Professor Rachel Lofthouse, Professor of Teacher Education and Director of CollectivED The Centre for Mentoring, Coaching and Professional Learning at Leeds Beckett University, explores the importance of mentoring in schools and poses some questions to help educators develop effective practices for sustained personalised professional learning.

Reflect back: what mentoring have you received or given?

When were you last mentored over a sustained period? Who gave you their time and attention? How was your professional practice shaped through focusing on details and contexts particular to you? Which aspects of being mentored do you remember with appreciation? Were there any causes of frustration?

Many teachers have only been formally mentored as a student or trainee teacher and as an NQT. It was essential then because mentoring enabled workplace learning. At this career stage, schools are workplaces that are strangely familiar from the trainee’s time as a pupil, but that soon throw up unfamiliar challenges as they became teachers. 

Stephen Billett (2011) draws our attention to the three key goals of workplace learning: knowing that the worker wants to be in that role, acquiring the initial skills needed in that role and developing relevant competencies for future workplace learning. In the case of student teachers, this would suggest that we need to firstly ensure that teaching is the student teacher’s desired goal; assuming that it is, we then need to help them to identify prospective specific career interests. We should also offer the support that student teachers need to help them to gain key occupational capacities; in other words, learning the skills needed to do the job as they enter the profession. Finally, workplace learning for student teachers should allow them as a new entrant into the profession to develop occupational competencies that they will need for future professional learning, ensuring that they have the skills needed to keep developing to meet future challenges.  

Be in the present: how does or could mentoring help you now?

What are you currently grappling with that you feel is just outside of your skillset? What gaps are you aware of in your knowledge base and how do you plan to remedy this? Who are you currently talking to and working with closely? Does this relationship have qualities of mentoring? Do you tend to take either a mentee or mentor stance? 

The training and induction period for teachers is relatively short and even with the new Early Career Framework (ECF), mentoring is still prioritised at the start of a teacher’s career. But if we recognise mentoring as a scaffolding practice for workplace learning, and if we remember that every year teachers face new challenges and take up new opportunities, then it is worth reflecting on the positive difference that mentoring in schools might make to teachers throughout their career.  

Through my research I have developed a model of professional learning (Lofthouse, 2018) which positions mentoring as one form of professional development practice. The model proposes that mentoring in schools can have most impact when the mentoring participants work with a sense of solidarity towards shared goals, take full account of the authentic realities of the school context, and are encouraged to be creative in developing approaches to practice. 

Think ahead: how could mentoring be developed in your school?

Would there be value in developing mentoring approaches that extend beyond current provision in your school? How might mentoring be enhanced to allow for sustained personalised professional learning? What capacity for growth might be generated through greater mentoring engagement? 

While all teachers and school leaders are rightly keen to address issues of workload, there are some important questions to ask about how we make the very best use of the resources available to us. Staffing is by far the greatest budgetary cost in a school and managing timetables and deployment time is a challenge. Adding additional engagement with sustained mentoring to those workloads and costs may seem unreasonable. But just flip that for a minute. Staffing is also the biggest resource that schools have; potential resides in each individual, as does expertise. 

My model is now known as the CoG Model of Professional Learning (Lofthouse, 2020). If we put mentoring at the heart of the model, we must ask ourselves, “Is mentoring helping us to learn and develop or has it just created more busy work?” CoG stands for Cycles of Growth; mentoring should enable learning to be cumulative, and new and effective practices to be generated. 

If we think ahead to developing more mentoring, we do so in the belief that it will trigger professional learning and thus change professional practices and behaviours. My research suggests extending mentoring could help to create schools where teachers and leaders are able to articulate their ideas and share their achievements through multiple internal and external networks. It can also reassure professionals that as they are always learning, it is OK to ask for both support and critique. This helps to open up access to new ideas and ensures that ideas and evidence are reviewed with an informed perspective. 

If mentoring is effective, professionals at all career stages learn to accept critique which is given in a generous spirit, and know that they can offer the same to others. Building this into the fabric of the workplace allows teachers and leaders to meet the challenges of their work by allowing their professional repertoires and expertise to expand, so that their schools become more effective in creating successful education for all. 

The take-away…

Being a mentor can share characteristics with Cinderella. It offers little glamour in professional lives and often happens behind the scenes, but it is essential. I lead a research and practice centre at Leeds Beckett University called CollectivED and we believe that both being mentored and offering mentoring can make a difference throughout professional lifespans (hence our use of the hashtag #MentorsMatter). The schools’ workforce is diverse and its challenges are significant, but the opportunities to make a real difference through education are real. As teachers and school leaders, it is important to know what can make that difference, and while we acknowledge that no single strategy fits all, there is a lot to be said for developing approaches which sustain personalised professional learning. Mentoring can support this.  

