THE MENTOR IN TEACHER INDUCTION AND TEACHER DEVELOPMENT

Bart Van Thielen

Abstract
In order to facilitate initiation into a new career, we set up a coaching scheme under which experienced colleagues coached first and second year teachers. This programme has been in existence since 1986.
Beginning teachers know their colleagues insufficiently and often find it difficult to articulate their problems or negative experiences. Experienced colleagues often do not spot problems newcomers face or cannot spare the time to help them.
In order to remedy this situation, a coaching scheme paired each beginning teacher with a senior colleague, or mentor, who actively assisted them and provided a support for help at all times. Teaching problems were extensively discussed, and experiences, teaching materials and aids were interchanged. Close collaboration between colleagues was strongly encouraged, and an open team spirit developed.

Characteristics of the beginning teacher
Awareness of the struggles of a beginning teacher is essential before meaningful guidance can be offered. Mentoring teachers need to recognise several problem areas:
• initial planning;
• designing basic classroom procedures;
• using effective language during instruction;
• balancing the whole instructional programme;
• evaluating students;
• integrating with the rest of the staff.

Initial planning
Planning is very important. At the first stage, a number of questions need to be answered. What am I going to teach? Why? To whom? How? What tools am I going to use?
The content of the course is largely determined by a syllabus, based on long and short term goals. The occurrence of a particular aspect of the course at a particular moment is not accidental. Therefore, it is of vital importance to formulate accurately and concretely the goals to be attained during a given lesson. Of course, in order to be able to achieve these goals one needs to know one’s target audience and its already acquired knowledge, as well as its patterns of thought and learning strategies. An adequate knowledge of the target group is of the utmost importance in order to select the proper teaching method and tools.
It is striking that beginning teachers tend to emphasise the contents of the course: schemes and diagrams, word explanations, solutions to exercises (they focus on ‘What shall I teach?’). Aspects such as goals, target group, method and evaluation (questions of why? to whom? how? with which tools?) receive less attention. Though quite understandable considering their lack of experience and insight, this misconception has far-reaching consequences for actual classroom procedures.
Classroom procedure
Classroom procedure is strongly dominated by beginning teachers’ need for reassurance: they prefer to stick as closely as possible to the lesson plan and try to avoid venturing into unknown territory. If the latter does happen, they risk wandering off the subject, a problem lurking not only for beginning teachers. Yet, beginning teachers lack the experience to sense the usefulness and expediency of a digression. They try to avoid tricky questions by preparing their classes meticulously. If other questions do crop up, a beginning teacher will try to hide behind feigned self-assurance in order not to lose face.
Language interaction
Language is communication. The interaction between student and teacher is of crucial importance. The teacher needs to command an effective questioning technique. In the beginning, this technique often aims only at eliciting the expected answer. Consequently, the teacher listens only for the desired answer, whereas any answer enables the teacher to learn something about the students, about their ability to understand, patterns of thought, perception of a problem or the comprehensibility of a question.
Furthermore, beginning teachers fear moments of silence. If the answer does not follow the question promptly, a new question is added, possibly directed at another student. Therefore, it is essential for beginning teachers to learn to listen and to reflect on the answers and attitude of the students. Moreover, it is necessary to allow the students to talk as often as possible. Students require this practice, not the teacher. Yet, the ‘teacher talking time’ of beginning teachers is found to be very high. They talk during grammar and vocabulary sessions, they comment on reading texts, they explain more than is really necessary and they are easily tempted to participate actively in discussions instead of acting as listener or chair.
Programme evaluation
Learning to balance the total class programme is essential. The subject matter has to be clearly defined and well-timed. Offering learning strategies, selecting interesting material geared to attainable goals, limiting the amount presented during one lesson, distinguishing essentials from secondary considerations: this is a lot to ask.
Obviously, these aspects also tie in with experience. The fact that a good lesson consists of an introduction, a body and a conclusion is often only theoretically obvious!
The selection of a proper method and adequate use of teaching tools contribute largely to the success of a lesson. Beginning teachers, however, find it very hard to cope. Too often, they pay scant attention to what they see as trivial details. They attempt too often to use materials that have not been tested, and they use equipment without the necessary technical knowledge. However, the possibly negative results of all this can be turned into positive ones provided the necessary help is offered. ‘Classroom management’ is not a simple business, and yet a variety of rules of thumb can offer a solution.
Evaluation
‘Is this clear?’ A familiar question. And so is the affirmative student answer. Evaluation of the learning result needs to be an effective evaluation. After each part of the lesson, at the end of each session, it is essential to check whether the desired goals have been achieved. If one skips this evaluation, one is bound to start lecturing over the students’ heads. This also holds true for assignments set in and outside the classroom: assignments must be simple and crystal clear, if the hoped for result is to be achieved. Beginning teachers must also learn to evaluate in the long run, starting from their objectives. The assessment of the skills acquired by the student in the course of a term or a school year, is not an isolated activity but ties in closely with the above-mentioned aspects of problem analysis. Drawing this link again requires a lot of insight.
Integration with teaching staff
A beginning teacher should be able to integrate with colleagues as soon as possible. At The Language Centre (CLT), team work is a must: close collaboration marks each language team and the entire teaching staff at all levels. Our coursebooks are based on officially recognised curricula. Similar co-operation prevails when it comes to the organisation of written examinations. This requires substantial consultation and hence language teams meet regularly, sometimes even weekly, on their own initiative.
New colleagues find themselves involved from the very beginning. They receive existing coursebooks and during the first year their main task is to prepare their classes thoroughly. Although the beginning teachers have passed a period of practical training and have taught a set of trial lessons, they now find themselves faced for the first time with the sole responsibility for an entire course. They find themselves powerless when confronted with numerous problems, partly because they are not familiar with them and hence find it hard to identify them. This is partly because they do not register certain signals emitted by the student audience.
Experience is an important criterion for critical self-assessment. Whereas experienced teachers are able to anticipate numerous stumbling blocks at an early stage, beginning colleagues often knock their heads against a brick wall, which is not only detrimental to self-assurance and job satisfaction, but also most unpleasant.

