Judgementoring and other threats to realizing the potential of school‐based mentoring in teacher education

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this article is to identify and examine root causes of the failure of schoolbased mentoring to realize its full potential. Design/methodology/approach -The article draws on the re-analysis of data from two major mixedmethod empirical studies carried out in England. It focuses on data generated from interviews with beginner teachers and mentors in both primary and secondary schools. Findings -The findings point to a failure to create appropriate conditions for effective mentoring in England at the level of the mentoring relationship, the school, and the national policy context. Implications -Implications of the findings include the need to achieve a greater degree of informed consensus on the meaning and purposes of mentoring in teacher education, and to ensure that mentors of beginner teachers are appropriately trained for the role. Originality/value -The article identifies the practice of judgemental mentoring or 'judgementoring' as an obstacle to school-based mentoring realizing its potential and an impediment to the professional learning and wellbeing of beginner teachers. It also points to worrying indications that judgementoring may be becoming, through accrued experiences, the default understanding of mentoring in England.

Developing practices in teachers’ professional dialogue in England: using Coaching Dimensions as an epistemic tool

“…When they are first introduced to coaching per se the concept of 'restraint' recognised as critical for creating thinking space and opening up dialogue (Jewett and MacPhee 2012) can be misconceived and result in non-committal conversations in which the coach offers no opinion, instead requiring the coachee to self-evaluate, but gain little feedback or support for deeper reflection. This is often in stark contrast to the practice of mentoring student teachers or new entrants to the profession through a series of predetermined and externally derived standards; which can lead mentors into the 'judgementoring' scenario described by Hobson and Malderez (2013). In any of these situations there is little opportunity for the dialogue to be co-constructive; and it thus fails to draw on the unique expertise, curiosities or experiences of the participants.…”

“…Teaching Schools. Hobson and Malderez (2013) express reservations about this policy direction, citing research which demonstrates that despite two decades of universities and schools working in partnership for initial teacher education, which has positioned school-based mentors in pivotal roles, mentoring too frequently remains a weak point in many student teachers' initial career development experiences, and does not always support quality outcomes. They suggest that these failings in mentoring occur at national policy level (for example created by the accountability culture endemic in schools), meso-level (often due to failure to support mentors at school level) and microlevel (for example mentors adopting a restrictive model of 'feedback' following lesson observations).…”

“…Ulvik and Sunde (ibid) concluded that many of the teachers undertaking mentor education struggled to recognise their role as carrying distinctive professional characteristics. By working on their own practice, applying tools such as this to their direct experience, teachers acting as mentors or coaches may overcome this struggle, and thus help address the gap in coaching and mentoring quality found by Lofthouse and Leat (2013), and Hobson and Malderez (2013).…”

“…This makes coaching vulnerable in at least two ways; it can have its purpose purloined as part of a movement dominated by surveillance and performance management, and it can have its potential flattened because participants are afforded insufficient time to develop sophisticated practice. Similarly mentoring (for example of student teachers) can be distorted towards 'judgementoring' (Hobson and Malderez 2013), when mentors can compromise mentoring relationships and its potential benefits by being prone to quickly forming and sharing with their mentees evaluative judgements of their mentees' practice. In their study drawn from a mentor 'education' programme in Norway, Ulvik and Sunde (2013) recognise mentoring as a 'fluid concept' with an 'intuitive nature ' (p. 755), but propose that mentoring be seen as a profession within a profession, and be explicitly based not just on know-how and experience, but also on theoretical perspectives.…”

Rethinking Apprenticeship in Pre-Service Teachers’ Training

“…However, some recent studies interline that, despite their significant impact on professional training, apprenticeship's experiences have not yet reached their full potential improving impact (Hobson et al, 2009;Hobson, & Malderez, 2013).Many are the aspects that negatively influence the potential of this formative tool: the lack of sufficient time for mentoring, the lack of rigour in mentors' selection, the insufficient opportunities for effective mentors' training, the widespread practice to judge mentoring as an obstacle for the development of reflection in practices and to consider negative its influence in pre-service teachers' training (Hobson, & Malderez, 2013).…”