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Introduction

The OU PGCE has been developed by The Open University and its partner schools to provide an innovative, student-teacher centred approach to initial teacher education. We aim to build on the skills, knowledge and experience that student teachers bring to the profession, and then to prepare them for a career in teaching. The course leads to the award of PGCE, and Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) conferred by the appropriate statutory body. Working with a Partner Schools Network, the OU PGCE provides a rigorous and rewarding course that opens up individual routes into teaching.

Learning Outcomes

After studying this unit you will:

have an understanding of the role of mentor in relation to supporting a student teacher in the early stages of becoming a teacher;
recognise the skills of coaching, support and guidance required of the role;
have considered the issues connected with the assessment of teacher competencies.

Supporting professional development in ITT: introduction

This unit is for mentors, tutors and student teachers. It also provides useful information for school co-ordinators.

The following sections will help mentors and student teachers work together effectively to develop student teachers' professional skills and understanding.

1.1 Introduction

1 Developing practice through school-based training

1.1 Introduction

Mentoring as part of the initial teacher training process is now familiar to many teachers in schools. However, acting as a mentor and the tasks involved in that role will vary depending upon the course a student teacher is following. In the OU flexible PGCE there are specific roles and responsibilities for both mentors and student teachers and it is important for participants to understand the expectations for each as they work together in the school-based aspects of this programme.

Mentoring can be a professionally rewarding experience, despite the time and energy commitment involved, as it provides a valuable opportunity to reflect on current teaching practices. The mentor has a crucial role in the training process, acting as a model for effective teaching, as a ‘coach’ focusing on developing specific teaching skills and strategies, and as a ‘critical friend’ helping, encouraging and challenging the student teacher during the school experience placements. The mentor also acts as facilitator when linking with other teachers within the department in which the student teacher is placed, with senior managers and, on occasions, with other departments in the school.

In school-based training, student teachers also have responsibilities: to themselves, to their mentor, to the department in which they are placed, and to the wider school as a whole. Professional growth in student teachers will depend on them:

being willing to extend and develop their own subject competence;
being oriented towards seeing themselves as the learner rather than the teacher;
recognising that their images of teaching may not match current educational practice;
being prepared to consider and reflect upon their own learning needs in the school context.

The aims of the OU flexible PGCE are set out in the partnership information booklet, where the main roles and responsibilities of the partner school, mentor and school co-ordinator are also explained.

Mentors who take on this role will be able to draw on a wide range of relevant experiences, strategies and techniques from other aspects of their work. The following sections explain how mentors can work effectively with student teachers to support them in their training and successfully achieve the role responsibilities outlined for the OU flexible PGCE.

Figure 1: Mentor roles

1.2 The mentor role in the OU flexible PGCE

1 Developing practice through school-based training

1.2 The mentor role in the OU flexible PGCE

What makes a good mentor? Student teachers and mentors generally agree that the good mentor is approachable; offers encouragement; has the ability to listen; gives constructive feedback; and challenges thinking. It is also important that both the mentor and the student teacher have a good understanding of the programme – the aims, assessment and timing of activities.

Activity 1

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Listen to Audio Clip 1 on the mentor role by clicking the link provided. Make a note of your expectations of the mentor's role.

In this programme all student teachers undertake a ‘Needs Analysis’ to decide the level at which they will begin the programme. This is a detailed and rigorous process of negotiation between the student teacher, the mentor, the school coordinator and the subject tutor which:

assesses the student teahcer's previous personal and professional experience;
takes into account the student teacher's individual requirements;
determines which elements of the course the student teacher needs to study, the amount of school experience they require, and the most appropriate points for assessment.

The outcome of this process is an individual training plan (ITP) which sets out the training and assessment that the student teacher will complete, and an agreed time-frame within which it will be completed. As the programme progresses, the student teacher is taken from a highly supportive context (at Level 1), through collaborative experiences (at Level 2), towards extended sequences of solo teaching experience (at Level 3) and entry into the profession as a qualified teacher.

Figure 2: Supporting the student across the programme

The level at which a student teacher enters the course will depend on their prior skills and experience. The ITP will map the student teacher's experience of the course. After each school placement it is important to work with the student teacher as they update their training plan, demonstrating the progress they are making towards the standards for qualified teacher status and setting the targets they need to aim for in the next part of the course. This can be done during the pre- and post-placement meetings between mentor and student teacher. In the pre-placement meeting the mentor will assess with the student teacher those activities that have to be carried out and the standards that will be worked towards, and plan a timetable around these events. In the post-placement meeting the mentor and student teacher will evaluate the progress made and activities completed, and set targets for future development.

One of the most important mentoring skills is getting the balance right between support and challenge at each level of the course as the student teacher progresses from novice to expert practitioner. During Level 1 and some of Level 2, the student teacher will need careful mentoring with much support and guidance and small, appropriate amounts of challenge as they learn the basic skills of teaching. Where a student requires advice and guidance in developing specific teaching skills and strategies it will be useful to adopt a coaching style of mentoring. As the student teacher progresses towards Level 3, a more reflective model of mentoring (Maynard and Furlong, 1993) will be most effective. Such a model will increase challenge in relevant aspects of an individual student teacher's training. The mentor's role is to encourage the student teacher to develop a deeper understanding of teaching and learning and to use this to improve their practice.

There will be shifts in the approach to mentoring taken at different levels. As student teachers become more autonomous and take on greater responsibility for their teaching and their own learning, this should be reflected in a move towards ‘peer mentoring’. The important point here is that the student teacher is in the driving seat, helping to set their own agenda for their further development, with the mentor acting as facilitator. If student teachers are to continue to improve once they reach qualified teacher status (QTS), the challenge of becoming reflective practitioners through their training takes on paramount importance.

