Janette Long

The dark side of mentoring

Ron is Joan’s informal mentor. Joan has been hesitant over whether to accept a certain assignment, one that would redefine aspects of her position. Ron says that it would be a great career opportunity and that her reluctance is borne from inappropriate self-doubt and not something to act on. He convinces her to take it on. Later, when she flounders and is overwhelmed and turns to him, Ron argues -persuasively -that he should stay out of it and that she needs to learn how to do this on her own. Joan is confused – about herself, about Ron, about the task. And so are we. Is Ron genuine or politically/psychologically motivated? Is he accurate or misguided? And what about Joan? Is she self-assessing accurately or out of fear? What are the psychological consequences for Joan if Ron has a hidden agenda in talking her out of her feelings?

Assisting beginning teachers and school communities to grow through extended and collaborative mentoring experiences

Mentoring as a strategy to assist and retain beginning teachers in the profession has been perceived as the panacea for reducing attrition rates. Whilst this may be true in many cases, mentoring alone has been unable to stem the flow of resignations. In this essay on scholarship and teaching, the author explores surrounding mentoring programs. New ways of professional learning are suggested that encompass mentoring within a whole school approach, with a particular focus on the school as a collaborative community of learners.

Features of effective professional learning: a case study of the implementation of a system-based professional learning model

The impact of quality teaching on student learning has led to an increased focus on professional learning to support and improve teacher practice. Review of the literature on effective professional learning suggests six elements that support sustained change in teacher practice; namely, focus, learning components, feedback, collaborative practices, temporal elements and coherence. While these practices have been drawn from reviews of studies of effective professional learning, there has been little attempt to validate the effectiveness of collective implementation of these elements in broad-based professional learning. To address this, this study assesses the validity of these elements in a system-based professional learning programme implemented in Diocesan schools in Australia. The paper first discusses the key practices for effective professional learning within these six elements, and then reports on case studies of three Catholic schools that have implemented the system-based professional learning programme. The research maps the implementation strategies of these three schools against the key practices in the six elements. The findings support the importance of the presence of all six elements in effective implementation but also suggest that the principal’s commitment to professional learning is a pivotal factor in sustaining changed practices.

Mentoring for school based teacher education in Australia

Abstract This article is to explore the possibilities of mentoring for school based teacher education in Australia. Traditionally, supervision at the school level during the practicum in Australia has been focused on the classroom teacher whose role was to oversee and watch the direct work of the student teacher. However with the reforms in teacher education within the higher education sector which began in the late 1980s, a new challenge has arisen, which emphasises a shift of focus within the practicum from the role of classroom teacher as supervisor to one of mentor. Therefore, teachers who wish to become mentors will require new skills and competencies which extend beyond those of supervision, which necessitates the need for further training and education of classroom teachers. This article examines the mentoring role and the skills needed by teachers in supporting the development and education of student teachers into the teaching profession. The article also briefly examines the implications that th...

Teaching Strategies through Microteaching

Abstract Approaches in microteaching traditionally have been focused upon the teaching of specific skills in small‐group situations. This article describes the application of a form of microteaching to the acquisition of teaching strategies, which has a much broader focus, based largely on the work of Joyce & Weil (1986).

Collaborative Partnership: Developing Pre-service Teachers as Inclusive Practitioners to Support Students with Disabilities

Abstract Since the introduction of anti-discrimination legislation including Australian Disability Discrimination Act, 1992 and the Disability Standards of Education, 2005, there is an increasing demand on all schools to cater effectively for more students with disabilities within an inclusive school community context. This investigation explored a proactive partnership model designed to equip pre-service teachers with deeper role understandings in teaching students with disabilities. This collaborative model involved sustained professional experiences in schools on four mornings each week over 38 weeks, offered in conjunction with their final-year teacher education studies in Diversity and Inclusive Education. A unique emphasis of this qualitative study was a focus on identifying conducive real-life experiences and ideal teacher qualities for undertaking challenging inclusive practitioner roles. Findings highlighted the perspectives of school leaders, special education mentors and pre-service teachers in improving inclusive learning outcomes for all students while developing an effective collaborative partnership model for teacher education.