Visions of 'professional' mentoring in Education According to Answers.com 'professional' has the following definitions, which are helpful in reflections on mentoring: adjective: 1 a Of, relating to, engaged in, or suitable for a profession: lawyers, doctors, other professionals. b Conforming to the standards of a profession: p. behavior. 2 Engaging in a given activity as a source of livelihood or as a career: a p. writer. 3 Performed by persons receiving pay: p. football. 4 Having or showing great skill; expert: a p. repair job. noun: 1 A person following a profession, especially a learned profession. 2 One who earns a living in a given or implied occupation: hired a professional to decorate the house. 3 A skilled practitioner; an expert. I am using professional in all of the definitions above and will draw attention to areas where I believe that mentoring can and should develop its professional potential more coherently. The basic fact is that 'mentoring' in ITT has often become an activity that is tacked on to another job. It has become synonymous with coaching for refining various teaching skills in meeting standards for QTS, but professional mentoring represents far more than just this. Likewise mentoring has come to indicate remedial instruction especially in relation to helping students pass exams. It has become part of transactional and skills based perspectives in education, and has moved away from its original concept as personal and professional development. Mentoring is professional when it relates not just to skills but to refining and defining the embodiment of professional values, to developing professional knowledge Mentoring involves activities which promote and enhance effective transitions between professional roles, including: 1. identifying learning goals and supporting progression 2. developing increasing learners' control over their learning 3. active listening 4. modelling, observing, articulating and discussing practice to raise awareness 5. shared learning experiences e.g. via observation or video 6. providing guidance, feedback and, when necessary, direction 7. review and action planning 8. assessing, appraising and accrediting practice 9. brokering a range of support (Extracts from the National Mentoring Framework) National Mentoring and Coaching Framework

How does mentoring complement tutoring in ITT? Mentoring is less about assisting the transfer of predetermined skills, understandings and knowledge than about easing transitions and role changes by assisting in developing appropriate values in a new professional context. Tutoring is more about assisting in the transfer of professional understandings and knowledge than about easing transitions and developing appropriate values in a professional context but in ITT there is considerable overlap. A PGCE tutor is generally more considered to have a leading assessment role with assisting a trainee to get QTS. This is largely because the awarding body is normally the university to which the ITT tutor has been appointed. So saying the job of assessment is NOT solely the responsibility of the ITT tutor but a collaborative undertaking with ITT mentors. Unless the ITT mentors have the opportunity to monitor and record on-going assessment of a trainee a visiting ITT tutor has only a snapshot view upon which to found judgements about a trainee's progress. When a university-based tutor visits a trainee in school it is incumbent upon that tutor and the mentor to meet. Time is short, teaching timetables don't easily allow a mentor to have protected time to meet a university-based tutor but it is a question of prioritising the need to be present with the trainee on a series of one off meetings which will determine their professional future. If a school takes its involvement in ITT seriously it will enable its mentors to meet with visiting ITT tutors and if a mentor is unexpectedly unable to meet a tutor during a school visit there should be alternative arrangements - perhaps by way of an extended conversation by telephone to discuss lessons observed. Similarly a tutor who is planning to visit a school has a professional responsibility to meet ITT mentors no matter how difficult it may initially seem to arrange this - if necessary the meeting should be after the school day. Only by giving teacher training the time and professional attention it deserves can mentoring complement tutoring.

Which whole school and the whole partnership conditions enable professional ITT mentoring? * A realisation that mentoring differs from but is complementary to tutoring. * A realistic time allowance for mentoring to occur on a regular basis in school. * A mutual trust an mutual respect between school- and university-based ITT Partners. * Shared values in assisting the trainee teachers and mentors to become professional educators. * A commitment to work together to improve teaching in classrooms as a whole school development. * An excitement ad passion in learning alongside trainee teachers and a sensitivity to their needs. * Excellent communication so that training is truly a shared enterprise between school and HE. * A willingness to be creative and patient and caring when difficulties (inevitably) arise. * Excellent administration so that trainees, mentors and tutors work together well

How do mentors visualise professional mentoring? Ros shares her imagery using a family of Russian dolls

How do mentors visualise un-professional mentoring? Essential reading: Mented, D. (pseudonym!) (1995) Mentor or Tormentor?, Mentoring and Tutoring Volume 2 Number 3 Spring 1995

How should ITT professional mentors be selected and supported in and by a PGCE partnership? * Mentors should, first and foremost, be willing, able and supported to undertake this challenging role. * The school should choose the most appropriate teachers to become mentors on the basis of their willingness and expertise and not as a way of jarring them from apathy to action. * The mentor needs to be responsible, reflective and rational. * The mentor needs to be a sound, though not necessarily an excellent, teacher. * The school needs to provide professional and personal support for the mentor and opportunities for mentors in the same school to share ideas and support one another. * The mentor needs to be supportive of the aims and objectives of the school and the ITT programme and partner. * The mentor needs to enjoy teaching and be bale to communicate that enjoyment to trainees. * The Partnership needs to recognise that some mentors need professional development opportunities and cannot be expected to be proficient practitioners without assistance. * The onus for proficient mentoring rests as much on the ITT partnership as a whole as it does on the individual mentor - professional mentoring is a collaborative activity. * Mentoring is about building relationships of trust not blame - any problems are a communal responsibility where creativity and sensitivity are paramount.

