Initial Teacher Training Programme (FE and Skills Sector)

The University of Warwick

Subject Mentor’s Handbook

2014-15

Improving trainees’ teaching skills

Modelling good practice in teaching

Providing high-quality coaching and mentoring

Enhancing subject and curriculum knowledge

1 / Subject Mentor’s Handbook July 2014-15

Welcome and Introduction

Thank you for taking on the role of subject specialist mentor for a trainee teacher on the University of Warwick’s programme of Initial Teacher Training (ITT). Within the Warwick partnership, we aim to train teachers who will set themselves high standards and continually aim to improve their skills and understanding. We recognise that our trainees will all begin at different starting points so we aim to work with individuals to develop the skills they have and raise awareness in them of their potential. We have ambitious expectations of our trainees and with your help and support we are aiming to enable trainees to become good or outstanding teachers.

Good luck with your mentoring – we hope you enjoy the experience too!

Ellen Buttler – Director for Initial Teacher Training (FE)

024 76151297

The information in this handbook is divided into four sections to help you find what you want quickly:

Quick checklist of the mentor’s role and useful formsp 3
The mentor’s rolep 4
The teacher training programme of your menteep 5
What you need to do and what you need to know nowp 6
All the forms you needp 15

Contact Details
Web support for mentors:
Your mentee:
Name
Email
Telephone
The Programme Manager or Course Tutor at college of your mentee:
Name(s)
Email
Telephone

Quick checklist of the mentor’s tasks

tick
Attend college meeting for mentors (as appropriate)
Read mentor handbook and visit the mentor website
Sign the mentor – mentee agreement form (Appendix 3)
One observation of the menteeeach year (one hour)plus feedback report (Appendix 2)
Regular meetings with mentee
Contribute to record of mentee meetings (Appendix 4)
Keeping in touch with course tutor
Complete the on-line initial mentor questionnaire - skills and experiences

Complete on line mentor evaluation

Engage in professional dialogue with the mentee at the end of programme, completing the final evaluation to capture experiences (Appendix 5)

Useful Documents and Forms

All the forms you need can be found as appendices to this document they are:

Observation Report Form / Appendix 2
Ofsted Descriptors & Professional Standards / Appendix 1a & b
Observation Pro-forma / Appendix 2
Mentoring Agreement / Appendix 3
record of Mentoring / Appendix 4
End of Programme Evaluation – Professional Dialogue / Appendix 5

Part 1.About the role of a subject mentor

What’s the job of a subject mentor? He or she is a critical friend, a role model for a teacher, a subject specific coach, someone who can facilitate, make links to useful other people and arrange for things to happen because they know the ropes. S/he will also be able to give constructive and supportive critical feedback to the trainee[1] about the teaching of their subject specialism.

The Programme Manager at the University or college will be your link to the programme itself.

What makes a good mentor?

Some suggestedmentor attributes make the mentoring experience good for both parties:

Good listening skills
Being able to put yourself in the trainee’s place – and empathise
Giving space to make mistakes sometimes
Giving encouragement to try new techniques and praise for real achievements
Challenging the thinking of the trainee
Giving constructive feedback

This is a professional relationship; the Mentoring Agreement (in Part 4) sets out what you should both be expected to do or not do and we are realistic about the amount of time which any mentor may have to give to a new teacher.

OFSTED see the role of the mentor as a critical part of the trainee’s training. They are looking for subject specific mentoring that:

is provided by experienced and expert mentors and as such we would respectfully ask that you complete the initial mentor questionnaire which can be located here:

responds to trainees’ specific training needs, including enhancing subject and curriculum knowledge
improves trainees’ teaching skills
models good practice in teaching
provides high-quality coaching and mentoring to enhance trainees’ professional development

They also expect mentors and trainers to work together collaboratively to meet the needs of the trainee.

Finally, your experiences are important to us and we would be grateful if you would provide us with feedback though the on-line survey located below and through professional dialogue with your mentee at the end of programme.

Thank you

Part 2. The Initial Teacher Training programme

The University of Warwick offers initial teacher training programmes for would-be and practising teachers working in the FE and Skills Sector. Trainees can either take the certificate or diploma qualification. In addition English, mathsand teachers of disabled learners can take subject specific diploma and additional diploma programmes. All these courses are part-time and most trainees are already in employment as teachers, trainers or instructors. Some may even be working full-time and as such may face challenges as they undertake their programmes.

You can find a copy of the Student Handbook and the Professional Development Portfolioon the mentor website.

Trainees’ teaching practice

Think of the course as two parallel lines. The top line represents the course and coursework: five assignments in Year 1, four assignments in year 2 or three assignments on the subject specialist diploma programmes.

