Skip to main content
Beta
This is a new service – contact continuing-professional-development@digital.education.gov.uk with any feedback
  • Support for early career teachers
  • Education Development Trust
  • Year 2: Second half-term: continuing your professional development
    • Summer week 5

    Mentor materials

    Next steps

    Intended outcomes

    The intended outcomes of this topic are for Early Career Teachers to:

    Learn how to:

    Develop as a professional by:

    • Seeking challenge, feedback and critique from mentors and other colleagues in an open and trusting working environment
    • Reflecting on progress made, recognising strengths and weaknesses and identifying next steps for further improvement.

    Manage workload and wellbeing by:

    • Protecting time for rest and recovery.

    Activities

    Reflecting on progress made (10 minutes)

    In this final mentor topic of the programme, mentors should identify and share three to five areas of the ECT’s practice where they have improved over the last year. These should be a mixture of classroom-focused and contributions to the wider school culture. Mentors might include some of the activities the ECT themselves mentioned at the start of the last topic, and aspects such as:

    • Developmental work with colleagues
    • Support for a particular group of pupils
    • Communications with parents.

    Do they match up with the list the ECT wrote at the end of the last topic?

    Read the following statement to the ECT: Professional development continues throughout all teachers’ careers.

    Pose the question: What areas of practice would you like to develop over the coming months? What actions will you take to do this?

    These actions might include:

    • Working with identified colleagues to improve specific aspects of classroom practice
    • Joining a subject network to improve subject and pedagogical knowledge
    • Engaging with research and evidence.

    ECTs will have already had an opportunity to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses in the previous topic so they should be prepared for this conversation; if they struggle, mentors should prompt this conversation with some suggestions for areas of development based on their knowledge of the ECTs’ strengths and weaknesses.

    Seeking challenge, feedback and critique (15 minutes)

    Guidance for mentors:

    This part of the topic is about ECT and mentor reflecting together on what has worked well in terms of sharing feedback, challenge and critique, and what steps each has taken to build an open and trusting relationship over the time that they have been working together. The mentor might refer back to conversations at the start of module 1 on establishing the mentor/mentee relationship.

    Remind ECTs that this is a safe environment to share thoughts and feelings. This conversation should be used as an opportunity for ECTs to identify who amongst their colleagues and wider networks of peers they will continue to draw on for feedback, challenge, and critique, and to identify appropriate mechanisms for this, both formal and informal.

    Different colleagues may have different types of expertise that ECTs can draw on and building a network both within and outside school will help them to draw on a wide range of experience and knowledge. Some colleagues may be able to offer more ‘pastoral’ support around workload and time management, while others may be better placed to support with the development of subject and pedagogical knowledge.

    Remind the ECT that although this is the last mentoring topic in their formal extended induction period, it is an important part of all teacher’s continued development to seek out feedback and challenge from peers in order to continue improving.

    ECTs and mentors should reflect together on what has worked well for them in terms of sharing feedback, challenge and critique, and what steps each has taken to build an open and trusting relationship.

    Use the questions provided on Handout 12.2 to support the discussion. This provides mentors with an opportunity to model seeking challenge, by asking for feedback on their own role in the mentoring process.

    At the end of this part of the topic, ECTs should have a list of five to ten named colleagues, peers and/or wider networks, which they will be able to draw on to help them to improve different aspects of their professional practice.

    Protecting time for rest and recovery (15 minutes)

    Guidance for mentors:

    ECTs will have become aware during their first two years of teaching that it is vital for them to protect time to rest and recover. It would be helpful for the mentor to share their own experiences on how they do this. Examples might include:

    • Identifying pressure points in the week (such as full teaching days) and the school year (such as the run-up to exams and SATs, parents’ evenings) and planning to be especially protective of time for rest and recovery in or around these periods
    • Working with colleagues to plan lessons collaboratively and assess pupil work
    • Ring-fencing time each week that is free from planning, marking and other work
    • Blocking out time each week that is free from the internet and/or social media
    • Prioritising time for eating well, sleeping regular hours, fresh air or exercise and seeing friends
    • Being aware of their own responses to stress, noticing these and taking action to manage this; keeping a reflective journal could help with this.

    Pose the question: Looking ahead to your timetable for the next school year (if it is available), what can you do to protect your time for rest and recovery? Which colleagues can support you in this?- Share ideas (see guidance notes).

    Colleagues that could offer support might include:

    • Teaching assistants
    • Teacher partners and/or subject colleagues.
    • Seeking guidance from their line manager around balancing commitments and using their non-teaching time effectively.
    • Mentors can also remind ECTs that external support is available, such as through the charity Education Support.

    Next steps (20 minutes)

    Together, watch the video in this week’s ECT self-study materials, which ends the programme by prompting ECTs to think about their next steps and further professional development.

    Following the video, pose the question: Where would you like your teaching career to progress over the next 1, 3, 5 years?

    Identify the routes and learning needed to get them to that place. The aim here is to give ECTs both an idea of the range of progression routes available to them, and an identified route, which of course may change, by which they might progress.

    Reinforce the point that improving classroom practice by extending pedagogical and subject knowledge is a really important progression in itself. ECTs should have additional information here based on the conversation they had with a colleague between the last topic and this one.Examples of possible progression routes, and next steps for ECTs to take on those routes, might include:

    • Progression routes
      • Possible in-school next steps
      • Possible external opportunities
    • Mentoring
      • A formal or informal role supporting ECTs and/or for initial teacher education.
      • Mentor or coaching training.
    • Developing pedagogical knowledge
      • Participating in action research, lesson study or peer observations
      • Engagement with the Research Schools Network and Education Endowment Foundation, membership of the Chartered College of Teaching.
    • Subject leadership
      • Shadowing the department or subject leader, contributing to scheme of work development, assessment design and presenting to other colleagues.
      • Membership of and participation in a subject association, presenting at subject conferences or network events.
      • Complete a specialist NPQ.
    • Pastoral leadership
      • Shadowing a colleague in a similar role, becoming a year group leader
      • Professional development courses e.g. Safeguarding training
      • Get involved with the work of your local Behaviour Hub
      • Complete a specialist NPQ
      • Leadership in another specialist area, e.g. SEND
      • Shadowing the SENCO, teaching a nurture class, internal professional development opportunities.
      • Professional development courses e.g. complete the National Award for Specialist-Education Needs Co-ordinator.

    Pose the question: Given our discussion, what is the tangible next step you are going to take? Agree a time at the start of the next school year to check in together about this.

    Mentors should end the topic by thanking ECTs for their time, commitment and participation in the programme over the last two years and wish them good luck for the future!