What are the attributes of a professional ITT mentoring development programme? * There is collaboration and cooperation in organising and developing the mentoring development programme - novice mentors are linked with more experienced mentors. * There is a distinction to be made between mentor training and mentor development programmes. Mentors do need to know what is expected of them i.e. by training but they also need to be offered opportunities for developing their own creative engagement in mentoring. They need professional development activity if they are to improve. * Good teachers should be encouraged to become mentors but good teachers are not necessarily good mentors. Good mentors must be good teachers to act as role models. * Professional mentors are influenced by as well as able to influence the ITT mentoring development programme. They need to be enabled to attend mentoring development sessions and play an active role in participating in mentoring development opportunities. * Schools should be encouraged to develop their own in-house mentor development programmes which complement university-based mentor development opportunities. * Mentors need tangible evidence that they are individually valued by the ITT Partnership. This may mean payment but that is not a driving factor. Recognition that they are skilled practitioners playing an essential and collaborative role in ITT provision, under challenging circumstances, is essential.

Why do we need quality assurance mechanisms in a professional ITT mentoring programme? Quality assurance mechanisms need to contribute to a regime that is OfSTED compliant. The implications of non-compliance with the requirements of the Office for Standards in Education are programme closure. Measuring quality is not the same as valuing quality. Over evaluation is self-defeating as it becomes the driving force in ITT partnerships and impedes professional mentoring. Providing mentors with critical thinking scaffolds (Coombs, 2000) to set down their reflections and strategies for improvement in a logical, transparent and organised way is complementary to filling in evaluation forms regularly about the operation of the ITT partnership programme. Developing a sense of ownership and identity in the process of quality assurance leads to raising standards. The ultimate aim of quality assurance mechanisms is not to satisfy OfSTED but to enable new teachers to gain QTS. It is to ensure that professionalism is initiated and sustained in the teaching force and teachers learn to teach and to learn and inspire learning. OfSTED regulations for the inspection of ITT

What are the professional skills, values and understandings of professional ITT mentors? What trainee teachers say about mentors: * Mentors must give us subject based and pastoral support. * Mentors must be competent in their subject teaching area. * All mentors need good communication skills. * Mentors need time to work with us. * Good mentors offer positive and constructive feedback. * Mentors should create opportunities for us and be 'on task'. What university-based tutors say about mentors: Professional mentors need to share their knowledge about how they mentor professionally so that development opportunities can be tailored to their needs. As a profession we rely on mentoring in ITT but we actually understand relatively little about it from the mentors' own perspectives. We tend to interpret what we think mentors feel where we should be enabling mentors to voice their own insights in a systematic way. I think we need to build up a stronger knowledge base about mentoring in ITT and we can only do this if mentors can represent their practice in a form that we can access it - maybe by building web-based snapshots like this one? We need to work collaboratively as researchers into our own ITT practice so we can complement what one another does. Understanding different styles of mentoring helps us both to extend the roles that we share and to ensure that we are working in the same direction and not unwittingly in conflict. What mentors say about their own professional practice: There are many pressures on me - emotional as well as physical. I have my own teaching load (preparation, marking, assessments and profiling) my own responsibilities to my colleagues in my subject department as well as a post of responsibility within the school. I need to assess my own progress as a teacher and try to improve as well as assessing my own progress as a mentor. I must monitor and assess my trainee's progress as well as plan and manage an in-school mentoring programme for my trainee. I need to be skilled at time management so I can observe my trainee, team teach, conduct regular debriefing sessions and co-plan lessons all the while ensuring that my own teaching is effective and students in my classes don't lose out because I am very busy. I need to ensure I maintain regular liaison with my university-based ITT colleagues and be aware of what they are doing and integrate it into what happens in school for my trainee. Most of all I need to ensure that my trainee learners to become processional and develops the capacity to contribute in a whole school, not just a subject, context.

