MENTORING HANDBOOK
2010-11
LEARNING SKILLS PROGRAMMES
CONTENTS
PAGE3 / Quick summary for Mentors and Mentees
4 / Using this Handbook
6 / Background to Mentoring
7 / The Wider Picture – who should be a Mentor
9 / Expectations of the Mentor
11 / Problems and Issues
11 / Observations and Feedback
15 / Subject Specific Support for Mentee: Culture, Development and Pedagogy
16 / Structure of the Programme
19 / Suggested Mentor Programme
24 / Bibliography
25 / Appendix
QUICK SUMMARY OF ESSENTIAL INFORMATION FOR MENTORS AND MENTEES
1. MENTORS
· Please send your Mentor Agreement and CV (PT6 in Appendix) to UWE (c/o Part-time Programmes Administration, Department of Education) as soon as possible if you have not already done so.
· First establish ground rules, ways of working, who does what, dates for observations and tutorials with your Mentee. A suggested programme is on pp.18-21.
· Your main role is to offer your Mentee subject-specific guidance and support.
· You are asked to do 2 formal observations per year, using the forms in the Appendix (FTPT9, 10 and 11), followed by tutorials. Prompts for these discussions are on pp. 28-29.
· If you judge your Mentee to be unsatisfactory in any of the LLUK domains on form FTPT11 (the Structured Feedback form) you must alert the University Tutor (UT) immediately (as should your Mentee). Action planning and support will be offered.
· Please do 2 additional tutorials i.e 4 altogether per year. Your Mentee should record these on the Tutorial Record Form (PT5) in Appendix.
· At each meeting please ask to see your Mentee’s Teaching File and Professional Development Record. After discussion sign them off on the Record of Visits form which your Mentee will provide.
· At the end of the year, complete a First or Final Summary Report on form PT12/13 (Appendix) and hand to/discuss with the University Tutor. A pass/fail recommendation is required here. The final decision is taken by the UT.
· Aim to meet with the UT when they visit your Mentee, to discuss their progress.
· You will be invited to attend a Mentor Training session and we strongly urge you to attend.
· If you have any concerns or questions do not hesitate to get in touch with the UT or the Programme Leaders.
· You should have time to carry out this role – colleges are aware of the need for good mentoring. Please notify the Programme Leaders if adequate provision is not made by your employer to enable you to carry out this role.
2. MENTEES
· Your Mentor is an essential part of the support system in your training and is there essentially to offer subject specific support, although s/he will often be able to provide other more general types of mentoring.
· You choose your Mentor – see guidance on this in Section 2. The Mentor should be in the same teaching area as you, be experienced and qualified as a teacher.
· Ensure your Mentor sends the required details to UWE on forms PT6 in Appendix as soon as possible.
· This is your course, so you should take responsibility for managing most of the paperwork, scheduling meetings etc. However you will need to meet your Mentor at an early stage in the year to discuss how best to do this.
· You need 2 formal observations by your Mentor per year, with feedback provided on the appropriate forms (Appendix forms PT9, 10 and 11) and followed up by a tutorial in each case.
· If your Mentor judges your teaching to be unsatisfactory in any of the LLUK domains (on form FTPT11, the Structured Feedback form) you must alert your UT immediately. Support will be offered and an action plan will be put into place.
· You need at least 2 additional formally scheduled tutorials with your Mentor per year (i.e. 4 altogether), and you must record the discussions and action planning of all 4 tutorials on form PT5 (Appendix). Guidance on topics for discussion is provided on pp. 28-29 and a programme for observations and tutorials is on pp. 18-21.
· Your Mentor may need to be prompted at the end of the year to write the Summary Report (see Appendix) and hand it to/discuss it with your UT.
· Your Mentor will need to make a recommendation on pass/fail but it is the decision of the UT and procedures are in place if there are any discrepancies.
· If you have any problems or concerns please talk in the first instance to your UT or otherwise to the Programme Leader.
