Mentoring New Teachers

I have just been re-reading the notes I took at the Education Council (EC) workshop on the new standards at the beginning of this year. Provisionally certificated teachers (PCTs) are always worried about having enough evidence and what to record. I currently mentor 7 PCTs, 3 of whom are coming up for certification this year. What the EC has said is that they do not want voluminous portfolios of stuff and that they want to shift the emphasis from the showing of evidence to improvement of practice done through discussion and documentation. Teachers engaging in “learning talk” analyse, critique and challenge their current teaching practices to find and/or create more effective ways of teaching. ( Annan, Lai & Robinson 2003) The current situation is that ERO will audit the documentation for certification of teachers recently certificated. They are looking to see that the school has a robust system well founded in evidence. They will be looking at the level of support and inducti...

As we are approaching mid-year and some of the PRTs are wanting to apply for full certification at the end of the year it seems timely to look at the Education Council Requirements and ensure that everybody is up to speed. I have also included a note around pay increments as people are mixing this up with registration which is quite separate and linked to appraisal and Professional Standards. (We are paid by the Ministry of Education). INDUCTION AND MENTORING As a provisionally certificated teacher you will have the guidance of a mentor teacher who is an experienced fully certificated colleague, trained to guide and support you and give constructive feedback. The most important features of induction and mentoring include: ·        an emphasis on practice-focused professional learning for the provisionally certificated teachers (PCT) ·        a range of professional development opportunities ·    ...