Meeting the potential for mentoring in Initial Teacher Education: mentors’ perspectives from the Lifelong Learning Sector

The Lifelong Learning Sector’s very diversity has produced a variety of mentoring practice, contested notions of subject pedagogy, and a continuum of mentoring from the ‘jobsworth’ to the master mentor. This article reports on two linked action research projects which investigate the context and challenges of mentoring in the Lifelong Learning Sector (LLS) following a raft of reforms to Initial Teacher Training (ITT) (DfES, 2002; DfES, 2004; Ofsted, 2003). In the research, mentors were asked to reflect on their experiences, interpretations of and training for their role and how they support subject pedagogy. The conclusion suggests that the government’s and regulatory bodies’ conflation of subject knowledge with subject pedagogy adds to the lack of coherent policy towards mentoring teacher trainees in the LLS; that mentor training should be re-focused; and that mentoring should be as well funded and supported in the LLS as it is in the schools sector

An analysis of beginning mentors’ critical incidents in English post-compulsory education: navigating stormy waters

This qualitative study explores the barriers and dilemmas faced by beginning and novice mentors in post-compulsory education in the southeast of England. It analyses critical incidents (Tripp, 2012) taken from the everyday practice of mentors who were supporting new teachers and lecturers in the southeast of England. It categorises different types of critical incidents that mentors encountered and describes the strategies and rationales mentors used to support mentees and (indirectly) their learners and colleagues. The study explores ways in which mentors' own values, beliefs and life experiences affected their mentoring practice.  Methodology As part of a specialist master’s-level professional development module, 21 mentors wrote about two critical incidents (Tripp, 2012) taken from their own professional experiences, which aimed to demonstrate their support for their mentee’s range of complex needs. These critical incidents were written up as short case studies, which justified the rationale for their interventions and demonstrated the mentors' own professional development in mentoring. Critical incidents were used as units of analysis and categorised thematically by topic, sector and mentoring strategies used. Findings The research demonstrated the complex nature of decision-making and the potential for professional learning within a mentoring dyad. The study of these critical incidents found that mentors most frequently cited the controversial nature of teaching observations, the mentor’s role in mediating professional relationships, the importance of inculcating professional dispositions in education, and the need to support new teachers so that they can use effective behaviour management strategies. This study contributes to our understanding of the central importance of mentoring for professional growth within teacher education. It identifies common dilemmas that novice mentors face in post-compulsory education, justifies the rationale for their interventions and mentoring strategies, and helps to identify ways in which mentors' professional development needs can be met. It demonstrates that mentoring is complex, non-linear and mediated by mentors’ motivation and values

Measuring the impact of subject specific mentoring on mentees' learning in the lifelong learning sector

In this small-scale research project, five mentors and five mentees from different London colleges were asked what impact mentoring might have, not just on teacher trainees, but on their own learners. How might this impact be measured? To what extent might these forms of evaluation be considered valid and reliable? The implementation of formal mentoring for teacher trainees in the Lifelong Learning Sector has increased the need for systematic evaluation of mentoring schemes in initial teacher training. The mentors’ and mentees’ suggestions for evaluating the impact of mentoring comprised quantitative and qualitative methods and also illustrated the significant challenges to evaluating with any precision the benefits of mentoring in hard statistical terms

Search for Limiting Factors in the RNAi Pathway in Silkmoth Tissues and the Bm5 Cell Line: The RNA-Binding Proteins R2D2 and Translin

