Coaching and Mentoring with Lizana Oberholzer

In this episode Toria talks to Lizana about 'Coaching and Mentoring'. Here is a message from Lizana - Developing others is always close to my heart, as it is clear from research that the more confident and developed teachers are in their fields, the greater their impact is on pupils and learners. However, teacher development happens in many different ways, and often we start off by developing others in a co-constructive way, working with teacher educators and mentors. The mentoring role cannot be underestimated, and the Carter Review (2015) not only highlighted its importance, but a need for the role to be given enough time. In many working papers produced by CollectiveEd, the mentor’s role is highlighted as key in the teacher trainee’s initial teacher education, and this is echoed in the Early Careers Framework as part of the DfE’s (2019) retention strategy to support future teachers, and to retain them. However, mentors are volunteers, and they give back to the profession in so many different ways, they support others develop others, and often, when working with mentors, they often are not recognised for the work they do, and how much they impact on the wider education landscape.  NQTs often share that a good mentor made all the difference to their learning journey. However, this role is often not acknowledged for its importance and mentors are often in a position where they have very little time to support others. Mentor development often focus on the logistics, and there is a real need to take that further into the learning of mentors and their understanding of the learning of others. It is also important to understand the needs of mentors, and how we can support them to be the best they can be for those they are supporting.  In addition, mentors, also need to understand how the mentoring relationship evolves, and moves from support to a more independent relationship where questioning becomes more helpful in the development of the mentee, to the point where the mentor can make the transition to coaching, with the consent of the coachee, to help develop better learning conversations. Coaching and mentoring are described by Connor and Pokora (2017) as learning conversations, and it is important to think how we can develop mentor’s understanding of the learning journey of their mentee, and to support them well to enable them to facilitate these learning conversations and journeys effectively.

Bio:

Lizana Oberholzer is a Senior Lecturer in teacher education at the University of Wolverhampton. She is the BERA TED SIG Convenor in England, BAMEed Trustee, CMI Fellow, Chartered College of Teaching Founding Fellow, Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, CollectiveED Fellow, Vice Chair of the UCET CPD Forum, and MAT Director.

@LO_EduforAll

Useful websites:

CollectivED | Research | Leeds Beckett University

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BASIC Coaching (basic-coaching.com)