Figure 3: Peer mentoring

A successful outcome depends on how both student teachers and mentors manage their time in school-based training. During the pre-placement meeting they need to draw up a timetable for the placement, showing where the different activities (for example, student teacher teaching, mentor observations and linked feedback) and the weekly mentor sessions will occur. It is essential that sufficient time is allowed for each activity and that a quiet and private place is found for the mentor sessions to be held. Once decisions have been reached, both parties need to adhere to what has been arranged.

Becoming familiar with the programme requirements – the aims, the school experience placement details, the standards for the award of qualified teacher status, the student teacher activities and the mentor role in relation to those activities – will help to keep the mentoring role and the associated workload in perspective. The following are other important factors that help mentors and student teachers to manage their time:

Ensuring that the school co-ordinator has arranged a regular protected time for the mentor session when the student teacher and mentor can discuss progress.
Planning to get the most out of each mentor session.
Setting targets for further development after each mentor session and ensuring that these are followed up at the next meeting. Being systematic about what has and has not been achieved will provide evidence against the standards and reveal where further evidence is required.
Agreeing on the focus for observation of the lesson by the mentor, before the lesson takes place. This allows the student teacher to share areas of concern about their own development and encourages reflective thinking from an early stage in the programme. It is important that some time is built in to provide immediate feedback after a lesson observation.
Using informal time, such as breaks and lunchtimes, to chat and keep up to date on progress. These are useful moments for the mentor to encourage and support.
Involving other staff in the school in the programme. Teachers in the mentor's department and staff in other departments will have areas of expertise that student teachers can draw on.

2.1 Sharing practice

2 Mentoring strategies

2.1 Sharing practice

Section 2 provides an overview of the key mentoring strategies and issues linked to the OU flexible PGCE.

Learning to interpret classrooms from the teacher's perspective, and understanding the actions that lie behind what teachers do is the first – and most difficult – task that student teachers have to undertake. The teaching of an experienced teacher is often so fluent that it looks easy, and important decisions and processing of information about the pupils is hidden from the inexperienced observer. Observers only see what they understand and, in the early days of learning to teach, student teachers may have little understanding of the complexities of teaching. The familiarity of classrooms from the pupils’ perspective can also make it difficult for the student teacher to examine what is happening from a new perspective. For these reasons, student teachers need a great deal of help when observing in classrooms even when they are mature candidates with a wide range of other life and career experiences. It can also be helpful if they can observe teachers working with difficult classes as well as easier ones. A teacher's expertise becomes more apparent when teaching difficult classes; it is evident then that achieving the lesson objectives depends upon what the teacher does, and cannot be taken for granted. The mentor has a key role in helping the student teacher to examine critically the strengths and weaknesses of lessons through carrying out an analysis of their own teaching: evaluating and sharing practice with their student teacher and modelling the process of critically reflecting on practice.

Sharing practice is a two-stage process:

The student teacher observes the mentor.
The mentor talks about what the student saw during the observaton.

Using this strategy from the student teacher's first school placement onwards has a number of important purposes:

It allows the student teacher access to an experienced teacher's thinking.
It provides a model for self-evaluation that the student teacher can adopt.
It helps to establish trust.

Activity 2

Now watch Video Clip 1 on sharing your practice. Either click on the screen below or follow the links to high or low resolution versions. How does the mentor share her practice with the student teacher. How did she encourage the student teacher to reflect on her observations of the lesson?

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Figure 4: Sharing practice

One aspect of mentoring that needs to be considered carefully is how to work with the student teacher in a way that is sensitive to their adult status. Conversations between two adults, where one is the trainer and the other the student teacher, can be uncomfortable and non-productive unless both participants feel that their contributions are valued. It is valuable for mentors to discuss both the strengths and weaknesses of their own practice, for several reasons:

Being open about weaknesses in the lesson can help to establish a relationship based on mutual trust in which areas of practice are seen to be available for discussion and analysis. It shows the student teacher that things do go wrong in lessons, even for experienced practitioners, but that professional teachers will then evaluate and adapt their planning in the light of that analysis.
It reveals that experienced teachers continue to evaluate their own practice in order to improve it, emphasising that professional development is a commitment that runs throughout the teacher's career.
It provides the student teacher with a model of how the experienced teacher does that analysis. The mentor, therefore, is seen as a role model for the student teacher, in their development of a self-evaluative and reflective approach to teaching.

When student teachers begin to observe other teachers it can be particularly helpful if they keep notes under a set of headings previously agreed with the mentor, or freehand notes, for discussion later, in the mentor session. Focusing upon strategies of questioning or explaining, either in their own teaching or when watching an experienced teacher, can be useful.

Click on the 'View document' link below to open the 'Explaining log' and 'Questioning log'. These provide examples of suggested formats.

View document

Carefully structured observation by the student teacher of someone else teaching, followed by discussion with the mentor, can enable student teachers to realistically explore classroom issues from the teacher's perspective. Early observation and discussion will also provide student teachers with a language for talking about teaching. It will provide them with the tools to analyse and evaluate their own teaching carefully and objectively. Observation and reflection on practice are closely linked, and developing good habits in these skills early in an initial teacher training course is essential for progression towards qualified teacher status.

In the early days of school experience this strategy is mainly used to focus on essential teaching skills. Later it can be used to explore more complex teaching methods and issues of pupils’ learning.

