Mentor materials
Module review
Learning intentions
The purpose of this session is:
- To use the Module 2 ECT audit as a stimulus for discussion around the mentee’s current knowledge and practice in relation to ECF standard 2 and 3
- To support the mentee to make accurate judgements about their progress in this module so far.
- To agree with the mentee their areas for particular focus and further development
Topic introduction
So far in this module your mentee has spent time addressing the core issues involved in promoting good pupil progress and demonstrating good subject and curriculum knowledge. The module began with an audit where you had the opportunity to guide your mentee in reflecting on their current experiences and the reality of their teaching practice. As your mentee worked through the needs analysis at the start of this module they will have placed their current practice in one of 3 categories:
Emerging: I don’t feel very confident in this area. I have substantial gaps in my knowledge and/or practice which definitely need to be addressed.
Developing: I have some knowledge about this, and / or there is evidence in my practice that I do this some of the time or to some extent. I am in a position to build on this with further work in this area.
Secure: I know a lot about this, and/or I do it in my practice consistently and well.
One of the roles of the mentor is to support mentees in developing a realistic analysis of strengths and areas for development, and equipping them – through reflective practice, modelling and worked examples – to make progress towards unconscious competence in each of the key areas. In this session you have the opportunity to use the ‘conscious competence’ model to help your mentee reflect on their understanding in relation to the key learn that and learn how statements in standards 2 & 3.
Research and practice summary
As this session is an opportunity for reflection there is no additional research summary – reference may be made to the summaries included in previous sessions.
Meeting activities
Review 5 mins
- Start this session by briefly following up the actions that the mentee set at the end of last week’s session. Ask your mentee to summarise:
- what they did
- the impact of this on pupil learning (including how they are evaluating this)
- what they will do going forward to build on these actions
- Clarify the Learning Intentions for this session with your mentee
Plan 5 mins
It may be useful to have a brief discussion outlining the ‘conscious competence’ model and its relevance to teacher development:
- Unconscious Incompetence: You are unaware of the skill and your lack of proficiency
- Conscious Incompetence: You are aware of the skill but not yet proficient
- Conscious Competence: You are able to use the skill, but only with effort
- Unconscious Competence: Performing the skill becomes automatic
Your mentee has spent this module exploring their understanding and practice in the following ‘learn how to’ areas of the ECF:
- avoiding overloading working memory
- building on pupils’ prior knowledge
- increasing the likelihood of material being retained
- delivering a carefully sequenced and coherent curriculum
- supporting pupils to build increasingly complex mental models
- helping pupils apply knowledge and skills to other contexts
Theory to Practice 35 mins
The core focus in this session is to identify which of these areas your mentee perceives to be their greatest strengths and which are their biggest priorities for development. This discussion should focus on some of the actions that your mentee has taken over the course of the last 7 weeks – some of which will have been a success and others which will have not worked yet and require re-visiting.
It may be the case that areas that the mentee perceives to be strengths actually need to be developed and that areas of development are stronger than your mentee thinks. Through careful questioning here you will be able to continue the process of identifying the reality of your mentee’s current practice.
Questions that you might ask in relation to each of the ‘Learn how to’ areas for this module:
- What have you done in order to develop your practice in these areas?
- If you consider yourself to be ‘secure’ in an area – what evidence do you have from your current practice to support this? (Your mentee could tell you a ‘story’ from one of their lessons.)
- If ‘emerging’ or ‘developing’ – what evidence do you have from your current practice that suggests that these are areas that could be improved? (Encourage your mentee to move from a ‘general perception’ to more concrete examples.)
- Can you describe how you have progressed through the conscious competence model for each of the areas? What has been the most significant ‘realisation’ for you in this part of the module?
You will probably find that your mentee is operating within stages 2 and 3 of the ‘conscious competence’ model – largely moving from conscious incompetence to conscious competence. If there are any areas where you consider your mentee to be ‘unconsciously incompetent’ then it may be useful to look at developing a more focused plan in order to support their development. This may inform the work that you do in the next module.
‘Learn how to’ areas for this module. It might be useful to keep a record like this:
| Sub-groups | Strength or priority for development |
|---|---|
| avoiding overloading working memory | |
| building on pupils’ prior knowledge | |
| increasing the likelihood of material being retained | |
| delivering a carefully sequenced and coherent curriculum | |
| supporting pupils to build increasingly complex mental models | |
| helping pupils apply knowledge and skills to other contexts | |
| developing pupils’ literacy |
Theory to Practice 10 mins
It takes a considerable amount of time to embed effective changes in practice and requires consistent focus in order to build new teaching and learning habits. With this in mind, it may be useful to set a specific goal in relation to this module. This could either be building on an existing strength and something that your mentee is excited about developing, or it might be working on something that they currently find more difficult.
You might find it useful to translate this into ‘goal statements’ e.g.
- ‘By the end of the year I will’
- ‘Over the next half-term, I will focus on developing’
Next Steps 5 mins
Agree with your mentee how they will now put their learning from this week’s session into practice in their teaching. Help your mentee to clarify:
- the action(s) they will take and how these action(s) are expected to contribute to improving their workload and wellbeing
- what success will ‘look like’ in relation to these action(s)
- how they will evaluate their success in taking these action(s)
Note the date of your next mentor meeting.