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


Growth Coaching


BASIC Coaching (basic-coaching.com)


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