To be effective in sharing practice, the mentor needs to:

be open about their own strengths and weaknesses;
be prepared to explore in detail the thinking behind their actions in the classroom;
move the student teacher from simple to more complex analysis of teaching and learning.

2.2 Working together to support and challenge

2 Mentoring strategies

2.2 Working together to support and challenge

Planning and evaluation are essential aspects of teaching, but very difficult to observe. Through working together and collaboratively planning teaching and evaluating lessons, the student teacher can learn how experienced teachers carry these out. This phase is an important transition between the student teacher supporting the mentor in the classroom, and taking full responsibility for the class. Involving student teachers in the minutiae of lesson planning is an important part of helping them to develop competence in this key area of teaching. Planning collaboratively reveals to the student teacher how each section of the lesson must be planned in detail and how much careful thought and effort has to go into this activity.

Working together in this way involves the student teacher and mentor agreeing who will take responsibility for which part of the lesson. The student teacher can then focus on particular skills appropriate for their stage of development, while the mentor ensures that all other aspects of the lesson run smoothly. This means that the student teacher and the pupils can both have effective learning experiences in the classroom. During Level 1, the mentor will take the lead in these shared lessons but as the student teacher gains in confidence and skill at Level 2, they will gradually take over more responsibility for each aspect of the lesson. This has obvious benefits for the early stage of teaching but it is also a useful strategy for all the placements, whenever the student teacher needs to extend their repertoire.

Activity 3

Now watch Video Clip 2 on working together collaboratively with your student teacher. Either click on the screen below or follow the links to high or low resolution versions. How did the mentor include the ideas of the student teacher and support her in planning their teaching?

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Working together involves the mentor and the student teacher in making decisions:

What does the student teacher need to learn about planning and evaluation? How can this be achieved?
What part can the student teacher play in lessons so that the experience is useful for their professional development, and for pupil learning? How can this be done effectively?

Working together on planning also ensures that, in the early days, the student teacher does not overlook particular features of the lesson, such as planning transitions between activities. It also gives them access to a great deal of information about the pupils, which experienced teachers will use in their planning for particular groups.

Planning a lesson collaboratively has other important functions. It encourages the student teacher to feel that their ideas are valued, and can also help to begin the necessary shift in the relationship between mentor and student teacher – from being one of teacher and learner to one of colleagues working together using a peer style of mentoring.

Collaborative teaching allows the student teacher to concentrate on one aspect of the lesson while the mentor manages all the other variables. This allows the student teacher to try out new skills and strategies in a supported environment. Gradually, as they develop competence, they can take over a greater proportion of the lesson. Working together in this way also ensures that pupils are not left with a student teacher who, in the early stages, is unable to meet fully their learning needs. This would be unacceptable for the pupils, and for the student teacher who would be likely to lose confidence in such a situation.

A key feature of collaborative teaching is the debriefing that follows. While questioning the student teacher's classroom practice, the mentor must offer positive encouragement, but must also challenge the student teacher to go beyond the simple responses that a lesson ‘went well’ or ‘went badly’ and to produce a critical analysis of their own performance. An important aspect of this process is to draw attention to what evidence either the mentor or the student teacher can bring to support their view.

One of the most important issues for mentors when working with student teachers in this way is how to balance the support and challenge dimensions of their role. Most mentors and student teachers rightly identify the importance of the support and encouragement aspects of the mentor's role. Successful mentoring requires more than providing social support for the student teacher: the mentor must ensure that the student teacher constantly questions their developing practice and seeks to understand the reasons behind teacher actions and activities in the classroom. The mentor as questioner or challenger is an essential part of the role.

To be effective when working collaboratively, the mentor needs to:

involve the student teacher actively at each stage – planning, teaching and evaluating;
reveal the reasons behind their planning choices;
encourage the student teacher's contributions;
be prepared to adapt their own teaching approaches to accommodate the student teacher's need to try a range of strategies;
respond to the developing competence of the student teacher by reducing their own contributions at each stage of the collaboration;
move towards more complex teaching strategies as the student teacher progresses;
create a balance between encouragement and challenge.

Figure 5: Support and challenge in collaborative teaching

2.3 Co-analysis of practice

2 Mentoring strategies

2.3 Co-analysis of practice

Carrying out observations of the student teacher is an important part of mentor activity and one of the major ways that mentors gather evidence to improve practice. Observations are most useful when they are followed by an opportunity for the mentor and student teacher to debrief the session, consider the implications of what happened and set targets for further development. This process of observation and debriefing is called co-analysis of practice.

Observations provide evidence for formative and summative assessment of the student teacher. These observations must relate to the standards for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). When mentors are involved in formative assessment, the standards for QTS are used as the basis for discussion with student teachers to identify where progress has been made and what the next training and development activities should be – in other words, to carry out action planning and target setting. Another important aspect of mentoring, which has already been discussed, is how to support and challenge the student teacher in developing a self-evaluative and reflective approach to teaching.

Both these mentoring functions – that is, formative assessment and encouraging self-evaluation – will involve observing the student teacher in teaching sessions and discussing those observations in a debriefing session. The debriefing should be structured so that the mentor and student teacher analyse the session together. In this way, both the purposes outlined above can be achieved.

The way in which the debriefing proceeds will depend to some extent upon the level the student teacher has reached. At the early stages of school experience the student teacher will be:

developing their understanding of teaching and learning;
focusing upon progressing towards the standards for QTS, for example in lesson planning and classroom management;
building up their confidence;
beginning to critically evaluate their own practice.

