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12 May 2025
Read time: 6mins
‘Unlike other leadership roles, mentoring is not always valued, prioritised or well resourced. Yet, mentors should rightly be proud of their lasting impact on Early Career Teachers (ECTs), even though their busy professional lives can leave limited time for reflection on the importance and impact of their role.’
Vicki Pountney, Emma Rawlings Smith and Chris Powell
On behalf of the Teacher Education Phase Committee, Emma Rawlings Smith, Vicki Pountney and Chris Powell ask geography mentors Georgia Fells, Lynsay Haydock, Abigail Hirst, Daisy Levett, Joel Quilter and Tom Witts about the rewards and challenges of mentoring student teachers.
Introduction to mentoring
Mentors play a crucial role in the professional development of student teachers; they model good teaching, provide a wealth of guidance and support, and help develop in their mentees the professional knowledge essential for a successful teaching career.
Unlike other leadership roles, mentoring is not always valued, prioritised or well resourced. Yet, mentors should rightly be proud of their lasting impact on Early Career Teachers (ECTs), even though their busy professional lives can leave limited time for reflection on the importance and impact of their role.
The literature highlights the emotional and professional labour involved in mentoring, emphasising the need for ongoing sector support and appreciation of mentors’ work. In this blog, members of the GA Teacher Education Phase Committee engage with school-based geography mentors to explore both the rewards and challenges of mentoring, shedding light on the vital contribution mentors make to teacher preparation.
The motivations and rewards of being an ITE mentor
‘I enjoy teaching most, when I’m working with others, so it was a natural progression into supporting new teachers and developing the skill set of coaching and mentoring to support them as they start their geography careers.’
There are many reasons for becoming an Initial Teacher Education (ITE) mentor. All the mentors we spoke to mentioned the importance of nurturing the next generation of teachers. They wanted to be positive role models, able to inspire a love and passion for teaching by supporting student teachers to love geography through the planning and teaching of creative and inspiring geography lessons.
Whilst first time mentors saw mentoring as a next step in their own professional development journey, more experienced mentors agreed that working with student teachers can not only help to bring in new ideas to their department but also had a positive impact on colleagues’ ability to reflect on and articulate what good geography looks like.
It was clear from the mentors that we spoke to that the rewards of mentoring are akin to the rewards of being a teacher. All agreed that seeing their student teacher experience those ‘lightbulb’ moments when something suddenly clicked was immensely rewarding.
A number of mentors also highlighted the pride they felt when seeing their student teacher’s confidence in the classroom grow as they developed their own teaching style. This is especially satisfying when mentors can see their feedback being applied by their student teachers, resulting in tangible improvements over time.
One mentor explained that they have frequently changed their own lessons based on something they have seen a student teacher do and this highlights how the process of mentoring is mutually beneficial. It allows mentors to gain new insights and inspiration, as trainees often bring fresh perspectives and innovative teaching strategies.
Additionally, mentors value the personal connections they build with their student teachers, offering support and guidance throughout the year. It is therefore not hard to see why many of the mentors we spoke to had mentored student teachers for many years.
The challenges of mentoring and available support
Like any role, mentoring comes with challenges as well as rewards. Mentors have to strike a delicate balance between offering encouragement and providing critical assessment of their student teacher’s progress.
On the one hand, a mentor is their biggest cheerleader, supporting their student teacher through the highs and lows, but on the other, they’re also there to give honest feedback. This means that all mentors will at some point have to have difficult conversations with their student teachers and this is something that can be challenging.
One mentor we spoke to also highlighted the difficulty they find in making their tacit, instinctive knowledge of how to teach geography explicit to their student teacher. This might be likened to the ‘expert paradox’ which is the idea that the more knowledgeable or skilled someone becomes in a particular area, the harder it can be for them to understand what it’s like to be a beginner, therefore making it challenging to explain concepts clearly to novices. This is why mentoring strategies such as co-planning lessons can be so important as a tool for mentors to communicate their thinking and rationale.
