform their teaching.

Standard 3 – Professionalism Induct the trainee into professional norms and values, helping them to understand the importance of the role and responsibilities of teachers in society.

The mentor should: • encourage the trainee to participate in the life of the school and understand its role within the wider community; • support the trainee in developing the highest standards of professional and personal conduct; • support the trainee in promoting equality and diversity; • ensure the trainee understands and complies with relevant legislation, including that related to the safeguarding of children; and • support the trainee to develop skills to manage time effectively.

Standard 4 – Self-development and working in partnership Continue to develop their own professional knowledge, skills and understanding and invest time in developing a good working relationship within relevant ITT partnerships.

The mentor should: • ensure consistency by working with other mentors and partners to moderate judgements; and • continue to develop their own mentoring practice and subject and pedagogical expertise by accessing appropriate professional development and engaging with robust research.

Using the Mentor Standards We considered how the standards should be used and have set out how those in different roles can use the standards to enable the effective discharge of their professional duties. Mentors should use the standards to: • understand what is expected of them and see that it is a manageable role;

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• enable self-evaluation of practice and help identify areas for further improvement; • support the delivery of the training plan; and • induct trainees into the school and the profession.

Trainees should use the standards to: • understand what support they can expect from their school-based mentor; and • develop transferable skills, for example, in lesson observation and feedback.

ITT providers and school leaders should use the standards to: • raise the status and recognition of the mentoring role; • bring consistency in mentoring within any agreement made with schools in delivering ITT; • inform the training of mentors and monitoring of their support to trainees; • establish rigorous mentor selection processes; and • enhance the professional development of mentors including developing or identifying training needs.

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