A balance needs to be struck between giving feedback that is positive in order to build the student teacher's confidence; giving guidance and suggesting changes in order to develop towards the standards in a particular area; and supporting reflectivity and self-evaluation. Later, the purposes of these co-analysis activities will shift. As the student teacher progresses through the course they will need to be challenged to move their teaching beyond the threshold level of competence as set out in the assessment outcomes for each level, to set their own agenda for development, and to develop a rigorous approach to self-evaluation.

Sometimes, it will be helpful for a student teacher to be observed by another member of staff, for example the school co-ordinator, to confirm the mentor's opinion, or another teacher with expertise in a particular subject area.

It is important to think through how these observations should be carried out and when they should take place. It is also important to consider how to make the discussion following an observation a useful process. The student teacher needs to be able to share in the critical evaluation process and be helped to make connections between this and views and values about teaching. The experience of co-analysis should be a positive experience for both the mentor and the student teacher.

Effective observation of the student teacher for formative assessment can be encouraged through:

planning the observation together;
agreeing the focus for the observation;
agreeing what role, if any, the mentor will have during the lesson;
ensuring that pupils are not confused by the mentor's role in the lesson;
finding an unobtrusive place to observe;
making notes during the observation that will help during the feedback session.

Figure 6: Co-analysis of practice

Using a structure that allows for analysis and synthesis, and planning for action, can be helpful when reviewing observations of lessons (see Hagger and McIntyre, 1994).

Analysis

Have as the starting point the student teacher's perceptions and concerns about the lessons.
Consider the evidence collected and impressions formed.
Identify the various strengths of the lesson. This is particularly important, as student teachers can become demoralised if the discussion concentrates only on their weaknesses and suggestions for change.
Identify those aspects that could usefully have been done differently.
Jointly summarise strengths and recommendations for change.

Synthesis

Look at the lesson as a whole in relation to the agreed focus.
Draw together an overall picture of the lesson where the identified strengths and suggested needs for change are all represented.
Help the student teacher to identify connections and possible misconceptions.

Plans for action

Agree what the student teacher needs to do to progress, and make constructive practical suggestions to move practice forward.
Agree short-term achievable targets.
Agree to discuss the outcome of the observation and the arrangements for the next steps in their learning at the mentor session.
Provide the student teacher with a copy of the mentor's written observations and summary of action planning.

Activity 4

Now look at Video Clip 3 on the co-analysis of practice. Either click on the screen below or follow the links to high or low resolution versions. How did the mentor encourage the student teacher to analyse her own practice? How did the mentor challenge the student teacher's ideas and develop her skills in teaching?

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Download low resolution video Click play to start.

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To be effective in co-analysis, the mentor needs to:

choose an appropriate place to hold the debriefing session;
allow the student teacher to take the lead in analysing their own practice;
start with strengths and move on to weaknesses;
prompt the student teacher to ensure that all aspects – strengths and weaknesses – are rigorously analysed;
be positive in providing feedback;
use the observation form as evidence to focus the discussion;
keep the discussion focused on the agreed observations;
summarise what has been learned from the analysis;
support the student teacher in their action planning – setting achievable targets and giving practical suggestions to achieve them;
encourage the student teacher to set their own focus for future observation and analysis but ensure that the standards for QTS are covered.

2.4 Achieving targets

2 Mentoring strategies

2.4 Achieving targets

Setting tasks at the end of the mentor session each week may appear, on the surface, a fairly simple task compared to the previous in-depth discussion and evaluation of teaching that will have taken place. Targets may be viewed as providing a sense of momentum and achievement during the school experience placement as those set one week can be ticked off the next. However, is it really as simple as that? What should a mentor do if the student teacher is not achieving the targets set? In the first instance, the targets themselves should be examined and a number of questions asked:

Are the targets appropriate for the student teacher?
Are the targets achievable within the time-frame set?
Who set the targets?
What has the student teacher done to achieve the targets?
Did the mentor and student teacher plan activities that would lead to the targets being met?

Student teachers need clear guidance, particularly in the early stages of the school experience placements, when targets are set so that they are appropriate and achievable. One of the ways mentors can support student teachers is to recommend tasks and activities that will help meet the target set. An early target for many student teachers is to work on voice projection in the classroom and variations of tone that will act as signals to the pupils. Those student teachers who are unused to speaking to large groups, have not conducted presentations, or taken part in drama, may find this particularly difficult and will certainly benefit from some exercises that will help them to achieve this target. Tasks to accompany the target could be to:

Observe at least two other teachers who use voice variation effectively when working with pupils. Student teachers should note when and how the tone varies at different points in the lesson.
Practice reading a short passage aloud to the mentor in different places around the school (for example, a small classroom, a large classroom, the dining room, the hall, the gym) and learn to recognise when the voice fills the space and can be heard at the back of the room.
Make a recording of an introduction to a lesson given by the student teacher. Listen to the tape together and analyse the student teachers’ use of voice, and language and evaluate what sounded successful and which aspects need to be improved.

Another early target is often linked to giving feedback to pupils and marking homework. Tasks that could be suggested with this target may be to:

Evaluate some examples of marking and feedback provided to pupils by other teachers. In this task the student teacher should identify those features that make the marking and feedback effective.
Discuss with the mentor two or three pieces of unmarked work to assess the level and identify areas that would need to be commented on to support pupil progress.

During Needs Analysis and school experience student teachers undertake a number of activities in which they carry out observational tasks and then evaluate the practice they have observed. However, applying what has been learned from these observational tasks to the practice of teaching can be very difficult for student teachers! It would be worthwhile to carry out some of these activities more than once, as they are appropriate for different contexts and different settings. Mentors can adapt these activities to help a student teacher achieve a specific target. For example, during Needs Analysis there is an activity that helps student teachers to understand classroom rules and routines. This task could be repeated early in the school experience placement when the mentor has set a target linked to classroom management.

