Regular readers of this blog will know that I have a soft spot for Strictly Come Dancing.  During Saturday evening’s (2023) final, Anton Du Beke uttered the following words, when addressing Ellie Leach following her final dance of the competition:

“I’ve danced where you have [for] many years, and the joy of sitting here is that I get to sit here and watch you and follow you and try to encourage you… and nothing makes me more proud than to see you pull this off in a mature, wonderful way.”

Of course, these words made me reflect on the experience of mentoring beginning and early carer teachers. 

Where is the joy?

I often talk about the joy that can be found in mentoring (Crooks, Haydn & London (2023), p.1).  However, at the end of the longest term known to humanity, finding joy in mentoring can be hard for those of you on the ground who often mentor alongside already overstretched timetables.  Our current climate, where Initial Teacher Education seems to be hard-pressed on every side, also makes it hard to find the joy at times.  If this sounds like you, you may be growning weary of the mentoring role. It may be that your previous reasons for being involved in the mentoring of beginning and early career teachers no longer hold – the more self-interested motives (perhaps a looming promotion opportunity) may no longer be justification enough. You may have tired of being the only person able to mentor.  In these situations it can feel that the potential to find joy in the role is nothing more than a pipe dream.  And yet…

The impact reward

This week I had the privilege of attending the graduation ceremony of last year’s PGCE graduates, now a term into their teaching careers as ECTs.  Their stories of teaching highs, challenges they’ve overcome, relationships they’ve built with children, responsibilities they’ve acquired and contributions they are making to wider school life, made my heart sing.  Each of them have been enabled to succeed in their ECT years by the mentors who supported them as beginning teachers and continue to support them as ECTs.  And this is why it’s worth it.  As I’ve said previously: ‘The teachers I meet are usually motivated by a desire to see children grow a love of their subject and gain the empowerment and life opportunity that education can bring.  When you mentor you multiply the potential of that impact; even if only in some small way, their long-term impact is in part due to you and your support in those early days.’ (Crooks, 2020).

Celebrating your contribution and finding your joy

My affection for Strictly is not just because it is great escapist television for dreary autumnal evenings, and it’s not just because I like to critique the judges’ feedback from the comfort of my sofa.  Mainly I love it because it is just so wonderful watching contestants go from the position of total ballroom novice to skilled dancers over the course of the competition.  Anton’s impassioned farewell to Ellie gets right to the heart of this: “the joy… is that I get to sit here and watch you and follow you and try to encourage you“. 

For mentors of beginning teachers, the reward is so often in walking the journey from novice to independence with their mentee.  You are their chief supporter, modeller, target setter, motivator, course corrector.  You get the privilege of sitting, watching, following and encouraging your mentees until they are ready to fly the nest.  And what a flight it is. 

Reclaiming the joy

Sometimes, in the melee of school life, it’s easy to lose sight of our why, our greater purpose for being involved in mentoring in the first place.  Perhaps at the end of this long term you need to find the joy to shake off the weariness; take stock, look back at the mentees you’ve supported to date, think about the success they’ve enjoyed that is in (not insignificant) part due to your efforts, and say aloud: “nothing makes me more proud than to see you pull this off in a mature, wonderful way”. 

References:

Crooks, V. (2020). Why bother mentoring a beginning teacher? What’s in it for me?, Becoming a History Teacher Blog.

Crooks, V. (2021). Strictly Come Teaching: Giving feedback to novices, Becoming a History Teacher Blog.

Crooks, V., Haydn, T. & London, L. (2023) Mentoring History Teachers in the Secondary School: A Practical Guide, Routledge: London.  

Ellis, V. ed. (2023), Teacher Education in Crisis: The State, The Market and the Universities in England, Bloomsbury: London.