Getting situated

Need help?

In the last few parts of the course, we have examined ways in which to support individual team members to develop their practice and grow as teachers through leaderful practice, professional learning, and courageous conversations. This part looks at mentoring and coaching as a special blend of professional dialogue, advice, and support that can help individual teachers to engage in professional learning and distributed leadership, and to improve practices as required. Your previous learning about effective professional learning and courageous feedback conversations is very useful here.  This part will examine what effective mentoring and coaching look like, and what the leader can do to ensure that effective mentoring is in place for every team member in a way that promotes ongoing professional learning and improvement. You will also examine techniques for mentoring, so that you can both mentor people in your teams and provide a great role model for other team members who also act as mentors, which will strengthen the quality of mentoring across your early childhood setting.

The aims for this part of the course are to:
  • Practise using and interpreting a scale tool in order to identify mentoring needs of individuals
  • Develop an understanding of the principles of mentoring and coaching
  • Learn about the different types of mentoring practice that will benefit individuals
  • Consider what leaders can do to promote effective mentoring practice in their setting
  • Extend skills in questioning and prompting teachers’ reflection within professional conversations.
This will involve:
  1. Developing your leadership by using a scale tool to assess the teaching stage of team members, and what kind of mentoring would be most appropriate for them
  2. Watching academics and professionals define mentoring and coaching approaches, and reflecting on when you might use each
  3. Listening to leaders discuss how they organise mentoring in practice and considering the advantages and disadvantages of formal and informal approaches
  4. Watching Associate Professor Kate Thornton describe the role of leadership in establishing effective mentoring practices
  5. Hearing leaders and academics discuss the importance of the mentoring relationship, and reflecting on important qualities in mentoring relationships
  6. Watching a short excerpt of a mentoring meeting, and considering how you would support the mentee in the video to engage in reflective practice
  7. Learning about useful questions for mentors to ask their mentees
  8. Watching Associate Professor Kate Thornton and early childhood leader Kalpana Prasad talk about giving feedback to mentees, and reflecting on your experiences of receiving feedback
  9. Reflecting on your vision for mentoring practice in your setting
  10. Working in your PLC or with a critical friend to examine your use of the Teacher Progression Scale Tool