Mentoring Students on Professional Courses in Higher Education in the Workplace: New Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract

This chapter firstly reviews the changing role of the workplace mentor in three professions in England: nursing, social work and teaching. This review reveals the influence of government and professional regulatory bodies on mentors' work and, where policy has been absent, how educationalists have conceptualised the role. Following this review, the chapter considers some of the collective opportunities and challenges faced by mentors across the three professions, especially with regard to professional knowledge development. The second half of the chapter focuses in on the role of the school-based mentor in the increasingly school-led policy landscape of initial teacher education. The author considers the new and ambiguous demands on the mentor and the implications for university partnership working with schools. Finally, the chapter deliberates the type of future proof investments required on professional courses in higher education involving both mentors and tutors to achieve optimum professional learning experiences for preservice students.