I attended a VIT refresher course on Thursday the 5th of March 2020, led by Catharine Hydon and Matt Woodley from the VIT. My main take-away was how important it is to have a clearly defined induction and mentorship program with well trained and committed mentors. At my school, we have a lot of good people and great intentions, but we have some way to go towards properly formalising our processes.
What is mentoring?
- Mentoring is to support and encourage people to manage their own learning in order that they may maximise their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become the person they want to be. (Eric Parsloe, The Oxford School of Coaching & Mentoring)
- As a process, mentoring may be generally described as a dynamic interpersonal relationship involving two or more people. Mentoring in early childhood is often perceived as “a peer relationship” (Nolan, 2007, xvii), where a more experienced practitioner provides professional guidance to one or more novice practitioners, either on a 1:1 basis or as a group. (Wong and Waniganayake 2013)
- Need to have a written down protocol or policy to support VIT teachers.
What mentoring isn’t
- Performance management
- Training
- Peer friendship and support
- Counselling
- Rescuing
What good mentors do?
The good mentor is:
- committed to the role of mentoring.
- accepting of the beginning teacher.
- skilled at providing instructional support.
- effective in different interpersonal contexts.
- a model of a continuous learner.
- The good mentor communicates hope and optimism. a
- My notes here
Continue reading “Effective Mentoring, VIT”
- http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may99/vol56/num08/The-Good-Mentor.aspx (back)