References 

• Billett, S. (2011) Workplace curriculum: practice and propositions, in Dorchy, F. and Gijbels, D. (Eds), Theories of Learning for the Workplace, Routledge, London, pp. 17-36. 
• Lofthouse, R. (2018) Re-imagining mentoring as a dynamic hub in the transformation of initial teacher education: The role of mentors and teacher educators, International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMCE-042017-0033. Available as open access document at http://eprints.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/5262/1/ReImaginingMentoringasaDynamicHubAMLOFTHOUSE.pdf
• Lofthouse, R. (2020) Creating and Engine Room for Learning, Carnegie School of Education Blog, https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/11/creating-an-engine-room-for-learning/

A former secondary school teacher, Rachel Lofthouse is now Professor of Teacher Education and Director of CollectivED The Centre for Mentoring, Coaching and Professional Learning at Leeds Beckett University. You can contact Rachel via email and follow her on Twitter @DrRLofthouse / @CollectivED1. Free working papers are available via the CollectiveED website.  

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NACE coaching and mentoring services

NACE offers coaching and mentoring services to support school leaders and practitioners at all career stages, helping to develop a wider culture of coaching and mentoring across the school. These services can be provided remotely or on-site, and are tailored to the meet the needs of each individual and organisational context. Find out more.

Identifying gaps in training and experience

Supporting NQTs within, across and beyond the school

Bev Humphrey, Literacy and Technology Consultant and Digital Content Manager at the School Library Association (SLA), shares some of the ways in which school librarians are rising to meet the challenges of lockdown life.

These strange times during the coronavirus pandemic have left many school librarians feeling as though they’d gone to sleep and woken up in one of their least-liked dystopian novels. New skills have had to be learnt and different ways of communication sought, amidst worries about staff and students’ mental health whilst stuck at home.

Some of the challenges and creative responses so far include:

Finding new ways to share inspiring reading material

Naturally, with schools closed, librarians have not been able to loan out books in the usual way. This has been very distressing, especially with all the evidence regarding the positive effect of reading on the brain and mental wellbeing.

Some schools were lucky enough to have already invested in an online reading platform and this has made things easier for them, but many librarians have needed to hastily arrange some e-reading options for their students. Others have advised staff and students of the digital offerings from their local public libraries or have taken advantage of the limited-time offers from companies allowing access to their platforms on an extended trial basis. Some authors are reading their own books aloud online too – Cathy Cassidy and Marcus Sedgwick for example – and alerting students to these helps keep their love of reading alive.

Librarians have created a wealth of online content to keep kids reading, often learning new techniques at the same time – as with this fantastic Sway created by Ms Williams from Addey & Stanhope School. Some colleagues are involved in leading online reading periods that are slotted into the virtual timetable set up by their schools. Others are keeping the reading excitement alive by monitoring online book quizzes and giving out praise and prizes.

Collaborating with teachers to support learning online

Although not currently able to collaborate in person, countless librarians are even more involved than ever in helping their teaching colleagues plan online lessons and projects. Many have turned to sites such as padlet.com to create collated lists of resources for school staff to access, and are constantly on the lookout for more content to flag up to teachers. The lists provided by the School Library Association, CILIP School Library Group and others have enabled librarians to disseminate information about fantastic resource banks like the Massolit collection of over 3,000 lectures.

Promoting information literacy and tackling fake news

Misinformation and fake news have been rife during this pandemic and who better to lead you through this confusing tangle of facts than information professionals for whom this is second nature – definitely a case of Librarians Assemble! On social media librarians have been the calm voice of reason on numerous occasions, with large numbers of them using this time to build on their own knowledge, especially of inquiry-based learning systems such as FOSIL. This method of inquiry is of huge benefit across the curriculum and is a highly effective way of embedding information literacy skills in every subject.

Investing time in online CPD

Unfortunately some school library staff have been furloughed and therefore have had their hands tied and felt frustrated at being unable to help their students and fellow staff members. Many have turned to online CPD to fill their days productively: embarking on massive open online courses (MOOCs), completing courses with the Open University, and taking part in webinars run by the School Library Association, CILIP and Elizabeth Hutchinson, for example. At the end of this month the SLA weekend course, due to take place in Ashford, has been moved online with a range of excellent keynote speakers from the world of education (see below for details). For some staff this has been the first time they have used apps like Zoom and GoToMeeting, but they have met the challenge of adapting to new technology with equanimity and enthusiasm.

Planning for the future

As we slowly start to come out of this most unusual time and education returns to something approaching “normal”, there are many considerations to take into account in the school library and countless questions causing sleepless nights. How will we ensure students adhere to social distancing? Will we have to disinfect all the books? How can we best support students and staff who are displaying signs of having poor mental health? SLA and CILIP SLG have produced comprehensive guidance on the return to work and school library staff have been extremely proactive in putting plans in place for when their library reopens.