An induction/development programme
Although the CLT programme involved beginning and mentor teachers of adult learners in language instruction, many principles in this programme may apply to the mentoring process of teachers at various levels and in different subject areas.
At CLT, all students are adults. Their decision to attend classes is the result of careful consideration. Their motivation is very high and they assess the selected course solely with regard to their personal achievement. Their perception of the teaching behaviour of the teacher is based on high demands and expectations. They want to perform optimally in the chosen language and expect the teacher to stimulate their interest and effort. For this reason, they demand a thorough understanding of the target objectives and the required final result, a soundly structured organisation of course contents and classes, the necessary support and encouragement in their personal integration of the learning process, and an active and personal involvement in the classroom procedure.
These are high demands, especially when one takes into consideration the fact that 70% of the students are older than the beginning teacher and that they often have a higher professional or academic status than the teacher.

Objectives of the Programme
1. To provide the beginning teachers with special attention and the support of an experienced mentor.
2. To apply the experience of senior colleagues to the benefit of inexperienced teachers.
3. To encourage and reassure beginning teachers and offer them the opportunity to remedy possible problems efficiently.
4. To encourage junior and senior colleagues to reflect critically on teaching in all its aspects.
5. To teach beginning colleagues to work toward attainable objectives.
6. To further the integration of beginning teachers within the teaching staff.
7. To instil a sense of responsibility in senior teachers towards their junior colleagues.
8. To encourage the whole staff to venture beyond their own field and to promote an open team spirit among all colleagues and language teams.
Procedure to recruit mentor teachers
At the beginning of the school year the new teacher is allocated a mentor, also called a godfather or godmother. The mentor teacher’s recruitment is based on three criteria:
a. the mentor possesses the required experience;
b. the teaching timetable of mentor and new teacher allows them to attend each other’s classes;
c. the mentor teaches a language different from the beginning teacher’s.
The last criterion arises from two considerations: first, the newly recruited teacher is assumed to be sufficiently expert in the target language, and second, the counselling and coaching must focus on the didactic approach rather than on specific, language-related subjects. In effect, a mentor belonging to the same language team is virtually impossible because of the constraints of school timetables.