On the mentor support available, the mentors we spoke to felt that they were able to access support from a range of sources when needed. Departmental support was often the first point of contact, allowing mentors to address issues within their school community. Collaboration within the department was seen to be invaluable, with colleagues assisting in observations, co-planning, and workload distribution, thereby easing the mentoring burden while enhancing the student teachers’ learning experience.
‘Some of the support was just being honest with my trainee about when I had less time and when I had more. Creating that flexibility between us was the greatest support, but it also gave my trainee the chance to take ownership of her own journey.’
For more complex or concerning issues, guidance from university tutors was often instrumental, as they possess the experience and expertise of the wider programme and ITE partnership to offer tailored advice, alternative strategies or a plan for further support.
A key aspect of overcoming challenges was recognised to be open communication with student teachers, particularly in setting realistic expectations, goals and targets. This transparency fostered flexibility, encouraging student teachers to take ownership of their professional development by identifying areas where they can work independently, while seeking specific support when needed.
Institutional support also played a crucial role, especially for new mentors. Senior colleagues and professional leads often provide logistical support, such as timetable adjustments to facilitate dedicated mentoring time. Additionally, new mentors appreciated opportunities for formal mentor training (20 hours of which was funded in 2024-25) and support from colleagues, including teachers with mentoring experience and university tutors, especially when it came to understanding the PGCE programme and the paperwork needed at different points in the year.
Student teachers themselves were another source of support, especially when they were proactively flagging upcoming aspects of the PGCE programme that needed mentor input. Online training, seminars, and regular check-ins were also of benefit, providing professional development, links to relevant literature, and resources to help navigate mentoring practices effectively.
The timely support provided by lead mentors was important, especially when student teachers were struggling or not meeting expectations, reinforcing the importance of well-established support systems and open dialogue in mentoring. When faced with difficult situations, one mentor said, ‘It’s always best to follow the systems and depersonalise the situation should a challenge arise.’
Does the reality of mentoring match to your initial perceptions of mentoring?
‘Having mentored for many years it has been fantastic to see the legacy of trainee teachers that have come through ITT programmes. On a personal level this has hugely developed my mentoring and coaching skills working with many inspiring individuals who constantly develop my own reflective practice and reinforce the passion for our subject and profession.’
Perceptions of mentoring can be markedly different, with mentor perceptions not always matching the reality of experiences. Sometimes, new mentors do not necessarily know what to expect, beyond the model they received when training to teach.
One experienced mentor commented ‘they know by now what they are getting into!’ An already busy but dedicated mentor commented that the reality of mentoring was not always as expected. For some, the reality is very different – but thankfully in a positive way!
Whilst mentors identify the additional time commitment required to undertake this role effectively, it is recognised that being a mentor can connect teachers into new and innovative communities of practice, which in turn contribute to their own professional development.
For others, the positive pay-back of seeing how novice teachers progress as they develop confidence and capability is even more rewarding than first expected. For others, ensuring new entrants to the profession can see how rewarding teaching can be as a career is the ultimate reward for being a mentor.
Concluding thoughts
Through our ongoing discussions with mentors, these conversations reaffirmed the significant and pivotal role that mentors play in supporting student teachers as they begin their ITE journey.
We also heard mentors speak about the value they place on having opportunities to talk with other geography mentors so they can develop new skills and expertise to ensure all geography students are provided with opportunities to learn throughout their ITE year. Whilst acknowledging the additional commitments which are required to undertake this important role effectively, the work undertaken by school-based mentors is therefore crucial to any successful ITE partnership.
If you want support for mentoring, there are plenty of resources available on the GA website’s ITE section to support mentors and student teachers in both primary and secondary schools. If you’d like to find out more about TEPC, please visit our page or get in touch.
Written by Vicki Pountney, Emma Rawlings Smith and Chris Powell from the GA’s Teacher Education Phase Committee
© Vicki Pountney, Emma Rawlings Smith, Chris Powelland the Geographical Association, 2025
