3 things that you can do right now
Consider your personal and professional attributes in line with the 2016 Mentoring Standards.
Reflect on your own areas of strength and for development.
Work alongside your school ITT lead or ITT Provider and discuss how you can build your skillset.
In this section
Advocate
In this section we focus on:
- informed, constructive advocates for high quality education for all learners
- contributing to improving the teacher education profession
- contributing to creating visions for teaching, learning and teacher education
Being an excellent mentor is much like being an excellent teacher. You cannot just rely on box ticking; going the ‘extra mile’ is a prerequisite of the job. As part of our role as mentors, it is vital that we are advocates, not just for our job but also for our profession. Let’s face it, teaching can be a bit of a ‘closed off’ world. There seems to be a new acronym every week, very few people have much time to discuss their day-to-day job with anyone outside of school and there is still a lack of understanding of just how much effort goes into being a teacher within our schools.
The professional behaviours you demonstrate when working with your mentee will have a lasting impact on them and will most likely be the model they use to judge their own professional behaviour. If they are looking up to someone who is enthusiastic, engaged and positive about the idea of being a mentor, then that will only encourage them to show the same characteristics. By being a mentor, you are immediately lifted into the role of someone who is being relied upon by someone else. There will be explicit and implicit roles and responsibilities that fall upon your shoulders and advocating is one of the more implicit. The fact that you are contributing to the development of other practitioners means you are already an advocate. The ITTECF acts as a minimum entitlement for trainee teachers. The term Expert Colleagues is used frequently and it is an expectation that trainee teachers benefit from expert practice. Standard 8, Professional Behaviours, in particular outlines how trainees should be guided to develop as a professional. Ensuring that you are aware of what the expectations are that have been placed on you and ensuring that you are doing the best that you possibly can, are examples of how you can be an excellent advocate for our amazing profession. Being an advocate is not being perfect; it is ensuring that you demonstrate the qualities and professional values that you believe are the ingredients of the very best teachers and mentors.
ITTECF - Standard 8
Page 26, Standard 8 of the ITTECF outlines the Learn That and Learn How to statements as expectations of Professional Behaviours (Fulfil wider professional responsibilities). Engaging in professional development, seeking critique and feedback, engaging with research evidence is key.
Mentoring Standards, 2016
The National Standards for school-based initial teacher training (ITT) mentors is currently the most up to date framework for mentoring standards. Refer to the standards from page 11 onwards.
The Mentor Standards - access the framework here
What is mentoring all about?
The Mentoring and Advocacy Support Hub supports vulnerable adults with mental health problems. This page considers how an advocate can support someone who lacks confidenc to feel valued. A lot of the guidance is applicable to a mentor and mentee relationship.
Peer Mentor Handbook
This handbook from the Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania exemplify the boundaries that should be in place in a peer-to-peer mentor relationship. It breaks down the skills and qualities the best mentors will need to have and, just as importantly, things they might want to avoid.
Mentoring and the Science of Learning
The Inked Scholar, Haili Hughes, reflects on how, as mentors, we need to be adaptive and responsive to our mentees’ needs.
The Professional Identity of Teacher Educators: Career on the Cusp?
Ronnie Davey (Routledge, 2013)
Ronnie Davey from the University of Canterbury explores what the ‘professional identity’ of a Teacher Educator is and how this differs from the professional identity of a teacher generally.
Teacher Professional Learning and Development
This free online book from the University of Auckland outlines how teachers can invest in their own professional development.
Post Compulsory Teacher Educators: Connecting Professionals Italicise title
Jim Crawley (Critical Publishing, 2016)
Jim Crawley describes how important it is for all teachers to continue their own development through compulsory education once qualified. As mentors, we play a large role in ensuring that continuing development for those teachers is effective and meaningful.
Teacher educators pathways to becoming research active
This collection of case studies outlines the different pathways that teachers have followed to becoming Teacher Educators. Some have envisaged carrying out this role their entire lives and others have fallen into it without it ever being part of their plan. This is a realistic viewpoint and represents the experience of a lot of Teacher Educators. The experiences of the Teacher Educators within this accessible booklet will resonate with a range of practitioners and will support you in building your own skills.
Mentoring in Schools - Mind the Gap
Tom Sherrington and Emma Hughes interview Haili Hughes as they advocate for the profession and the evidence base which underpins recent policy reforms.
Five steps to becoming an advocate
This motivational TED talk from Joseph Campbell explores how you can best advocate your own passions and beliefs. Campbell say ‘advocacy at the core, is a deeply embedded sense of purpose'.
Advocate - Further Development
