Putting mentoring into practice

Since the last decade, the notion of mentoring has shifted from the socialization of novice teachers to the development of professional learning communities among teachers, veteran and novice, to bring about improvement in teaching and learning. This paper presents the "theory-and-practice connection model" adopted in two mentor preparation programmes in Hong Kong. While improvement of teaching and learning is the common focus of the two programmes, they differ in programme objectives and duration. Structured mentoring practical work is an integral component of the two programmes. Improvement of teaching and learning being the core of mentoring, action learning, experiential learning, portfolio construction for professional development inform the design of the structured practical work. The practical work includes three components: 1. self-analysis of teaching and learning; 2. lesson observation, pre- and post-lesson conferences; and 3. reflection on professional development. On the basis of this common framework, mentor trainees of one of the mentor preparation programmes undertake the structured mentoring practical work in the form of one-on-one mentoring contextualized in peer learning with other mentor trainees in the programme. Mentor trainees of the other programme go through the practical work in the form of mentoring novice teachers in their own schools. By conducting analysis of mentor trainees' portfolios and focus group interviews with trainees, the study explores the impact of structured mentoring practical work on mentor trainees' professional development. Initial findings are presented and implications for mentor preparation and the development of a mentoring force are discussed.