Mentoring -
much more than a chat between colleagues

Mentoring is a professional learning strategy widely used in AGQTP projects designed to support new scheme teachers in meeting the professional teaching standards of the NSW Institute of Teachers at the key stage of Professional Competence. The mentor, usually a person recognised by his or her peers as an experienced and accomplished teacher, guides and supports new scheme teacher mentees through the early stages of their career.

Schools across the government, catholic and independent education sectors in NSW are currently utilising a range of mentoring models, from quite structured approaches to those that are more informal. This range of approaches is illustrated by the three schools featured in this newsletter. In 2006, De La Salle College at Caringbah used a one-on-one mentor/mentee formula to support two new scheme teachers in working towards Professional Competence, while in Dubbo, two new scheme teachers at Macquarie Anglican College worked with the one mentor. To access the ideas, strategies and resources developed by the schools involved in this project, visit the Taking professional standards into practice website. The URL is www.qtp.nsw.edu.au/tpsip.

At Merrylands East Public School, school leaders steered away from a formal one-on-one or one-to-two arrangement to better accommodate the large number of new scheme teachers at the school. Instead, these teachers worked with whoever of the three designated mentors had the experience and skills best suited to address the particular situation or challenge being faced. A common feature of the three approaches was that the mentor/mentee relationship was one that was clearly structured and recognised by the school and its organisational frameworks. Even within the informal approach, new scheme teachers knew who to go to for different needs, thus allowing the mentors to spread their expertise and respond to specific needs.

Another feature of the three approaches was that all established active, two-way relationships between mentor and mentee that were characterised by openness and equality. This allowed for frank discussion and exchange of ideas without the relationship being clouded by issues of authority and power, as can happen in a supervision relationship.

Mutual professional learning was also an integral part of the mentoring relationship. Mentors experienced a sense of satisfaction in being able to share their knowledge and expertise. Working with the new scheme teachers redirected mentors focus onto what was important in a classroom, and what constitutes effective practice in terms of professional teaching standards. Effective mentoring programs are much more than opportunities to chat with colleagues: they promote collegial learning, a cross-fertilisation of ideas, experimentation, critical reflection on student learning and improvement in teaching practice.