Mentors for the Wipro Teacher Fellows are experienced teachers of the STEM subjects. Mentors may be new to the role or bring experience of acting as a mentor or coach to other teachers. For Cohort 4 we have both new mentors, some of whom were previously Fellows, and Senior Mentors, who have already completed the Wipro programme.
Building on our existing mentor development programmes at Sheffield Hallam University [1], (the equivalent of) three days of blended face-to-face and online learning will support Mentors to develop their mentoring knowledge and skills [2] , with sessions on key areas including STEM teacher careers and early career teacher resilience.
Each Mentor will support 1-3 Fellows through face-to-face meetings taking place approximately once a month over the programme, at a time and location to suit the Fellow and their Mentor.
Mentors are welcome with expertise in any STEM subject area, in primary or secondary schools. Our intention is to pair Mentors and Fellows with the same subject focus where possible. Mentors’ schools will receive a payment for their time both participating in the support programme and acting as Mentor.
The training programme is a blend of face to face and online sessions, and Mentors will meet their Fellows monthly for an hour or two, at a time and place suitable agreed between the Fellow and the Mentor.
The Wipro Teacher Mentor programme is fully funded by Wipro Limited. There is no charge to schools. The schools of all Mentors receive a bursary, paid in instalments, to support their participation. Bursary payments will vary depending on the number of Fellows each Mentor works with.
Teacher Mentor Programme
The course aims to prepare the mentor for a mentoring role in the Wipro Teacher Fellow programme by fostering a shared understanding of the practice of mentors in education. It will identify the effective characteristics of mentoring, leading to an improved and more coherent experience for mentees, so that they develop further as effective teachers and are supported to complete the Wipro Teacher Fellow Programme. This will contribute to the building of a culture of coaching and mentoring in schools, where high-quality mentoring and coaching is respected as a valuable resource for professional learning.
Our experienced Senior Mentors will continue to develop their skills over the course of the programme, via dedicated sessions and support.
Course Objectives
Having completed the course you will be able to:
- Identify the key principles of mentoring and understand their relevance and application to mentoring practice
- Understand the set of knowledge and skills that constitute ‘know-how’ in mentoring and how this can lead to improved teacher professional practice
- Reflect critically on your own mentoring practice and understand how to identify gaps and weaknesses in your current practice and to use this knowledge to improve your mentoring and the teaching practice of others
- Participate effectively in professional communities of mentors in order to share individual professional practice and to draw from the practice of other mentors
- Contribute to the development of a set of Wipro Teacher Fellow Programme Mentoring Principles.
Curriculum
The curriculum is organised into (typically) five sessions (a mix of face-to-face workshops and online webinars) and is structured as follows:
- Session 1: Introduction (half-day face-to-face): introduction to the programme
- Session 2 Strengthening your Mentoring Practice the principles of mentoring and coaching; importance of reflection; developing reflective practice
- Session 3 Understanding Teachers’ Practice and how it Develops: the cycle of professional improvement; giving and receiving feedback; the place of evidence, research and theory in teachers’ practice
- Session 4 Improving Teachers’ Practice through Challenge: understanding the nature of practice and its development; supporting mentees to develop their practice; evaluating change in practice
- Session 5 Understanding the Wipro Teacher Fellow Programme : details of programme requirements; support mechanisms for mentors; effective contracting with your mentee.
Pedagogy
The learning activities are focused on discussions and resources aimed to deepen learning in the session’s topics and include:
- Webinar: a one-hour online session in the virtual classroom, involving presentations by the course team and invited speakers
- Discussion Forum: discussion around an issue relevant to the topic of the week
- Case Studies: materials to exemplify the week’s topic
- Readings: a reader setting out key ideas in the literature with links to further reading
- Shared E-tivities: brief contributions to a virtual space that will build a shared resource of ideas for the mentors on the course
- Self-evaluation against the ITT mentor standards and the Wipro Teacher Fellow Professional Principles
Professional Recognition for Mentoring: Digital Badges and Certificate
Completion of each workbook earns a digital badge and completion of all three workbooks/badges earns a certificate of completion. This involves:
Workbook 1: Strengthening your Mentoring Practice.
- Identify the key principles of mentoring and understand their relevance and application
- State National Standards for school-based Mentors Professional relationships
- Identify the benefits of, and differences between, coaching and mentoring
- Identify how the mentoring / coaching needs of teachers vary at different points of their career
- Understand the set of knowledge and skills that constitute ‘know-how’ in mentoring
- Recognise how mentoring knowledge can lead to improved teacher professional practice
- Reflect critically on your own mentoring practice
- Use this knowledge to improve your mentoring and the teaching practice of others
Workbook 2: Understanding Teachers’ Practice and how it develops
- Identify the key ideas in developing teachers’ professional practice
- Understand the principles of professional development of teachers’ practice
- Understand the notion of teachers’ expertise
- Explain the relation of experience to learning and the development of expertise
- Identify what is meant by theory for practice and how this is related to evidence
Workbook 3: Improving Teachers’ Practice through Challenge
- Identify the key ideas in mentoring teachers seeking Wipro Teacher Fellow status
- Understand the nature of change in teachers’ practice
- Identify the principles of reflective practice and critical reflection
- Identify strategies for how teachers build on experience through critical reflection
- Plan a programme of support for your mentee
Certificate of Completion
To receive the Wipro Mentor Certificate of Completion mentors complete three workbooks and an Action Plan 
Our experienced Senior Mentors will continue to develop their skills over the course of the programme, via dedicated sessions and support.
[1] Pountney, R. & Grasmeder, A. (2018) Building bridges: enhancing mentoring skills, knowledge and practice through an online course, Pages 50-56, CollectivEd [3], Carnegie School of Education, Leeds Beckett University [online: https://bit.ly/2GDFQFx]
[2] Pountney, R. (2019) Seeing and framing mentoring through the lens of knowledge practices CollectivEd 7, Carnegie School of Education, Leeds Beckett University [online: https://bit.ly/2W1PABo ]
For more information or to express an interest in joining the programme, get in touch by email at WiproTeacherFellow@shu.ac.uk, by phone on 0114 2256060 or via Twitter @teacherfellow.