MENTORS
Thank you for agreeing to take on the role of Mentor for your colleague, who is working towards a teaching qualification with UWE. This mentor handbook explains the importance of this role, what is expected of a Mentor, the essential information you will need to carry out this role, the structure of the programme and who to contact for further information.
What to do when you receive this Handbook
Please complete and return the Mentor Agreement and CV forms (in Appendix) to us as soon as possible, keeping a copy for yourself. We need to keep in touch with you, so please let us know immediately of any change in your contact details, or if for any reason you need to withdraw from the mentor role or hand on the role to someone else.
The course
The course your Mentee is following leads either to a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (Learning and Skills) or to a Certificate in Education (Learning and Skills) and normally runs over two years. It includes two practical teaching modules, one in each year. These are GMV Practical Teaching 1 for which 50 hours of teaching must be logged by the trainee, and GMY Practical Teaching 2 for which 100 hours of teaching must be logged by the trainee. For an outline of the way these modules fit into the whole course, please see Section 6. Some trainees are exempt from the first practical teaching module because of a previous teaching qualification. As Mentor, you will primarily be involved in supporting your Mentee for these practical teaching modules, although we hope that you will be able also to provide support in other areas (see Section 6.1).
Using this Handbook
Please read this handbook carefully. The first part outlines the role of the Mentor and provides detailed guidance on observations, tutorials etc. The forms you will need are all in the Appendix. Please photocopy them as necessary. Forms are also available without login from the UWE website: http://www1.uwe.ac.uk/ssh/education/partnershipinfo/partnershipdocumentation.aspx
Contact details for staff at UWE :
Sue Cullimore (Co-Programme Leader, Learning and Skills Awards)
Tel. 0117 328 4112
Jacquie Rogers (Co-Programme Leader, Learning and Skills Awards)
Tel. 0117 328 4235
Maite Olavera (Administrative Officer)
Tel. 0117 328 4119
Sian Maher (Administrative Assistant)
Tel. 0117 328 4194
Mentee’s University Tutor – name/contact details……………………………………….
Department of Education, UWE Bristol, Frenchay Campus, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol BS16 1QY Tel. 0117 9656261 (General number)
Electronic access to this handbook, award handbook and all forms :
www.uwe.ac.uk /UWE schools/Education/Partnership/Partnership Documentation Pages/Inservice: Learning and Skills
1. Background
1.1 Why is your role as Mentor important?
The government has reorganised teacher training for the Learning & Skills Sector. There is now a universal expectation in the sector that all in-service as well as pre-service trainee teachers work with a mentor in the workplace and receive subject-related support.
We are aware of the different organisations that comprise the Learning & Skills Sector, so all our suggestions for implementing and developing the role of Mentor are made on the understanding that they will have to be adapted to suit these different circumstances.
1.2 What is a Mentor?
In Greek mythology, Mentor was the trusted friend of Odysseus to whom he entrusted his son Telemachus when he went to fight in the Trojan wars. He was a friend, guardian and teacher who offered wisdom and support to the young boy. This is where the word mentor comes from.
In this context, mentoring is:
primarily about transition – about helping someone to move from one stage to another… about supporting someone through the transition from one stage of professional development to another.
(Wallace and Gravells 2007:15)
1.3 The Role of Mentor
The main purpose of a Mentor in this context is to help the Mentee to develop their subject specific teaching skills. However there are other, wider notions around the role of the Mentor, which are discussed in detail in the literature (see Bibliography). The following diagram illustrates one mentoring model. The area within the diamond shape is considered to encompass the central roles of the Mentor, but it recognises that the Mentor will sometimes need to operate outside these boundaries, for example occasionally acting as coach or counsellor to the Mentee.
2. The wider picture
2.1 Who should be a Mentor?
We would like the Mentor to have the following characteristics:
· A subject specialist experienced and qualified in the same field as the Mentee.
· An experienced and qualified teacher or trainer willing to support and promote the Mentee’s insights and skills in relevant aspects of professional practice in their subject
· Interested in issues in teaching and learning in their subject
· Committed to improving the quality of teaching and learning in their subject
· Able to offer and receive constructive feedback in a sensitive and appropriate manner
2.2 Who does what?
· The trainee will initiate the process of selecting a Mentor.