How can integrating action research into a PGCE programme improve mentoring and tutoring? Research your own practice in mentoring Paula's research into her own mentoring This is an in-process account of how Paula created her research report on her own mentoring. It shows the communication with (and advice from) the action research mentor who was assisting her to gain MA level accreditation. Beryl's research into her own mentoring Beryl was a mentor in the ITT outstation for the University of Bath organised in the Bournemouth area. She participated a Summer School on Mentoring Theory and Practice run by the University of Bath. Her tutor and mentor was Sarah Fletcher. Richard Denny (trainee teacher) researches his learning Richard Denny was a PGCE student in Jack Whitehead's Education and Professional Studies Group. Jack encouraged Richard to research his experiences as a novice teacher. Jack is world renowned for his action research: http://www.actionresearch.net and cowrites with Jean McNiff. There is an excellent (free!) downloadable booklet for teacher researchers at http://www.jeanmcniff.com

How can PGCE tutors, school-based mentors and trainee teachers use video to improve their work? Tony Kelly (ITT Mentor at The Clarendon School, Trowbridge) shares his insights: Using video is certainly something I have found helps. You can put a person on the spot and they have to think on their feet. Without video (trainees) could possibly say 'I don't really know the answer to that question and be a little bit cagey. With video you can get what they are really thinking out of them. Trainees can look at the way they are in front of a class. They can change things that I may not wish to say. For example if there is something embarrassing they are doing or using a facial expression hat is a little bit strange. To just say tat to them - how do they understand it? But where they see themselves on the video ... I remember a student teacher in my school in London. She screwed her face up in the most horrendous fashion when she shouted and all the students would laugh at her. Very, very difficult to explain as a mentor! She was videoed by my second in department with the precise aim of showing her what she was like in front of a class when she shouted. When she saw she said I look MAD when I shout. She stopped herself doing it. Sarah Fletcher PGCE tutor shares her insights In Ann's (trainee) lesson with the little dolls she used, I couldn't have given her adequate feedback on how well the visual aids worked there if I hadn't been able to say 'Look, Ann - at this point you did so and so - and it worked!' Link the timings on the video recording to moments when you see evidence that the trainee is meeting particular standards for QTS - especially if the trainee has asked you to collect evidence that they are meeting targets set for them during mentoring sessions and which have been identified as areas needing more professional development. Improving mentoring with action research and digital video technology Fletcher, S.J. (2002) ‘Improving mentoring with action research and digital video technology’ Links Bulletin Vol. 25, pp. 25-26 London, Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research The Look of the Teacher Fletcher, S. and Whitehead, J. (2000) Department of Education, University of Bath A paper presented to the British Educational Research Association Annual Conference, 7-9th September, 2000. University of Cardiff Published in Clarke, A. and Erickson, G. (2003) Teacher Enquiry: 'Living the Research in Everyday Practice', London, RoutledgeFalmer

Examples of professional practice in school-based mentors and university-based tutors ITT work Brislington Training School 'In April 2000, the then DfEE invited schools to apply to become Training Schools in partnership with Higher Education Institutions. Brislington School ... was to demonstrate and develop excellent practice in initial teacher training, explore and try out new approaches to training teachers and carry out and use research. A key target was to develop innovative mentoring practice in order to meet the requirements for literacy in initial teacher training.' Catherine Meacher (ITT mentor) at The John Bentley School (now a Training School) talks about her own action research It is important for ITT mentors to disseminate their knowledge and university-based ITT tutors can assist in a number of ways. These include being an action research mentor, co-writing for publication and offering web-space e.g. http://www.TeacherResearch.net

Books, websites and resources which relate to mentoring and coaching in professional contexts McIntyre, D. and Hagger, H. (1994) Mentoring in Initial Teacher Education, Five research studies supported by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation 'Experienced teachers found it useful to consider two dimensions of helping in the mentoring context: the task dimensions ad the skills dimension' Sections of particular relevance and interest in reviewing mentoring 11 years on might be: Page 20 Understanding how one adult may help another learn 'In mentoring .. the focus is on learning, and the learning is about teaching.' Page 26 The complexity of effective mentoring 'a complexity of three main kinds, stemming respectively from: the needs of student-teachers whom mentors are trying to help the nature and scope of the task of mentoring' the conditions within which mentoring is undertaken Page 32 Messages for schools: * It is important to recognise the complexity of mentoring and therefore to be cautious about accepting responsibility for initial teacher education, ad especially the terms on which one accepts such responsibility. * Initial teacher education has to be a whole-school commitment; individual mentors are key people but their effectiveness depends critically on the support they get from the school; whole school policies;, development plans and quality control procedures are important. * Substantial resources are necessary to allow time for mentoring and for mentors' collaborative planning and learning; there is no scope or creative accounting, for diverting resources to other purposes.'

Representing Teachers' Knowledge A web-based snapshot using the Carnegie Foundation's KEEP Toolkit. Professional Mentoring for Developing Trainee Teachers' competence in meeting the DfES Standards for QTS A web-based template using the Carnegie Foundation's KEEP Toolkit. The process of professional mentoring in ITT A web-based snapshot using the Carnegie Foundation's KEEP Toolkit. A role for visualisation in ITT? A research enquiry into the potential for enabling novice teachers to use visualised 'positive possible selves' in goal setting for their own professional development. Creativity in Initial Teacher Training A workshop organised by the Teacher Training Agency Ros' research into mentoring beyond induction Ros is a mentor who participated in a Summer School on mentoring: Theory and Practice organised by the University of Bath. She was awarded a merit grade for her assignment.