1 Growing with your mentee – mentoring as a continuum

A beginner teacher must first familiarise themselves with what is expected of them, the routines within school and how classes are organised and taught. A period of consolidation follows as the beginner teacher works to understand more clearly their role in school, and gradually they move towards autonomy, taking on the role and responsibilities of a teacher.

Beginner teachers’ progress as they enter and proceed through their practice learning can be conceptualised as:

Figure 1 The beginner teacher’s journey towards autonomy

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The image shows an arrow showing that the beginner teacher starts their journey needing to familiarise themselves with their role and the school, moves towards consolidating their knowledge of the role and finally arrives at autonomy.

Figure 1 The beginner teacher’s journey towards autonomy

Effective mentoring at all stages of the beginner teacher’s progress requires a mixture of support and challenge. Good mentors recognise when to support and when to challenge. According to Daloz (1989), mentor support affirms a beginner teacher's experiences and builds trust, whereas challenge requires trust in the beginner teacher. Offering challenge sometimes means that contradictory ideas are introduced and tacit assumptions are questioned. Some tension may develop, but this can support the development of agency in the beginner teacher. Daloz (1989) argues that any interchange between a mentor and a mentee can and indeed should involve both challenge and support, and that what may be perceived as support by one beginner teacher could be viewed as challenge by another. He presents Figure 2 to suggest that growth occurs when both high challenge and high support are given.

Figure 2 The outcomes of varying levels of support and challenge (Daloz, 1989)

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The image shows perpendicular axes running from low to high. The horizontal axis is labelled Support, the vertical axis is labelled Challenge. It shows that where support is low and challenge is low statis will occur, where support is low and challenge is high retreat will occur, where support is high, and challenge is low confirmation will occur but where support is high and challenge is high growth will occur.

Figure 2 The outcomes of varying levels of support and challenge (Daloz, 1989)

Challenging and supporting the beginner teacher you mentor will help them to grow; at the same time, your skills and capabilities as a mentor must grow. This is discussed next.