How to mentor a colleague (A guide for teachers)

As you progress through your career, you are likely to be involved in many conversations with colleagues to support them in their practice, but you may also be called upon to mentor colleagues in a more official and structured capacity. Many schools have formally embedded mentoring as an integral part of their professional development policy, which goes to show how highly these skills are valued. Understanding the key aspects of this practice will allow you to engage meaningfully and successfully in mentoring relationships, wherever and whenever they are needed.

1. Establish a trusting and supportive relationship with clear, communal goals

Providing feedback to a colleague requires a delicate balance of honesty and encouragement – even the most helpful and well-intentioned recommendation is unlikely to be appreciated if your colleague feels patronised or overly criticised. It could be that you have been asked to mentor because a colleague is struggling, or it may simply be an expected part of your practice. Either way, asking them what they hope to get out of the mentoring relationship allows them to take ownership. Mentoring is a partnership where both voices need to be heard and valued.

It is vitally important to be sensitive to cultural issues and individual needs. You are likely to work with colleagues from diverse backgrounds, cultures, experiences, or beliefs and these can shape the mentoring relationship in myriad different ways. You may not get it right every time, so be open to feedback and avoid making assumptions about what your colleague thinks and feels.

2. Develop an understanding of educational policies, both in school and out

To underpin your conversations it helps to be aware of current educational policies, as well as those within your own school. This will enable you to best support your colleague in understanding the relevant national curriculum, statutory assessments and any other professional expectations. While the mentoring process should not be focused on rules, regulations or compliance for their own sake, all teachers work within frameworks both local and national, so your mentoring conversations need to take place with that context in mind. Rewriting Macbeth and putting on a school production may well engage your tricky Y11 English class and get them loving Shakespeare, but running out of time for revision is unlikely to get the results everyone wants. 

3. Identify strengths and weaknesses together and set SMART goals

Whatever the reason for and focus of your mentoring relationship (planning, assessment, behaviour management etc.) give your feedback as you would like to receive it – ensure criticism is always constructive and balanced with praise, but be honest about where improvement can be made.

Sitting in on lessons is likely to be a crucial part of the mentoring journey, and many teachers will be happy to have you in any class, but diving straight into a full observation might not be appropriate for everyone. You may need to start small with a 15-minute learning walk during a lesson they feel more confident with, giving some positive feedback and one point to improve. You can then build up to longer sessions with more detailed reflections. As with students, best practice for targets is to ensure that they are SMART; Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound.

4. Provide resources and tools that you can share to improve practice

Your role as a mentor is to enable your colleague to reflect on their practice, but you will also be a vital source of expertise and guidance when looking for alternative strategies and solutions. Whenever possible, come prepared to your feedback meetings with a few examples to share. This might be articles to read, videos of good practice to watch or suggestions of other colleagues to observe or chat with.

Invite your colleague to observe you using some of the strategies you are suggesting – this gives them a tangible model to learn from but also shows that respect and collaboration goes both ways. Asking them to give you some feedback levels the playing field and will strengthen the mentoring relationship.

5. Maintain motivation throughout the mentoring process

Everyone wants to feel successful and valued, particularly in a vocation such as teaching. Balancing your critiques with praise and celebrating the progress that your colleague is making will enable them to see the value of mentoring and feel invested in its success. Focus on developing skills as part of an ongoing career commitment, enabling them to take pride in their work and build confidence.

Mentoring is a wonderful development opportunity for both parties involved – not only is it excellent experience to draw on for your own progression and growth, but it can be an immensely gratifying part of the teaching experience. After all, we go into teaching to help others learn and grow – mentoring a colleague allows us a new way to do just that.