Mentor Development activity 2 (January 2026): Co planning

One of the most effective ways to follow up on ITaP theme of adaptive teaching is to engage with co-planning with  your beginning teacher.

Powell (2023) highlights the following advantages to co-planning:

• by narrating the thought process, the implicit becomes explicit for the beginning teacher
• supports the beginning teacher to visualise how the lesson will turn out in practice
• the beginning teacher gains access to ‘hidden knowledge’ of where pupils are likely to struggle
• allows a shift in beginning teacher’s thinking from being concerned with what they, as the teacher,
• will deliver toward being more concerned with what pupils will learn
• leads to beginning teacher confidence leading to creativity

Discussion and reflection task:

During a weekly meeting choose a lesson to plan collaboratively with a focus on adapting to the needs of all pupils.

1. Narrate your own thought process to your beginning teacher. What decisions would you make around planning this lesson? How would you form your Learning Objective?
2. Identify elements of the lesson that would benefit from adaptation to suit the needs of individual learners. Discuss strategies and specific ideas that could be included in the planning to illustrate your knowledge of adaptive teaching.
3. Clearly identify key assessment points within the lesson. Ask your beginning teacher to explain to you how they will assess learning at each stage for all pupils.
4. Following the lesson try to make time to reflect, did planning this lesson collaboratively have a positive  impact for your beginning teacher in the classroom? How did you both experience the process?

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Mentor Development activity 1 (December 2025): Settling your beginning teacher into school

Schools are full of ‘unwritten’ and ‘unspoken rules’ (Eraut, 2000).

Professional knowledge needs to be learnt within the specific context of the school

The depth of a beginning teacher’s professional knowledge gives them fewer resources to draw on than a more experienced teacher

In Level 1 mentor training we talk about the depth of “tacit” or hidden knowledge that we have built up over time. In their first few weeks which areas of this hidden knowledge will be most pressing for your beginning teacher?

Beginning teacher discussion and reflection task:

As part of your induction into school discuss the above quotation with beginning teacher.

• How aware of this lack of ‘hidden knowledge’ are the beginning teachers at this stage?
• Where do they think their most pressing gaps in professional knowledge lie at the start of this first assessed placement?
• To what extent do experiences of education they have had previously impact on how they are experiencing the early days of the placement (think about the ideas of the Apprenticeship of Observation covered in Level 1 mentor training: (PDF) The apprenticeship of observation)