The government is considering asking mentors to spend more time in the classroom with trainee and new teachers.
The Department for Education is currently developing an “early-career framework” that will support new and trainee teachers, following its decision to lengthen the induction period new recruits go through.
But ITT experts said mentors would not be able to take a more hands-on role unless timetables and resources enable them to do so.
Gareth Conyard, the deputy director of the DfE’s teacher workforce development team, said mentoring will be “central” to the government’s new early career framework.
Mentors already spend some of their time in the classroom with trainee and new teachers, but the amount of time they spend on that aspect of their work is being reassessed.
The department is currently considering whether “having a mentor sit in with” trainees in class would be more beneficial than theory-based training, Conyard told delegates at a Westminster Education Forum event.
He said having mentors “sit in” and observe trainees while they manage a class had been suggested as “more effective practice” than simply teaching theory and letting trainees “go off and do a course”.
Aly Spencer, head of initial teacher training at Fylde Coast Teaching School Alliance in Blackpool, said the mentor or tutor role would need to be redefined in order to be effective.
“That role needs to be crucial – as important as data for the school,” she said.
The mentor needs to be able to sit in lessons, particularly “at the front, watching the children” rather than intimidating the trainee.
To ensure these mentors have the maximum impact for trainees, schools must make sure they have both the time and the “emotional intelligence” for the job.
Sam Twiselton, the director of the Sheffield Institute of Education at Sheffield Hallam University, added that the proposals for an early-career framework could be a “game-changer”, but not without careful planning.
“Without the time and resources where necessary, please don’t bother,” she said.
What does this mean? Mentors are already in the classroom. Most providers do this. Does it mean a provider mentor? That’s obviously not possible which is why every school based trainee has a school based mentor. Who stays in the classroom until the trainee is ready.
My son’s school is rolling out this programme and I understand that his school is doing this differently. Rather than class-room based mentoring, his teachers have been relieved of lessons from their timetable, and these lessons are going to be covered not by trained teachers or subject specialists, but by cover supervisors, HTLAs or outside agency staff, in the case of day to day teacher/staff absences.
I am concerned that the programme running this way will rob my son of valuable learning time. As it is, I fear he will be losing many hours of active teaching.
I understand that schools need to attract and retain teachers in the profession, but I believe the DFe is giving head teachers too much flexibility in how they fill the timetable gaps created when mentors and mentees participate in the programme. Worst, parents are not being informed, as in our case.
I only learned about this when a member of staff from his school mentioned it to me. She says that she was offered an opportunity to mentor, but turned it down because she cannot see how this will not affect learning and achievement across her lessons and the school.
Can someone explain the conditions ( if there are any) that a school must meet to be accepted on to the teacher mentoring programme? Has anyone else heard of this or has a child that goes to a secondary school enrolled on the programme?