The lower line represents professional development as a teacher which is where your knowledge, skills and enthusiasm can make a huge difference to a trainee teacher. Trainees are expected to teach for a minimum of 50 hours of each year of the programme . Your role as mentor is to support the trainee’s teaching of their specialist subject and to help them extend their teaching skills.

During a two year course the teacher trainer will carry outat least six observations. Your part in this process is to observe your mentee twice on the two year programme; once in each year of the programme for a minimum of one hour. (If more beneficial to the trainee this can be split to two half hour observations in each year but no observation should be less than 30 minutes.) Usually the mentor will undertake the second or third observation in each year.

Keep in touch

It is vital that everyone working with the trainee is aware of what is happening so please keep in touch with course tutors! Your trainee’s Professional Development Portfolio (holding a range of evidence about their developing teaching skills)is a key document to help with this, so make sure that you see it regularly.

Part 3. What are you responsible for doing?

We ask you to:

get to know as much as possible about your trainee and his/her work and the learners involved
see yourself as a supportive but critical friend
decide on their experience levelso that you can negotiate the level and amount of support they may need
develop a relationship with the trainee so you are aware of their individual needs.

consider the teaching the trainee has to do in any one week to make a judgement about the relative demands of each group and the challenge your trainee is facing.
discuss with the trainee whether the following are appropriate, relevant, and of good quality: the scheme of work/ILPs; the lesson planning; resources used; progress made by learners in taught sessions; marking of learners’ work

look at your trainee’s paperwork or course management files. Trainees will benefit from developing good organisational skills which prevent problems building up later.
develop your trainee’s ability to self-evaluate their teaching

discuss sessions taught which have gone well and those which have not
help trainees to make connections between the causes of good and bad sessions
help trainees to regularly identify what learning has taken place in a session and how this was measured
discuss how sessions could be improved (when appropriate)

further the trainee’s understanding of their learners’ needs:

discuss differentiation for specific learners
enable the trainee to get the learner’s perspective on their teaching

push forward your trainee’s professional development by:

encouraging the trainee to widen his or her experience of teaching different levels, groups and contexts

encouraging them to be innovative and take risks
reviewing success in the above
action planning future development in small ways and by setting achievabletargets.

How long will this take?

Ideally meeting for fifteen minutes a week can be most effective but you may need to make different arrangements that suit both you and your trainee. Decide with the trainee what you will do in that time so you both know what to prepare for the meeting. Over the course of a year, this may build up to approximately 10 hours depending on your trainee’s skills and confidence. If meeting each week is not possible, perhaps you could arrange to hold your meeting over the telephone or using Skype.

How do I know whether my trainee has reached an appropriate standard of work?

The programme takes a developmental approach to bringing on the teaching skills of the trainee. Whatever their starting-point, they should be improving as the course progresses. You should expect your mentee to bring his or her Teaching Observation Filewith them when they talk to you so that you can see the observation reports completed by other observers. The ‘Agreed areas for development’ section at the end will identify areas where your mentee needs to improve his/her teaching skills.

The descriptors for the different standards of teaching (Appendix 1a) and the Professional Standards for Teachers and Trainers in Education and Training - England(Appendix 1b) will both help you to see what is expected as an appropriate standard. The partnership programme is committed to helping trainees to become good or outstanding teachers by the end of their course.

Observations

As stated previously you will complete at least two observations (one in each year) using the same Observation Report Formas the teacher trainer (Appendix 2). Your trainee will have a Teaching Observation File which holds all the observation reports. Usually the mentor observation is the second or third one so please look at the previous observation reports before you carry out your observation so that you can follow up any areas for development from the last observation. Similarly areas for development which you record will be followed up at the next observation.

Record of Mentoring

Pleasesign the mentoring agreement (Appendix 3) and encourage the trainee to maintain the Record of Mentoring (Appendix 4) as a means of tracking your meetings with them, although it is the trainee’s responsibility to do this. Some trainees will have an electronic portfolio (e-PDP), and you will be given access to this page.

If at any time, you have any major concerns about your trainee’s teaching please consult the Programme Manager.

You might find it useful to use this checklist at points during your mentoring discussions:

Subject knowledge: what level does the trainee have?
Understanding learners’ needs: differentiation between learners
Planning: long and short-term
Delivery and resources
Managing the learning
Assessment
Evaluation and Reflection
Managing classroom or workshop behaviour
Equality and Diversity issues
Motivating learners
ILT skills of the trainee

Each one of the above list is an important part of the teacher’s role. Whilst you are talking to your trainee, try to assess his or her level of understanding about what is appropriate within your subject area on each of these topics then use this to set the next target.

What if things go wrong?

