Selecting mentors

Not all good history teachers make good mentors. Nor do mentors need to be the most outstanding teachers (though they certainly need to be competent and effective). You will need to consider carefully how you select mentors.

• Does it matter how much teaching experience they have?
• Will you watch them teach?
• What can you find out about the whole department?
• Where can you gain information (OFSTED? LEA advisors? Other colleagues?)
• Do some schools provide more suitable environments for training than others?

At the very least, a preliminary visit to the school and a meeting with a prospective mentor is essential.

Working with the whole department

The mentor will not be the only person in a department to have regular contact with a trainee. It is the mentor’s responsibility to ensure that everyone involved understands the principles of the school-based experience and is briefed, for example, in observation and feedback techniques. The mentor should also maintain an oversight of their trainee’s whole experience. This might mean, for example, that they arrange a schedule of formal lesson observations conducted by all relevant members of the department.

Further suggestions can be found in the resource entitled ‘Working with other school-based colleagues’.