· It is the responsibility of the trainee to gain the written agreement of their line manager who would be asked to confirm that the proposed Mentor was suitable and available, and that appropriate time will be allocated for the role.
· The Mentor is asked to provide the university with brief details of their qualifications, experience and current role in the institution.
· Every Mentor is expected to attend a Mentor Development session provided by staff from UWE or trained staff at your institution.
· The Mentor should not normally be the trainee’s line manager, the PGCE/Cert. Ed. tutor within the institution or a member of staff responsible for staff appraisal of the trainee, unless there is no alternative (see guidelines below).
· Institutions might consider building up a “bank” of experienced Mentors who could support new Mentors and who could provide cover in cases of difficulty e.g. where a Mentor leaves or is absent for long periods.
· The university recognises that there will always remain a possibility of Mentors proving to need professional development.
· The role of Mentor for this Programme should not be the same as that for probation or initial workplace development, where that Mentor is making decisions about whether staff are suitable for continued employment.
· The Mentor should not be a fellow course member or trainee.
· Colleges may wish to use Advanced Practitioners as Mentors. However, other suitably qualified and experienced staff may be as well or better equipped to take on this role.
· We would encourage colleges to support their staff in developing their expertise as Mentors, for example by linking it specifically with CPD requirements.
2.3 What mentorship arrangements are acceptable?
The trainee must satisfy the programme team on admission that they have arranged suitable mentor support. These arrangements will be monitored by the University Tutor on routine visits. The list below offers, in order of preference, what we would regard as potentially acceptable mentorship arrangements.
1. An experienced and qualified subject specialist teacher capable of offering support in the same general area as the trainee at the same establishment.
2. As above, but where the experienced and qualified member of staff acting as Mentor does not have the detailed subject specific expertise required for the role. In this case another member of staff works with the Mentor to provide subject specific support. Half of any observations would then be done by the Mentor and the other by the subject specialist, coordinated by the Mentor. The Mentor must be satisfied that adequate feedback and subject support is given. Observation feedback forms must be shared with the Mentor.
3. As above but where no subject specialist exists in the institution who could work with the Mentor to provide support for the trainee: a colleague in the same specialist area from another institution carries out the subject support role.
4. Where no subject specialist is available either in the trainee’s own institution or in another locally, the Mentor may be an appropriately experienced and qualified teacher who will undertake to oversee the trainee’s independent subject development. The trainee would need to present to Mentor and University Tutor evidence of ongoing subject development e.g. by web based research, attendance at subject updating conferences, awarding body events etc. The trainee must arrange to undertake at least one observation of an experienced teacher in their subject area in a different institution.
3. Mentoring
3.1 What will be expected of the Mentor?
The amount of time actually committed to the role depends largely on the needs of the Mentee and how much time you both agree to devote to meeting these needs. Discussion between Mentor and Mentee will normally be confidential unless there is a mutual agreement that matters can be discussed more widely. A suggested mentor programme for the year is given in Section 7.
A Mentor will be expected to:
· undertake Mentor training where applicable and available
· carry out two formal teaching observations of the Mentee per practical teaching module (this normally means at least twice a year) at times agreed with their Mentee. Give constructive, developmental feedback on the Mentee’s performance. See Appendix for the 2 observation proformas needed for each formal observation. Your Mentee should arrange with you for at least one observation over the two years to be a co-observation with the University Tutor.
· at each observation ensure the mentee provides you with their Teaching File and Professional Development Record (PDR) for discussion. You will need to sign these off at each formal observation on the Record of Visits form your mentee will give you. The Teaching File will include their session plan for the current session and previous session plans, self appraisals and feedback from yourself and the university tutor. This is how you stay in touch with the mentee’s progress and is very important. See Appendix for list of contents of Teaching File, PDR, Session Plan Pro forma and Record of Visits form.