The initial programme
The coaching scheme consisted of an observation and teaching part, and generally covered a period of two years until the new teacher received (promise of) tenure. If tenure was deferred for one year, the coaching was extended for that period.
The first coaching scheme consisted of a total of four lessons, two taught by the mentor teacher and, subsequently, two taught by the beginning teacher. Each teacher taught their own class. This set of lessons had to be completed by December.
A class at CLT comprises two or three lessons of sixty minutes twice a week. The mentor attended a minimum of one hour per class, the beginner stayed for the whole duration of a lesson. The written lesson plan covered the whole lesson and both parties received a copy in advance.
An observation checklist was filled out for each lesson observed by the mentor. The following schedule applied:
Class I (mentor):
• Extensive discussion of class preparation. Agreement on special topics to focus on during class observation.
• The actual lesson observed by the beginning teacher.
• Short debriefing.
Class II (mentor):
• Lesson observed by the beginning teacher.
• Extensive follow-up discussion.
Class III (beginning teacher):
• Extensive discussion of class preparation: the beginning teacher is given ample opportunity to make modifications advised by the mentor.
• The actual lesson observed by the mentor.
• Short follow-up with an outline of areas to focus on and concrete tips for the beginning teacher.
Class IV (beginning teacher):
• Class attended by mentor and director.
• Discussion of class by mentor and director.
(The director now entered the situation and received feedback on the evolution of the counselling/guidance/coaching process. Beginners did not find themselves confronted with contrasting views during the ensuing deliberation and hence confusion was usually avoided.)
• Extensive deliberation with mentor, director and beginning teacher.
During the second term/semester all support teachers met twice to assess the scheme. In general all participants felt that the experiment was positive. However, problems came to light.
First, two beginning teachers were unable to cope with their assignment. Consequently, the support teachers felt frustrated because all their efforts and positive attitude left them powerless and insufficiently armed to face up to the situation. A second problem ensued from the former. Although mentor teachers wished to reassure their junior colleagues and help them remedy their problems, they experienced their own role as a repressive and judgmental one. They had the impression that their junior colleagues-with-problems did not view them as experienced helpers but as executioners.

The second version
Based on the assessment of the initial programme, a second variation was developed. The fact that beginning teachers were allocated a different mentor during their second year under the scheme was a major alteration in the second version. The aim was to allow the junior teacher to share in the experience of several colleagues.
The junior teacher observed a minimum of three lessons taught by the mentor and used an observation checklist. For each session a different kind of lesson was selected (e.g. vocabulary, grammar, conversation, language laboratory). The observation checklist was aimed at helping the junior teachers to focus their observation on selected aspects of instruction and to recognise the underlying objectives. It was felt to be useful for the junior and senior teacher to discuss the lesson preparation prior to the lesson.
Then, after preparatory meetings, the mentor observed two classes taught by the junior colleague. The post-conference included the director. Both the mentor and the director received a copy of the initial lesson plan. Dates for these lessons were fixed at least a week in advance.
Before the Easter holidays another class was observed by the mentor and director. The junior teacher submitted all class preparations (lesson plans) of the second term to the director. These preparations were to comprise concrete objectives, teaching aids/tools, structure of the lesson and detailed procedure, exercises, questions and blackboard presentation.
After completion of the entire observation-teaching programme, the mentor compiled a final report on the coaching. This report was discussed with both junior teacher and director of studies and both parties received a copy.
Two meetings were held, the first for mentor teachers, the second for beginning teachers. The mentor teachers stated that in a number of cases it was hard to pinpoint or define the problems exactly. This was partly due to the fact that they had little experience in counselling and coaching beginning teachers; however, there was also a language problem. As the mentor teachers were coaching a colleague teaching another language, they found their insight into the learning process and their observations of the student-teacher interaction were hindered. They felt that certain problems were rooted in the very individual approach characteristic of each course.
The junior teachers seemed very satisfied with the existing format. They felt that their mentor could give them a comforting feeling and offer a rich source of inspiration. Feedback indicated that it would be useful for them to attend a lesson taught by a colleague belonging to the same language team and grade. They preferred a change of mentor for the second year and opted for a mentor belonging to a different language team but one teaching students at the same grade level. They outlined the task of the support teacher as not merely a didactic one, but also a practical one, of offering assistance when administrative, technical or other problems arose.
A two-day seminar on class observation was organised for the entire teaching staff and mentor teachers were given guidelines on lesson discussions.