In a time of chaos society needs professionals to be the voice of reason and librarians are definitely rising to this challenge admirably.

SLA annual conference (19-20 June 2020) – 10% discount for NACE members

The School Library Association (SLA) is running its annual weekend conference “Digital Education: Reading and Learning Opportunities” as a virtual event on Friday 19 and Saturday 20 June, featuring an impressive line-up of experts in online education and learning technologies, joining authors and publishers in live presentations, discussions and demonstrations. Use the code NACE19 for a 10% discount when booking.

Jeremy Dudman-Jones previews his upcoming live webinar, exploring research from neuroscience and cognitive psychology and what it means for those working in schools…

As a teacher of over 30 years I now think that it is vital that as a profession, or indeed as anyone remotely interested in working with people, teachers should know a great deal more about the important new discipline of neuroscience. As a result I became a founder member of Learnus: a voluntary group that sets out to form bridges between academics and practitioners, striving to inform those at the “chalk face” with knowledge and ideas that are currently sitting on the desks of various departments of neuroscience and cognitive psychology. If you are a curious teacher or an interested parent, if you are a student currently intrigued by changes in behaviour or a lay person simply wondering about brain processes, join me on 10 March 2020 for a live webinar on “Stuff about the brain for teachers” (sign in to the NACE members’ site for details and registration).

In the webinar I will talk about some case studies that drew me into the world of educational neuroscience before I try to unpick ideas on how memories are formed and indeed lost. A memory is an interesting biological idea. To form a memory new synaptic connections need to be produced; this requires effort and amino acids. Memories are also difficult to maintain; why for example do I tend to only remember about 10% of a book I have read, even though at the time I really enjoyed it? I will talk about synaptic pruning in adolescents and how brain maturation in the same age group can lead to interesting and sometimes challenging patterns of behaviour.

It is nearly universally accepted that sleep is vital to a healthy mind, but why is it that as humans we spend nearly 23 years of a normal lifetime engaged in such an unconscious state? Recent research on the eye has unearthed new cells that are responsible for our sensitivity to circadian rhythms, but why does it seem to have a different rhythm if you are an adult compared to a teenager? If we really need a certain amount of sleep, what is happening in the brain whilst it is happening? How does all of this impact on the daily life of a school or a family or an individual? I hope to delve into some of these questions using easily accessible research findings.

Interestingly as one grows from a baby to an adult the brain itself changes; cognitive psychologists refer to this as brain plasticity and brain maturation. Again, what are the cognitive psychologists talking about when they use such terms? How can a brain change fundamentally from the age of 10 to the age of 20 and what impact will this have on people’s behaviour? It is possible to learn things later in life, but why is it so much easier as small child? As I work through the presentation, hopefully some of these questions will be answered, although no doubt they will raise even more for future discussion and possible research.

Lastly I will touch upon the power of chemicals and in particular neurotransmitters. After all much of what the brain does and in a sense what it feels is directed by these chemicals. I will hopefully explore the impact of at least three of these chemicals; on memory acquisition, on behaviour, on sleep and on relationships. It is strange to think that we are slaves to these chemicals, but can we also control them or synthesize them?

To finish I will touch upon other ideas in behavioural psychology, taking some inspiration from a range of research that basically divides our behaviour into two main categories, some of which we find easy and some of which we find difficult. How do these systems alter life in a school or simply a classroom? How do the two systems impact on us as parents, leaders and managers?

Finally, I will ask about next steps. Any bridge is incomplete without two-way traffic. What is it that those of us that are not academics want researchers to do next? What questions in neuroscience do we have that need answering and how can we assist each other in coming up with answers that will go on to inform best practice in life?

Jeremy Dudman-Jones is Assistant Headteacher at Greenford High School and a Founder Member of Learnus, a community dedicated to bringing together educators and those who specialise in the study of the brain, using insights from high-quality research to improve and enrich learning for all. On 10 March 2020 Jeremy will present a free webinar for NACE members. To join the live session and/or to access recordings of all past webinars, visit our webinars page (login required).

Reflecting on lessons learned during her participation in the NACE/NRICH Ambassadors initiative, Tanners Brook Primary School’s Mel Butt shares her top tips for effective maths CPD…

Five years ago, maths was targeted as a key area to develop at Tanners Brook Primary School. In our most recent Ofsted inspection, it was recognised as one of our strengths. A key element in securing progress in this area has been our approach to professional development in maths.

