4.1 Introduction

This unit introduces the key features of the CTE's (University of Warwick) approach to mentoring and provides a foundation that will be explored in more detail at the Mentoring Conferences.

Please ensure that you have signed up for a Mentoring Conference in the term that you are mentoring a trainee.

CTE's mentoring approach stems from the work of Jim Knight's Instructional Coaching model and is a professional development approach that involves 1 to 1 support for teachers.

Done well it is designed to help teachers improve their pedagogical practices with the goal of enhancing trainee agency and skills.
As Sims (2019) argues, Instructional Coaching is currently the best evidence-based form of professional development we have, supporting teachers to understand and apply new theories of learning to the specific contexts of their classrooms.
It tends to involve an expert teacher working with a novice in an individualised classroom-based observation- feedback- practice cycle.
Crucially, Instructional Coaching involves revisiting the same specific skills several times with focused, bite-sized bits of feedback specifying not just what but how the novice needs to improve during each cycle (Sims, 2019).
It lends itself well to the mentor-trainee partnership usually present in a PGCE degree.
Instructional Coaching requires fundamental coaching skills, explored in unit 1Link opens in a new window (What is mentoring?) and unit 2,Link opens in a new window (Effective mentoring relationships), none more so than level 5 effective listening and questioning to raise awareness. Instructional Coaching provides a cyclical approach in a one-to-one mentor-trainee relationship as defined by Hobson (2016) in unit 1.Link opens in a new window(What is mentoring).

Jim Knight (2017) talks of success factors for effective Instructional Coaching. Interact with the activity below to learn more. Click on to expand the screen.