Another key area where targets are often set is explaining and questioning in the context of working with individuals, groups and whole classes. During Needs Analysis student teachers complete a task which focuses on explaining and questioning, which could be linked to targets during a school experience placement.

Finding ways to support student teachers in achieving the targets set will improve the quality of mentoring across the school experience placements and enhance the rate of progress made by student teachers.

3 The mentor session

The weekly mentor session involves:

discussing progress in the student teacher's teaching standards and professional qualities, using the evidence from written observations and the student teacher's school experience file;
agreeing the focused observations to be carried out the following week;
discussing progress in carrying out school experience activities;
agreeing any amendments to the student teacher's timetable for the following week;
setting targets for development and plans to achieve them in line with the standards for QTS.

There will be many opportunities during the school week when the mentor and student teacher can spend some time informally chatting. But it is important that a specific time is set aside each week when the mentor and student teacher meet formally to review progress towards the standards for QTS and set targets for future activities. This formal discussion time is called the mentor session. It is recommended that the mentor allows from 45 minutes to 1 hour for the weekly mentor session, although this will vary according to the student teacher concerned and the context in which they are working.

In their pre-placement meeting the mentor and the student teacher will draw up an outline school experience programme. This covers the time the student teacher is in school for a particular level of the course, and the mentor needs to build into the programme a weekly mentor session. Ideally this should be held at the same time each week, to reinforce its importance in reviewing and planning future activities. The sessions should be held in a school-based location that allows confidentiality and is conducive to discussion – an office, library or empty classroom, for example.

As with other mentoring activities, the student teacher must play an active role in all aspects of the mentor session: consider the evidence; review and summarise progress; identify targets for the coming week; and draw up an action plan to achieve those targets. The mentor's role is to focus the discussion on these aspects during the session. As the student teacher develops in confidence and skill, the mentor will introduce questions that challenge and encourage critical reflection appropriate for each level of the course.

Since this is a reviewing meeting, it is important for the mentor to have a copy of any observation schedules carried out that week, and to have liaised with any other staff involved in mentoring the student teacher, to check whether they have any additional information. Some mentors have found it useful to keep an open agenda in a notebook, in which mentor and student teacher can jot down ‘things to be discussed’ as they arise during the week. The school experience guides provide a suggested timetable for the school activities that might be carried out each week.

At the end of the session the mentor must note down points discussed, and the student teacher and mentor need to agree on the programme for the coming week – amended, if necessary, in the light of discussion.

The mentor session record, together with any observation forms and amended weekly programmes, forms a useful record of the student teacher's progress during each placement. All these documents should be filed in the school training record and kept for future reference during the programme, as they provide a portrait of the student teacher's progress across each placement and at each level of the course. They also provide important evidence for writing the school experience report at the end of each placement. The student submits a summary of the mentor session record to their tutor each week, and a copy is included in their portfolio. The student teacher will also need a copy of the mentor session record to support their planning for the coming week.

To be effective in the review session, the mentor needs to:

ensure that review sessions are held at the same time each week and in a place that provides privacy and is conducive to discussion;
focus on considering evidence, reviewing progress, setting targets and amending activity plans;
allow the student teacher to take the lead in reviewing progress;
keep the session focused in order to encourage and challenge;
complete the mentor session record, and ensure that the student teacher receives a copy for their portfolio and to support their planning for the coming week.

4.1 Introduction

4 Collecting evidence about teaching and learning

4.1 Introduction

Evidence about teaching and learning is now collected for many purposes: systematic teacher appraisal, induction training for newly qualified teachers, developing the skills of initial trainees or honing those of more experienced practitioners as they work towards threshold targets. Much of this evidence is gained through observations of lessons and conversations or interviews with teachers, student teachers and pupils. As Wragg (1994) has suggested, if lessons are worth observing they are also worth analysing properly, and the same argument can be applied to the use of interviews or conversations where information is being gathered to further knowledge about school and classroom contexts. Observations and interviews that are conducted skilfully lead to benefits for all parties involved, whereas those that are handled badly can be counter-productive, arousing hostility and suspicion.

When carrying out observations or conducting interviews it is essential to ask the question: what is the purpose for doing this task? For example, if a student teacher is having difficulty with a class management issue, the observation schedule will need to focus on why pupils appear to be misbehaving, what they actually do, how the student teacher responds and what might be done in the future to avoid disruptive behaviour. In interviewing, the questions need to be unambiguous, thus allowing the evidence being sought to emerge. Being clear about the purpose of the observation or interview is a prerequisite to deciding the most appropriate method of collecting the evidence.

4.2 Observing teachers and pupils

4 Collecting evidence about teaching and learning

4.2 Observing teachers and pupils

Effective observation is crucial in the professional development of all teachers. When beginning to learn this skill it is difficult, as a student teacher, to know how and what to observe. Student teachers may also be so eager to attempt teaching, that they may overlook the advantages for learning about teaching that observation provides. It is important to recognise that how and what is observed will change as teaching skills develop and a new focus for observation emerges. Indeed, observation as a strategy for improving teachers’ understanding of pupil learning can be utilised throughout a teaching career as new teaching and learning challenges emerge.

During initial teacher training the focus of observations in the classroom will change considerably and depend upon the individual needs of the student teacher. However, observing in order to understand the classroom from the teacher's perspective is essential for all student teachers.

