Report of the initial meeting of the Mentoring & Coaching SIG

Report on the initial meeting of the SIG
held at the annual conference; Exeter, 8th July 2009

The issues

Various issues were identified in relation to the management of school placements and partnerships in general.

• The availability of places
  It was becoming increasingly difficult to find good quality placements. One significant factor is that whilst ITT providers are required to place students as part of their courses, schools are not required to take them. It was hoped that any reviews of the OFSTED inspection framework for schools would consider taking account of a school's participation in ITT.

• Transfer of funding / expectations on schools
  Another factor in the allocation of places is competition among providers. Some providers pay more and expect less from their school-based partners. It was felt that some providers are less scrupulous in the level of care and the expectations they place upon mentors. Some schools will therefore take their business to the providers who pay more and expect less.

• Access to resources
  Although there has been a general improvement in the provision of ICT resources in schools there is considerable variability in the range and quality of ICT resources across schools in a partnership. A perennial problem for ITT providers is ensuring that students gain experience of working in schools which model effective practice and provide access to a good range of resources.

• The quality of mentoring
  A common problem for all providers is developing and maintaining the quality of mentoring across partnerships. It was felt that this was a particular issue for primary partnerships where the number of schools tends to be greater and the competition for places is more intense. Whilst it is  possible to monitor the training a department or a school (primary) has received, it becomes increasingly difficult to monitor and manage the training of individual teachers in the primary sector. Whilst training sessions and pre-placement briefings are regularly held by providers, attendance rates are variable. Some schools will not release their teachers, even when funds for supply cover are specifically provided and when partnership agreements include provisos for the release of teachers. The competition for places (see above) means that providers have little or no leverage.

The way forward?

A project proposal was outlined which ITTE has put forward to the TDA for the provision of a national web-based resource to support mentoring and coaching as part of their eLearning Communities funding arrangements. The resource would provide online training activities and a means of tracking the progress of individual mentors through the training programmes. Providers would have their own portal through which the generic resources would be accessed and provider-specific resources and activities could be uploaded.

SIG members agreed to be willing to become involved int he project as consultants and/or particpants in any piloting.

A flavour of the intended project can be gained by accessing the Teacher Mentor website which was developed partly with funding from the TDA:

http://teachermentor.chester.ac.uk 

Rik
14/7/09