The pedagogy of mentoring: Process and practice

The pedagogy of mentoring describes how mentees learn and the pedagogical knowledge and skills that mentor teachers need to support them to learn effectively. The central goal in mentoring pedagogy is to encourage mentees to become autonomous learners. The vignette describes a cross-border study that investigates the process and practice of mentoring in physical education-teacher education in three case-study sites between April 2010 and March 2011. At each of the research sites the participants comprised two researchers and a cohort of mentor teachers. From this process, a Position Statement on Effective Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) Mentoring was generated comprising five key themes, two of which are reported in this chapter. The mentor offers psychological support to the mentee ‘providing the mentee with a safe place to release emotions’ or ‘let off steam’. This psychosocial function will also involve developing mentee self-efficacy through building competence and confidence.