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University of Derby - The inclusion of subject-specialist mentors in the observation of initial teacher training (ITT) - Case Study

 

Subject specialist mentors had been part of our initial teacher training (ITT) team in a ‘critical friend’ role for some years, but we wanted to incorporate their skills in additional observations of teaching, to develop trainees’ subject-specialist pedagogy. We also hoped to extend our mentor training to include observation of teaching. Mentor training in the use of this documentation, and standardisation of the observation process and judgements, needed to be included in the training.

 

Key idea

"Our pilot was focused on the use of subject-specialist mentors as part of the observation of teaching process with trainee teachers, in-service, in their second year of training. In line with the emphasis on subject-specialist pedagogy from Ofsted, we wanted to provide trainees with more support, and opportunity for reflective practice, with the subject specialist looking at classroom practice. With the ITT tutor also looking at classroom practice, this raises the profile and professionalises the role of the subject-specialist mentor."

 

There are about 200 students in training across the partnership; approximately 110 are in their second year. The focus was on second-year students, as all our partners deliver year 2. To keep the project manageable, we concentrated our research on how the trainees benefited from a focus on subject pedagogy. We used mainly trainees working in colleges, where partners could have a degree of influence over the selection of subject-specialist mentors.

 

Aims and objectives
Trainees are usually observed on four occasions in year 1, and on two occasions in year 2, all by the ITT tutor. We wanted to provide the trainees with two additional full-class session observations of teaching with a subject-specialist mentor as well as two more generic observations with an ITT tutor. Our intention was to use the same observation documentation but to extend the observation time to a longer session (1.5 hours) with the focus on subject pedagogy in feedback. This allowed the observer to see more of the session, which was particularly important in the vocational areas. 

Our objectives were to:

 

• develop a mentor-training package, based on the previous training, which had included a recorded observation of teaching, use of the observation proforma, and assessment of classroom practice

 

• use, and evaluate, the contributions of subject-specialist mentors in the observation of teaching

 

• identify continuing professional training needs of trainees on the completion of their training, and to consider how best to interface with and to communicate these needs to inform Human Resources/staff development.