Before joining the NACE/NRICH Ambassadors initiative, I was confident and passionate about maths and motivated to develop competent problem-solving mathematicians. I was attracted by the opportunity to work alongside other professionals to explore ways to enhance the maths diet of able children at my school.

At Tanners Brook, we have developed a coaching culture where teachers embrace new ideas and seek ways to improve their own teaching. Throughout this process, I have used my classroom as a platform for ideas and, as time has moved on, I have been able to share these ideas with colleagues.

As part of the Portswood Teaching School Alliance, we also have direct contact with over 70 schools and regularly provide CPD. This meant I already had access to a wider network who could in turn benefit from my participation in the NRICH Ambassadors scheme.

Following on from my experience of receiving and leading CPD based on NRICH’s low-threshold, high-ceiling maths resources, here are my top five tips for effective professional development in maths:

1. Understand the need for change

One approach to support more able learners in maths is using short application activities completed individually at the end of a lesson, after the children are taught a skill. In order to challenge myself (and them), I needed to challenge this mindset. 

While still teaching children the maths skills they need, I wanted to provide them with more opportunities to think as mathematicians. I experimented with moving from teaching them to do maths to allowing them to work as mathematicians.

Through use of NRICH’s free resources, learners are immersed in larger, more open-ended problems where they have the opportunity to work collaboratively, reason more and ultimately be stretched over all of the learning time – not just at the end of the lesson.

2. Develop confidence collaboratively

Having explored the NRICH materials myself, I was able to share the pros and cons of this approach with colleagues. I knew that many teachers find it daunting to teach a lesson in which children may use a variety of strategies, may not know how to start their learning, or may even head off in completely the “wrong” direction. Using NRICH gives staff more confidence as it provides guidance on starting points, questioning and a range of different approaches and solutions – helping to support and inspire both teachers and learners.

I found that a simple problem aimed at KS1 – Eggs in Baskets – could be easily accessed by all staff and was a great starting point. I shared this problem in a staff meeting where colleagues were able to experiment in a workshop-style setting.

Once we’d had a go at Eggs in Baskets ourselves, we explored how this low-threshold, high-ceiling activity could be easily differentiated and accessed by all children – from the lowest-attaining child in Early Years to the most able child in Year 6. Through this discussion, we came up with various ideas to develop the activity, including using apparatus to represent the objects, drawing representations, trial and improvement, and algebra. Teachers therefore felt confident in their own delivery, and equally confident that all learners would be able to access the activity at an appropriate level.

3. Step out of your comfort zone

In December 2018, our phase took part in a live NRICH webinar – logging in to tackle a problem posed by the NRICH team, alongside other classes around the country. We were all quite nervous about this as we really had no idea what we and the children and ourselves would face. However, we committed ourselves fully and both staff and children alike had an amazing time working as mathematicians. From this, we realised that to get the most out of our CPD, we needed to step out of our comfort zones and accept that it’s okay to not always be in control. We look forward to doing more of this in future.

As a result of the work we have done with NRICH, there has been a real buzz in maths lessons. In a recent Year 6 lesson – Olympic Turns – both the class and the teacher were incredibly excited by the learning. This led to increased exposure to mathematical language, collaboration, and the children even wanted to take their learning forward by using protractors to measure. Deeper learning was evident.

4. Share ideas and inspiration

Over the process, I have realised how beneficial it is to be able to share the activities and discuss this way of teaching with colleagues. This takes many forms, from informal chats in our classrooms to the more formal setting of staff meetings. Being part of Portswood Primary Academy Trust and a Teaching Schools Alliance has given me the opportunity to share ideas across schools and with maths leaders within our local authority.

Hearing about activities that other practitioners have tried with their classes will inspire you to try and develop these activities yourself. Knowing that another class of children have fully engaged with an activity often makes it more exciting to try it within your own classroom. In turn, sharing your excitement about an activity can have the same impact on other teachers and their teaching.

In order to support staff further, I have shared the curriculum mapping resources from the NRICH website with staff in my school, NQTs, maths leaders, headteachers and other practitioners leading on provision for more able learners through our NACE R&D Hub. These resources have enabled staff to search for mathematics objectives that link to NRICH activities relating to a particular area of maths.

5. Enjoy it!

When I started my journey as an NRICH Ambassador, I was already enthusiastic about NRICH resources. I have loved spreading my passion for problem-solving and sharing good practice within my school, cluster and beyond. If you are having fun, then your colleagues and the young people in your classrooms will also enjoy the experience of being mathematicians. Embrace it! It is essential that we inspire our children to have a love of maths by showing them how much we enjoy being mathematicians ourselves.

Mel Butt is a Year 6 class teacher with responsibility for More Able, Gifted and Talented at Tanners Brook Primary School, Southampton. She participated in the 2018-19 NACE/NRICH Ambassadors initiative.