Dear all
I have shared with my colleagues a copy of Rosalind's paper as presented
at our conference in September. We have begun to have some interesting
discussions on this question too. Rosalind was asking about the
influences of theory, and we have been debating the extent to which
theory is an explicit driver in mentoring. Whilst mentors, when given
the space, may articulate a theory, from our experiences and
discussions, we felt that mentors were more inclined to highlight their
own experiences (perhaps more as a mentee) as the driver of their
practice?

Rosalind's paper raised another very interesting point, adult learning
theory. Given our particular context, of Initial Teacher Training, we
again began to tease out the extent to which we make explicit (even to
ourselves) the obvious fact that we are working with adults and not
children or young people. Much to muse on here.

A particular theory we use in our mentoring is Vygotsky's work on ZPD,
we find this helpful in unpacking what is actuallly meant by
individualised training (thus mentoring) programmes. 

Thank you
Kerry


Kerry Jordan-Daus
Director of Employment Based Initial Teacher Training 

Visit our website at
www.canterbury.ac.uk/education/pointed/employment-based-routes
Tel 07834 745 035
-----Original Message-----
From: BERA-MENTORING-COACHING
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sarah
Fletcher
Sent: 07 October 2007 10:38
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: What influences a mentor's practice?

Hello Rosalind,

What influences a mentor's practice?  My goodness what a fertile
question!
This is a very quick off the top of my head list that comes to mind
today:

Their conception of 'teaching'
Their love of working with children
Their willingness to be a mentor
Their empathy with their mentee(s)
Their experiences of being mentored and having been a mentor Their
understanding of their role within initial teacher training Their
capacity to put themselves in the mentee's metaphorical 'shoes'
Their availability - time is one of the most pressing ones cited by
mentors Their level of support from other mentors Their feelings about
teaching as a profession Their ability to interact with adults in a
meaningful way Their capacity to communicate support and challenge
non-threateningly Their reason for being a mentor - were they
'volunteered'?
Their interpersonal skills as a ITT coach as well as a mentor Their
depth of subject knowledge (if they are a subject mentor) Their ability
to analyse a relationship and work to improve it Their capacity to learn
how to teach alongside the mentee Their innate curiosity about children
and adults interact... (+ Lots more!) 

This list is no deliberate order and is intended just as a 'starter for
10'!
Over to you, Rosalind. Would you like to share what your research
indicates?

Best wishes,

Sarah