In the Level 1 Familiarisation phase of teaching the focus for observation will be on:

rules, routines and rituals of classroom life;
beginnings and endings of lessons;
strategies for gaining the attention of the whole class;
activities for pupils to do once they have completed the main task of the lesson.

During the Level 2 Consolidation phase the focus for observations may be on:

specific teaching strategies and techniques;
working with groups;
observing mentors instructing, explaining, questioning.

In the Level 3 Autonomy phase observations may focus on:

effective methods of teaching to support pupil learning;
how pupils' speaking and listening aids their development;
strategies for identifying misconceptions in the development of subject knowledge.

In all the contexts described above, observation is not just about ‘copying’ what teachers do. Observation is a tool for collecting evidence to aid understanding through reflection on what is happening in the classroom and discussion with the mentor. Such evidence provides only a partial picture and needs to be linked to curriculum planning and progression, the teacher's aims and objectives, their philosophy for teaching and learning, relationships with pupils and pupil aptitude, and the constraints of the physical teaching environment. Careful and structured observation linked to each stage of student teacher development provides a basis for student-mentor discussion across a wide range of teaching skills and activities. Observations carried out by the student teacher of other teachers, of collaborative teaching with their mentor, or of aspects of their own teaching can aid analysis of practice in mentor sessions and help to develop the skills of the reflective practitioner.

Observation by the student teacher also provides an opportunity to understand classrooms from the pupils’ perspective and the influence that individual pupils and groups have upon a lesson. Through studying what pupils do, as well as what teachers do, observers can learn a great deal about the impact of teaching on the learner. Shadowing a pupil for all or most of the school day can be very enlightening. Moving from classroom to classroom as the lessons change, and logging the pupil's activity and movements throughout a day, can provide a perspective of schooling as experienced by the pupils – and it is likely to be a very different perspective from that of their teachers!

All observational activities can provide the observer with a wealth of information about pupils, teachers and other adults who work in schools. Being in an observational role is a very privileged position and it carries with it an obligation for the observer to act with great integrity at all times. Observation of teachers, pupils and school and classroom activities should always be undertaken with great sensitivity. There are a number of ethical considerations about how the information should be used that student teachers should adhere to whenever they employ observational strategies in schools and classrooms:

Inform the mentor and other teachers who may need to know the purpose of the observations.
Seek permission to carry out the observations from the mentor, who will help with access to observe in other classrooms.
Be responsible for the confidentiality of the data.
Be accountable with the mentor for how the data is used to develop their practice in mentor sessions.

In our daily interaction with pupils and colleagues we are constantly gathering and storing information. Learning how to collect and store this information in a way that will provide reliable evidence to inform what we do requires a systematic approach. Using a research notebook to record information concerning classroom observations and interviews with pupils and colleagues is a useful aid to memory and provides an account of what took place. Keeping a record of observations and classroom conversations is not easy and the observer will always miss more than is recorded. It is important to remember that there is never an objective account of ‘what really happened’ but it is possible to get closer to the truth as skills of observing and recording improve. When beginning observations it is important that mentor and student teacher agree the following:

What to observe – the lesson/topic.
Whom to observe – an individual pupil or a group of pupils. Focusing on the whole class is not always productive, as the information observed will be less specific.
When to observe – specific times for observation, such as the beginning or ending of a lesson, transition phases, or when pupils collect and use apparatus, will be helpful.
How to observe – find somewhere comfortable and unobtrusive to sit, make shorthand notes to collect as much information as possible and then expand on this as soon as the opportunity arises, at a lunch hour or break. Concentrate on the observation task in hand, as it is easy to become distracted in a busy classroom.

4.3 Interviewing teachers and pupils

4 Collecting evidence about teaching and learning

4.3 Interviewing teachers and pupils

Asking questions and obtaining answers from teachers and pupils can be much harder than it might at first appear! How questions are phrased may lead to ambiguity in the answers no matter how carefully questions are prepared beforehand. Nevertheless, using interviews to collect evidence is one of the most fruitful ways of communicating and gathering information to develop student teacher practice. Interviews can range from the very structured to semi-structured with a conversational style. A structured interview will follow a fixed schedule and defines the situation in advance; a semi-structured interview allows flexibility to adapt the schedule as the interview progresses and to follow up ideas that emerge. The semi-structured or conversational interview makes it possible to probe the respondent and follow up key ideas. This style of interviewing can be very valuable when talking with pupils who may interpret a question in a particular way or not fully understand what is being asked. There are a number of issues that need to be thought about when interviewing pupils:

Pupils may say what they think ‘the teacher’ wishes to hear.
In a group interview more dominant pupils may lead the discussion, thus eliminating the views of quieter pupils.
Pupils may not trust a ‘visitor’ to the school and therefore it will be important to build up a rapport before carrying out interviews.
Some pupils may deliberately give misinformation to test out the reliability of the interviewer!

Interviewing can pose problems for the interviewer as well as the interviewee. Bias can easily creep into an interview situation. Where questions are framed or phrased in such a way that the interviewer ‘leads’ the interview, pupils (and teachers sometimes!) will give only the answer that the interviewer wants to hear. While it is not possible to achieve complete objectivity, being aware of the problem and acknowledging it can do much to mitigate the serious effects of bias. Whether they are interviewing pupils or teachers, there are a number of practical questions that student teachers can address to help keep on the right track:

What is the purpose of the interview?
Is an interview the best method for collecting the evidence?
What type of interview should it be?
What schedule or guide needs to be prepared beforehand?
How will the answers to the questions be analysed?
How can bias be avoided?
Who should be interviewed?
Where and when will the interview take place?
Have all necessary official clearances been met?

