Evaluate Practice

Mentoring is a collaborative process which is developmental, and not judgemental.  As the saying goes, ‘it takes two to tango’.  As mentors, we tend to focus on the progress of our mentee and reflect on the areas where they need to improve in order to meet expectations. It is equally important to ensure we reflect on the job we are doing as mentors.  There are multiple benefits to doing this. The first is that we are modelling to our mentees the positive attitudes and professional habits that the best teachers possess.  We are systematically assessing our own performance on a regular basis as teachers and it is important that we do the same as mentors.  If you can model this to your mentee, it will make it far easier to encourage them to do the same with their own practice. Acknowledging that you have strengths and areas for development is incredibly powerful for a fresh-faced trainee or early career teacher who thinks that they cannot make a mistake or that they need to be the finished article on their first placement.  A mentee will be using you as their example of what a teacher does, how they act or reflect etc.  Ensuring that you demonstrate positive professional habits will allow your mentee to gain these too.

There is a responsibility on mentors to ensure that they are making themselves aware of the latest research and theory within our profession. Developments in ITT Policy now mean that ITE providers are required to develop an integrated and progressive mentor curriculum for their mentors as well as trainees, routed in up to date and relevant research. Demonstrating a keenness to keep learning and improve your own knowledge to support your mentee in demonstrating the same characteristics.  We encourage the children in our classrooms to be brave and ask questions; not to shy away from a challenge. It is vital as mentors that we demonstrate this same attitude not only with our pupils but with the teachers we are supporting.  A mentee is not expecting you to be perfect; in fact, it would be damaging if you tried to be.  No teacher in the world has perfected the role and it is unlikely you would last long if you tried to. Showing that you too are still learning, that there are areas you want to improve and that you might need to rely on research or CPD to support you with this, is a powerful message for your mentee to see.  They want to know that there is room to grow; that the best teachers in our schools are the ones who do not want to stop learning and accept that there will always be something new to discover.  Research doesn’t have to mean reading entire books and research papers, instead often short articles grounded in research, such as those in the useful links.