Making sense of ITT mentoring practises; understanding the architecture of successful mentoring

Rachel LofthouseUlrike Thomas

The big picture for us in England • Shift of ITE to school-led process

• Part of the self-improving school led system as promoted by the new National College

• ‘Self-improving school led system’; • Evidence Based - contribute to evidence and draw on evidence• Data rich - outcomes and people • Sustainable - deliberate building of capacity and capability • Focused - move resource to where it is needed - schools supporting schools• Attracts and retains talent - focused on ITT,CPD, leadership development• Collective moral purpose - peer scrutiny, support and improvement

• If mentoring is part of the ‘self-improving school led system’ how does the practice match up to these aims?

• What are the relevant lessons for other approaches to ITT mentoring in the UK?

‘sayings’

‘relatings’‘doings’

SEMANTIC ‘SPACE’What is said, nature of the language, its meaning,

intention and comprehensibility, its formality or informality, how it is received and responded to

SOCIAL ‘SPACE’ How individuals connect and relate to

one another, what roles they take, formal and informal relationships, the

significance of power, trust and solidarity, how individuals feel in the

social space

PHYSICAL / TEMPORAL ‘SPACE’ What activities occur, productiveness of

actions, how the space is configured and set up, how resources are

deployed, how individuals undertake their activities

Mentoring as a ‘site’ of practiceTheory of Practice Architecture, Stephen Kemmis

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‘sayings’ SEMANTIC ‘SPACE’ What is said, nature of the language, its

meaning, intention and comprehensibility, its formality or informality, how it is received and

responded to

‘relatings’ SOCIAL ‘SPACE’ How individuals connect and relate to

one another, what roles they take, formal and informal relationships,

the significance of power, trust and solidarity, how individuals feel

in the social space

‘doings’ PHYSICAL / TEMPORAL ‘SPACE’ What

activities occur, productiveness of actions, how the space is configured and set up, how

resources are deployed, how individuals undertake their

activities

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‘situatings’ CULTURAL / POLITICAL ‘SPACE’ What context the practice occurs in and what expectations and outcomes are attributed to this practice both by participants and by others

NB. The background is inserted by us as a development of the model.

Round table discussion• Use your post-it notes

• How do your ‘training priorities’ for new mentors relate to this conceptualisation of practice?

• Take the sample of quotes – discuss them in relation to the model

• To what extent might this conceptualisation of mentoring explain experiences, constraints and affordances in coaching?

• Can the model help us to support the development of enhanced mentoring practices associated with ITT in the ‘self-improving school led system’?

When it started off it was like my mentor being sort of the leader of it and slowly that responsibility’s got switched over to me , so it’s me more bringing up my issues and discussing how I can sort of learn from it rather than it being very sort of directed in a way

time spent getting to know the student, providing any support they might need or making sure they feel a part of the school and department (questionnaire)

My weekly hour mentor meetings have proved invaluable in terms of my progression rate as it is this dialogue that has bought on my confidence and allowed my mentor to talk of her past experiences which I can relate to.

You’re being mentored by the whole department actually. I’ve found it hugely supportive.

I don’t think anyone’s told me I haven’t done anything right and I’m not like the best teacher in the world. They would say something like ‘can I just point something out’ or ‘I don’t think you should have done that that way, but I can see why you’ve done it, I don’t think you should have done that that way, but on the other hand this was a really good strategy’. They would always come up with something that was good so I wouldn’t come out of the meeting going oh that was horrible

If it’s a non -head of department sometimes they’re a bit nicer, a bit more gentle and say lots of positive things. Whereas I think the other ones are more constructive, but it’s a minor thing.

They ask a lot of questions though as well to provoke you to think, so if they don’t agree with something they’ll ask a question and provoke you to think about it and then you sort of come to their idea and think yeah I know what you mean

If you’re going to do anything properly then you’re going to have to have the time to do it, so times a big thing as well as having the right people

As a mentor I would want to feel that both myself and the student have worked together in order to produce the best teaching experience for the student.

it’s more like an on-going conversation really that kind of reflective practice that goes on between the 2 of them (mentor and student).

I think it’s quite nice for ITT students to work with people who aren’t much older than them who have a real empathy for their situation and for where they are and can remember what it felt like. Quite a lot of our mentors are third to fifth year teachers who are very good who have good people skills, good interpersonal skills

You need time, you need resources, you need support because it’s a very challenging role because of the nature of who you’re working with

Onerous nature of paperwork trail: time is sometimes diverted into this rather than genuinely useful discussion about progress and reflection

It can be the most brilliant responsibility to have being a subject mentor when things are going well, but it can be very very emotionally draining when people aren’t making any progress, when you’re making suggestions and nobody’s taking any notice and you’re having to have some quite difficult and sensitive conversations

The attitude of students can be difficult, if they are set in their ways and not willing to take advice or reflect upon their teaching it can make mentoring difficult.

I would say that I’ve obviously had my subject mentor and we’ve had the meetings every week and in certain situations we didn’t always see eye-to-eye but I think it was more of a personality thing than a professional thing if you see what I mean, so sometimes it was kind of difficult for me to kind of go them.

In my own experience when correctly matched the student teacher finds it easier to voice concerns and problems therefore creating open, substantive discussion rather than closed conversation. Thus within their teaching practice progression maybe developed at a faster rate with a good focus on subject pedagogy

My mentor was slightly different, he’s a head of department so he’s slightly more busier, a bit harder to get a hold of, but if you do manage to catch him he’s always happy to hear of any problems…. he didn’t want me to feel neglected but he was already seeing me as part of the team and I could always go to other members of the department and that was no problem as well

And when they’re judging you and you’re getting disheartened about things you’ve done, they’re not requirements of an actual PGCE student, they’re requirements of a [school name] teacher and their policies and procedures.

it was a complete clash of personalities basically so all the questions you would describe as direct or abrupt I took as negative because it was very much like ‘how could you have done this better?’ I took the ‘how could you have done this better?’ to mean this was crap, so it was very much negative. That was how I took it

Quotes from focus groups, questionnaires, interviews and assignmentsRed = PGCE Students, Green = Professional Tutors, Purple = Subject Mentors