Our teacher education team spends a lot of time working with our mentors, and we see them as a cornerstone of our provision. Below are four practices that we’ve identified through our level 5 mentoring course that any mentor may wish to consider.

Making the most of mentoring

Communication

The first consideration is, of course, communication.  Whether it is a weekly lunch, a formal meeting or staffroom conversations, all the best mentors seem to find their own style that suits them and their mentee. Jamie, one of our teacher ed course managers, started to use Google Docs to set an agenda for his weekly meetings. This meant that both he and his mentee could contribute to the agenda and could both see the documentation regarding targets and observations.  This practice I thought was excellent as it allows the mentee to take an active part in their mentoring, shifting them from a potentially passive to an active position.

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Allowing mentees to be active

The benefits of mentees taking an active part in the relationship is not to be underestimated. This is something that can sometimes be overlooked when the mentee gives feedback to the mentor. As the expert in the relationship, it is natural and sometimes comforting for a mentor to be told what to do, and whilst this may be appropriate with a nervous mentee at the start of a mentoring relationship, in the longer term it’s less effective. 

I would encourage mentors to be confident in their judgement. I know mentors who, when co-observing with a teacher educator, quite often look for “validation” of the issues they may be raising from the teacher educator. This is normally unnecessary in my experience, and I think is a product of the compliance culture that is often found in the sector. 

Taking an active part in the relationship is also good for the mentee, who will benefit from beginning to analyse their practice for themselves and trust their judgement. It means you can take an incident - say, for example, part of the session where something has gone very well, or maybe less well - and talk through the mentee’s thought process at this time. Why did you make the decision to change activity at this point? What may have gone differently if you had given that group another activity whilst they waited for others to finish the task?

I recently observed a mentor, Lisa, doing this in a way that allowed her to understand her mentee’s practice and their intentions, concerns and aims. In doing so, she was able to see how the mentee conceptualised the classroom and could respond accordingly. As a further benefit, it allowed her mentee to begin to problem-solve for themselves.

This kind of exchange helped the trainee to understand how the ideas taught in the teacher ed classroom apply in their particular situation. This is important because, according to Dreyfus and Dreyfus (1980), developing situational perception is key to moving a trainee from novice to competence. This model is central to practice three and four.

Think back over your own career

For practice three, keep in mind where your mentee is on the model and help them accordingly. Bear in mind that it may have taken you six to 10 years of practice to teach the way you do. Think back to some of your disasters and triumphs early in your career. How did you move on your practice and how could these be applied to your mentee? If they are, as in all likelihood they will be, a novice, then help them to develop practices that allow them to build the “rules” of teaching into their practice. I have seen this done brilliantly by Holly, a very experienced mentor who trains her mentees to follow a certain way of starting and ending a session. This helps with the management of behaviour in that classroom. 

Model the rules

This leads me to practice number four. You may well be experienced enough to have learned how to work outside the rules, but bear in mind your mentee will not be. 

So model the rules for them, show them how you plan. Jon, one of our mentors, did this and found it really made him rethink some of his own practices. It’s also helpful to be explicit about some of the things you do in the classroom that are now routine to you. Perhaps after a session where your mentee has observed you, think about that questioning, pick a few incidences in the lesson and explain your thinking. 

Veered off your lesson plan? Explain why. Had a concern about a particular student?  What did you see? How did you react? Remember, you can’t learn the tricks of the trade until you have learned the trade itself. Explaining yourself can help your mentee see and learn from your thinking.

I hope these practices give mentors, new and old, some food for thought.

Sam Jones is a lecturer at Bedford College, founder of FE Research Meet and was FE Teacher of the Year at the Tes FE Awards 2019