Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book gives readers the opportunity to interrogate mentoring and to learn how to craft a mentoring approach which is meaningful and effective for both mentors and mentees in a physical education or sport coaching context. It also allows the reader to step back and to address mentoring from a socio-cultural viewpoint. Mentoring is a core principle of professional teacher education and coach education. The presence of experienced mentors in formative field experiences is a vital component in ensuring meaningful work-based learning for pre-service teachers and coaches. In addition, mentees learn to sharpen classroom management expertise, personal time management skills, workloads and behaviour. Liam O’Callaghan shares how this has impacted the experiences of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) trainee Physical Education (PE) teachers.