When setting up an interview with a teacher or pupil the purpose of the interview should be made clear and an indication given of how long the conversation will last. At all times, honesty and integrity are important.

Through the use of observational and interview strategies student teachers can learn how to review their performance and construct portfolios of valid evidence against the standards for QTS.

4.4 Professional values and a code of practice

4 Collecting evidence about teaching and learning

4.4 Professional values and a code of practice

Student teachers on school experience will be treated as professional colleagues and this role brings with it the professional responsibilities all teachers share, as well as the requirement for a degree of sensitivity as a visitor in the school. All who are awarded qualified teacher status must uphold the professional code of the General Teaching Council and demonstrate professional values and practice. The following areas have been identified as important for student teachers to consider as they develop their professional values and practice:

commitment;
confidentiality;
relationships;
professional sensitivity;
concerns.

Being aware of a code of practice in the early school experiences will help student teachers to develop their professional values for teaching.

As teaching professionals, school staff are committed to supporting pupil learning. As fellow professionals, student teachers are expected to offer the same degree of commitment. Commitment also includes the values and attitudes that underpin teachers' work, such as aiming to raise educational achievement through having high expectations of all pupils; valuing and respecting their diverse cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds; treating pupils with consistency and respect; and promoting positive values, attitudes and behaviour. Commitment is about student teachers taking responsibility for their own professional development and learning in the context of working alongside school staff. They need to be open to improving their own teaching through self-motivation and evaluation of their own practice, analysing the practice of others and using research and other evidence. Awareness of the legal framework relating to teachers' employment and conduct is also part of this commitment to professional values and practice.

The school staff, and in particular the mentor and school co-ordinator, will work hard to offer student teachers good learning experiences. But mentor-student partnerships work best if a good relationship develops. Working with a trusted colleague will help student teachers to critically evaluate their own teaching; it will provide support for analysing strengths and weaknesses so that teaching skills and professional qualities can be developed. The way student teachers enter into their role can get this professional relationship off to a good start. Whatever life experiences student teachers have to offer (and these may be considerable), they will be the beginner in relation to the mentor's knowledge and understanding, usually of teaching, but particularly of the school context. Being professional in meeting obligations, being responsive to advice, and generally taking a positive approach to the role will set a good scene for the partnership.

Professional sensitivity is a key issue. It includes understanding the community context and the support role played by others who have contact with the school. Communicating sensitively with parents, carers and other professional adults is a skill that can be developed by the student teacher through observation of the mentor and school staff in a variety of situations and at times when school and the wider community meet.

5.1 Introduction

5 The tutor visit

5.1 Introduction

The timetable for the tutor visit must include the following activities:

Joint observation with the mentor of the student teacher followed by joint debriefing (1 hr 15 mins).
Time to read the student teacher's files and the mentor session records in the school training record file (30 mins).
One-to-one tutorial with the student teacher to review files and progress against the ITP; review subject knowledge and set targets for the next level of the course; discuss evidence from the school experience against the standards for QTS and assessment outcomes for the level (45 mins).
Discussion with the mentor to agree the assessment judgement and set targets for progress (25 mins).
Mentor briefing and training for the next level of the course (45 mins).
Discussion with the school co-ordinator (20 mins).

The tutor has an important role to play during the student teacher's school experience in terms of providing the link between module study and the school-based activities. The tutor also shares with the mentor in the support and assessment of the student teacher during the school experience placement. An overview of the school experience is maintained through:

confirming the proposed timetables before the school experience placement begins;
ensuring that the breadth of school experience meets the course requirements for that level and route;
maintaining email contact with the student teacher and keeping up to date with the progress being made during school experience;
the tutor visit.

The purpose of the tutor visit in school is to provide support for both the mentor and the student teacher and to contribute through lesson observation to the overall assessment judgement that the school co-ordinator and mentor will make about each school experience placement.

During the visit the tutor and mentor carry out joint observation and debriefing of the student teacher. This is an integral part of the quality assurance procedures for the programme. It ensures that the tutor, the mentor and school coordinator are applying the assessment outcomes for the level and the standards for QTS in the same way. Joint observation also ensures that the classroom activities are interpreted according to the specific context of the partner school. Where the tutor is not familiar with the partner school, the mentor has a key role in ensuring that the tutor appreciates the specific context in which the student teacher has been working.

Note During the tutor visit a range of activities needs to be covered and it is likely to last for at least four hours. The timing of the visit will depend to a large extent on how far the tutor has to travel to reach the school and some visits may need to take place from mid-morning until mid-afternoon.

5.2 Before the visit

5 The tutor visit

5.2 Before the visit

In preparation for the visit the tutor will need to:

Telephone the school to agree a date and time with the mentor and school co-ordinator for the visit.
Write to the school confirming the visit. This letter should:
1. set out the tasks and activities the mentor will need to do;
2. request that a focus for the observation is agreed with the student teacher and mentor;
3. request that a room is made available for private discussion and a timetable is drawn up across the agreed period of time to accommodate the necessary activities;
4. list the documentation that the student teacher and mentor will need to make available on the day.
Contact the student teacher to explain the purpose of the visit, confirm the focus of the joint observation, and tell them which files and documentation will be required on the day.
Inform the subject leader of the date of the visit and, where appropriate, discuss in advance any specific issues concerning the progress of the student teacher and strategies for resolving these.