RNA interference (RNAi), an RNA-dependent gene silencing process that is initiated by double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) molecules, has been applied with variable success in lepidopteran insects, in contrast to the high efficiency achieved in the coleopteran Tribolium castaneum. To gain insight into the factors that determine the efficiency of RNAi, a survey was carried out to check the expression of factors that constitute the machinery of the small interfering RNA (siRNA) and microRNA (miRNA) pathways in different tissues and stages of the silkmoth, Bombyx mori. It was found that the dsRNA-binding protein R2D2, an essential component in the siRNA pathway in Drosophila, was expressed at minimal levels in silkmoth tissues. The silkmoth-derived Bm5 cell line was also deficient in expression of mRNA encoding full-length BmTranslin, an RNA-binding factor that has been shown to stimulate the efficiency of RNAi. However, despite the lack of expression of the RNA-binding proteins, silencing of a luciferase reporter gene was observed by co-transfection of luc dsRNA using a lipophilic reagent. In contrast, gene silencing was not detected when the cells were soaked in culture medium supplemented with dsRNA. The introduction of an expression construct for Tribolium R2D2 (TcR2D2) did not influence the potency of luc dsRNA to silence the luciferase reporter. Immunostaining experiments further showed that both TcR2D2 and BmTranslin accumulated at defined locations within the cytoplasm of transfected cells. Our results offer a first evaluation of the expression of the RNAi machinery in silkmoth tissues and Bm5 cells and provide evidence for a functional RNAi response to intracellular dsRNA in the absence of R2D2 and Translin. The failure of TcR2D2 to stimulate the intracellular RNAi pathway in Bombyx cells is discussed

Teacher educators: proposing new professional development models within an English further education context

At a time of increasing public and government focus on the quality of teacher education, little is known about the professional development needs of those who teach teachers in further education (FE). Yet they are crucial players. Efforts are intensifying across a significant number of countries to promote the professional development of teacher educators, but there is little support for new or experienced practitioners and no substantive professional standards regarding this role in English FE. This has an impact on the professional practice and career trajectories of teacher educators themselves. Based on a series of semi-structured interviews, an online survey and focus groups, this mixed-methods study uses a sequential exploratory design. The study captures the voices of English FE teacher educators who identified mentoring, induction and a choice of continuous professional development sessions as important strategies to improve the effectiveness of their role over time. This article will propose flexible models of professional development, following an analysis of new and experienced teacher educators’ needs in FE in England. The article recommends that new professional standards for teacher educators could be written collaboratively by practitioners, within a policy and institutional framework which supports the scholarship and research requirements of teacher educators

Using Mixed Methods to Research the Professional Development Needs of English Teacher Educators in PCET Using Semistructured Interviews, Online Survey, and Focus Group

My PhD explored the professional development needs of teacher educators—the people who teach teachers to teach. In this case study, I discuss my experience of using mixed methods: semistructured interviews, an online survey, and a focus group, with a community of teacher educators in the southeast of England. I wanted to identify the professional development needs of beginning and more experienced teacher educators, with the aim of proposing flexible ways of meeting these. There was little research on teacher educators who worked in my context: Post-Compulsory Education and Training (PCET) which covers Adult, Community, and Further Education as well as Higher Education. Therefore, I wanted to gather evidence from a wide number of sources. It seemed to me that mixed methods would be the most appropriate research approach. However, as I found out, a mixed method methodology holds both opportunities and challenges, forcing me to reflect upon and question my role as a researcher. This case reflects a part of my larger PhD study

Dilemmas in measuring the impact of subject-specific mentoring on mentees’ learners in the lifelong learning sector

This article examines dilemmas in measuring the impact of mentoring on teacher trainees and on their learners in the lifelong learning sector (LLS). In this small-scale research project, five mentors and five mentees were asked how they might evaluate the impact that mentoring might have, not just on trainees, but on their learners. The research participants, who were from different London colleges which all run a University accredited initial teacher education course, were asked: how might they measure mentoring impact? To what extent might these forms of evaluation be considered valid and reliable? The implementation of formal mentoring for teacher trainees in the lifelong learning sector has increased the need for systematic evaluation of mentoring schemes by universities and colleges in initial teacher education. The mentors’ and mentees’ suggestions for evaluating the impact of mentoring comprised quantitative and qualitative methods and also illustrated the significant challenges to evaluating, with any precision, the benefits of mentoring in hard statistical terms