For a few trainees, teaching practice does not have a successful outcome. Should your trainee be one of these, you will be involved in the discussion about whether this trainee should fail their teaching practice or not. The teacher training team, will have evidence which you should look at. Your opinion of the trainee and his/her teaching will be evidence to be considered by the Programme Manager. It will be important at this stage that you have evidence of the trainee’s commitment and achievements so keep some notes for yourself

Finally thank you for giving your time and energy to be a mentor and for sharing your skills, knowledge and experience with your mentee.

1 / Subject Mentor’s Handbook July 2014-15

Characteristics of an outstanding teacher. / Characteristics of a good teacher / Characteristics of a competent teacher / Characteristics of an Inadequate teacher
The very large majority of learners consistently make very good progress / Learners make good progress / Learners make progress but there are weaknesses in learning and assessment / Learners or groups of learners are making inadequate progress and have been unsuccessful in attaining their learning goals
Consistently high expectations of all learners / High expectations of all learners / Expectations of learners enable most of them to work hard and achieve satisfactorily / Does not have sufficiently high expectations of learners
Highly adept at working with and developing skills and knowledge in learners from different backgrounds / Able to develop the learners’ skills and knowledge regardless of background / Able to work with and develop skills and knowledge in learners from different backgrounds satisfactorily / Not able to work effectively with learners from different backgrounds
Excellent subject knowledge and/or industry experience / Well-developed subject specialist skills and expertise / Satisfactory subject specialist skills / Lacks expertise and the ability to promote learning
Planning and the setting of challenging tasks are based on systematic and accurate assessment of learners’ prior skills, knowledge and understanding / Plan effectively and set challenging tasks based on assessment of prior skills, knowledge and understanding / Careful initial and on-going assessment of learners’ progress takes place but is not always conducted rigorously enough, which may result in some unnecessary repetition of work for learners and less effective planning / Poor initial and on-going assessment of learners’ progress which leads to ineffective planning.
Well judged and imaginative teaching strategies that meet individual needs / Effective teaching, learning and assessment strategies match most learners individual needs / Teaching strategies ensure that learners’ individual needs are usually met / Poor teaching strategies mean that learners’ needs are not met
High levels of enthusiasm for participation in and commitment to learning are evident / Enthuse and motivate most learners to participate in a wide range of learning activities / Most learners are motivated to engage with a range of learning activities. / Teaching fails to excite, enthuse, engage or motivate particular groups of learners, including those with LD and or D.
High levels of confidence and independence in learners are developed when they tackle challenging activities / Teaching generally develops learners’ confidence and independence when tackling challenging activities / Teaching enables some learners to develop confidence to work independently with some challenging activities / Teaching does not result in learners working confidently and independently because activities do not challenge
L earners’ understanding is effectively checked throughout learning sessions, / Listen perceptively to, carefully observe and skillfully question learners during learning sessions / Learners’ work is monitored and appropriate tasks set and plans are adjusted to support learning; occasionally these adjustments are not timely and this slows learning for some learners / Little or no checking of understanding throughout the session
The teaching of learners’ Eng, maths and functional skills is consistently good with much outstanding. / Learners’ literacy and numeracy skills are developed / There is some development of Eng, maths and functional skills but some opportunities have been missed. / Teaching of Eng, maths and FS is inadequate; significant proportion of learners do not get appropriate support to address these needs.
High quality learning materials and resources including ICT, are used during and between taught sessions / Good use of resources, including ICT contribute well to learners’ progress / Available resources are used well / Learning activities and resources are not sufficiently well matched to the needs of learners so inadequate progress is made.
High standards of marking and constructive feedback are frequently used and lead to high levels of engagement and interest / Learners’ progress is assessed regularly and accurately and discuss assessments with them so that learners know how well they have done and what they need to do to improve / Learners are informed about the progress they are making and how to improve further through marking and dialogue with staff that is usually timely and encouraging so most learners want to work hard and improve / Poor feedback does not specify how learners can improve or what progress they are making which leads to a lack of motivation
Equality and diversity are integrated fully into the learning experience / Equality and diversity are promoted, although some work is still needed to integrate aspects of diversity and equality into learning fully / The promotion of equality and support for diversity in teaching and learning is satisfactory / Equality and diversity are insufficiently promoted in teaching sessions.
Learners’ behaviour is managed skillfully / Learners’ behaviour is well managed / Learners’ behaviour is managed satisfactorily. / Student behaviour is poorly managed
Advice, guidance and support motivate learners to secure best possible opportunities for success in their learning and progression / Advice, guidance and support provide good opportunities for learners to be motivated & make the connection between learning & successful progression / Advice guidance and support help to motivate learners to succeed in their learning and progress / Poor advice and guidance leads to learners not making the connection between learning and successful progression
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Appendix 1b- Professional Standards for Teachers and Trainers in Education and Training (England)