5.3 During the visit

5 The tutor visit

5.3 During the visit

Joint observation and debriefing

A focus for the observation should have been agreed with the student teacher, mentor and tutor before the visit. A key purpose of the joint observation and debriefing is to share and enhance the practice of the mentor through observation, discussion and evaluation of the lesson. The tutor will be able to provide guidance for the mentor on supporting, challenging and setting targets for the student teacher for the final stages of the school experience placement. The student teacher will also benefit from the depth of discussion that two observers will provide.

Reading the files

The tutor needs to read through the student teacher's files and check that:

all school experience and module activities have been completed satisfactorily;
the school experience file is up to date in terms of lesson planning and evaluation;
there is evidence of subject knowledge development.

In the mentor's school training record file the tutor should check that:

the mentor session records are being kept appropriately;
appropriate targets are being set and achieved;
timetable requirements are being met.

There should also be evidence in the files of progress made and targets set for the ITP.

One-to-one tutorial

In this session the tutor should cover the following areas:

assessment of the student teacher's subject knowledge development during the school experience placement;
review of the student teacher's files;
timetable coverage;
teaching activities, including marking and keeping records;
target achievement and progress against the ITP, assessment outcomes for the level and the standards for QTS;
targets for the next level.

Discussion with the mentor

In this session the tutor should cover the following:

thank the mentor for supporting the student teacher and stress the importance of their role in training and assessment;
student teacher progress towards the assessment outcomes for the level and the standards for QTS;
the student teacher's completion of the school experience activities;
issues that emerged from the one-to-one tutorial;
the weekly mentor session;
the ITP and targets for future progress;
the school experience report;
briefing on the nature and content of the next school experience, including identifying mentor training needs.

Discussion with the school co-ordinator

In this session the tutor should:

thank him or her for making the arrangements for the visit and for the support they are giving the student and stress the importance of the partner school's training and assessment role, and the school co-ordinator's quality assurance role.
seek confirmation that the school co-ordinator is actively involved in all summative assessments and check that they know the schedule for returning the school experience report.
give feedback on the student teacher's progress and raise any concerns, agreeing action where appropriate;
leave a copy of the observation form with the agreed targets that came out of the joint debriefing.

After the visit

Following the visit the tutor must:

submit a school visit report to the Open University;
contact the subject leader via email immediately after the visit if there are progress issues to discuss;
write to the school co-ordinator and mentor thanking them for arranging the day and confirming the assessment judgement and targets for progress;
send a supportive and encouraging email to the student teacher that confirms the targets for progress.

6.1 Introduction

6 The school experience review

6.1 Introduction

At the end of every school experience placement the mentor and student teacher will hold a school experience review meeting.

This is an essential element of the placement. It is an opportunity for unresolved issues as well as achievements to be discussed and plans for future successful progress to be made. It is particularly important that the student teacher understands the assessment and comments that are to go in the school experience report, and that the implications for future professional development and training are set down in terms of targets. An open, honest and sensitive evaluation of strengths and areas for further development will assist the student teacher to reflect on their own practice and encourage their understanding of teaching and learning in secondary schools.

Preparation for this meeting by the mentor and the student teacher is necessary if it is to be an effective aspect of the training process. It is helpful to have this meeting in the week following the end of the placement in order to give the student teacher time to complete all records of placement activities for their school experience file and reflect upon the teaching activities they have undertaken.

6.2 Before the school experience review

6 The school experience review

6.2 Before the school experience review

In preparation for this important meeting the mentor will need to:

discuss with the school co-ordinator the student teacher's achievements and areas for future development;
review the evidence from observations and mentor session records to check that targets set during the placement were achieved;
review the student teacher's school experience file;
discuss with the school co-ordinator the draft comments that will go in the school experience report;
liaise with the tutor where appropriate.

In preparation, the student teacher will need to:

ensure their school experience file is up to date and available for their mentor well in advance of the school experience review;
reflect on the evidence that they will be presenting to demonstrate their achievement against the assessment outcomes for the level and the standards for QTS to ensure the most appropriate evidence is presented;
review the school experience activities they have completed and consider how these are helpful in terms of preparing for module study in the next level;
draft adaptations to the ITP to discuss with their mentor in the school experience review.

6.3 During the school experience review

6 The school experience review

6.3 During the school experience review

In the meeting the mentor will:

summarise the student teacher's achievement during the school experience against the assessment outcomes for the level;
summarise the student teacher's progress towards the standards for QTS;
discuss observations carried out by the tutor, mentor and school co-ordinator to show how they have reached an agreed view on the progress achieved;
consider with the student teacher the evidence to be presented in the portfolio to demonstrate progress against the assessment outcomes for the level;
discuss and agree targets in relation to further development against the standards for QTS at the next level of the course or for the induction year at the end of the course;
discuss and adapt the ITP, as appropriate;
discuss the draft school experience report with the student teacher.

6.4 After the school experience review

6 The school experience review

6.4 After the school experience review

The mentor and school co-ordinator will formally record the student teacher's assessment outcomes in the school experience report, sign a copy of this and send it with the required documentation for each level to the Open University.

The student teacher will complete the assessment tasks for their assessment portfolio and send it to their tutor. The student teacher prepares for the next level of work by recording their progress and identifying priorities subject knowledge audit screens.

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References

Hagger, H. and McIntyre, D. (1994) Learning Through Analysing Practice, Reading 8, Mentoring in Secondary Schools: A professional development programme, Milton Keynes, The Open University.

Maynard, T. and Furlong, J. (1993) ‘Learning to teach and models of mentoring’, in McIntyre, D., Hagger, H. and Wilkin, M. (eds) Mentoring: perspectives on school-based teacher education, London, Kogan Page

Acknowledgements

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