The third version
The observation of lessons by junior teachers was thoroughly altered. The number of classes observed was reduced again from three to two. The mentor and junior teacher attended two more classes taught by colleagues teaching the same language at the same level.
Yearly, the counselling/coaching scheme is evaluated by everyone. Since 1991, the junior teachers have met without the director chairing their meeting. It is significant that junior teachers have suggested that their observations as well as their teaching should be extended, and that the visitations by the director should be increased.

Conclusions
After some years, several conclusions may be drawn from this on-going mentorship project:
1. The overall feeling of participants in the project has been very positive.
2. This mentoring programme is not merely a duplicate teacher trainer programme. It is an in-service teacher development process focusing on the specific organisation and unique approach of each school. An elaborate didactic infrastructure has been integrated within a well-adapted method. It is based on the rationale that it would not be justified to set high demands on inexperienced teachers without offering them the tools necessary to meet these expectations.
3. Beginning teachers assessed the coaching positively. It was an instructive experience for them and facilitated their initiation into teaching. The support of a mentor offered them a comfortable feeling and reduced stress. The acquired insights into the learning process allow them to participate more actively when their language teams meet. They feel reassured and become inquisitive. This was exemplified in their demand for more class visits by colleagues, which confirmed that the presence of observers was not perceived as an inspection or repression, but as an opportunity to be valued.
4. Experienced teachers were reassured because their experience and competence were needed. They felt jointly responsible for their junior colleague as well as for the quality of classroom instruction. They evaluated their own role in this learning process as constructive. Class visits and discussions with junior and other colleagues was an enrichment for them. They were stimulated to think beyond their own subject.
5. The director’s assessment of beginning teachers is no longer based on chance, but on detailed data within a larger context. In this way, a more dynamic picture was obtained of the development of a beginning teacher and a less proficient or untypical performance was placed in perspective. Such performances came to be viewed as part of a growth process to be explored, and learning occurred from both positive and negative experiences.
6. The reaction of the adult students was not negative and the presence of ‘inspection/control’ seldom affected their attitude adversely. Many viewed this constant quality concern displayed by the school as mirroring their own demands for quality. They were offered opportunities to express their views on the CLT courses in a detailed evaluation questionnaire.
The CLT mentoring programme will continue to grow and change and attention must be continually paid to the area of tension between creativity and flexibility on the one hand, and the restrictive character of timing and planning on the other, while keeping in mind the maxim that ‘learning is more important than teaching’. The programme is based on fieldwork and practical experience contributes to it daily. New findings become premises for further practical research. In this way such a mentoring project can be considered a kind of ‘action research’: trying out ideas in practice as a means of improvement and as a means of increasing knowledge about the curriculum, teaching and learning. The result is improvement in what happens in the classroom and school, and better articulation and justification of the quality of educational practice. The CLT mentoring project is action research which provides a way of working that links theory and practice into one whole.