EDME601 - Mentoring for Professional Learning and Development

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Incompatible

Unit rationale, description and aim

At a time of rapid ongoing change as a result of globalisation, internationalisation and the continuing development of information communication technologies, the role of mentoring for professional learning and development is important for all involved in education.

The unit is designed to ensure that students become informed in order to understand the diverse concepts, purposes and processes of mentoring. The roles and skills for effective mentoring will be explored against the backdrop of the domains of teaching as identified by State and National Institutes of Teachers and current educational practice. Participants will investigate techniques and processed involved in establishing mentoring programs that are based upon informed decision making through the collection and analysis of data, which is then interpreted through integration with research on best practice. Particular reference will be made to pre-service teachers, induction and retention of beginning and experienced teachers against a standards framework of professional accountability and practice. The aim of this unit is for participants to become effective mentors who are familiar with mentoring programs, analysis of data within the framework of informed research and scholarship

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Investigate the nature of teachers' work and identify those attributes which characterize effective and best mentoring practice against a range of frameworks (GA6, GA7)

LO2 - Analyse theories, models and perspectives of mentoring appropriate for diverse educational settings (GA6, GA7)

LO3 - Evaluate the mentoring process to support individual and collective professional learning in a range of education contexts (GA3, GA4)

LO4 - Synthesise theories, models and perspectives of mentoring to design differentiated mentoring programs appropriate to a diverse educational setting (GA4, GA6, GA7, GA8).

Graduate attributes

GA3 - apply ethical perspectives in informed decision making

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA6 - solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account

GA7 - work both autonomously and collaboratively 

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

Content

Topics will include:

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This unit is offered in offered in multimode and uses an active learning approach to support students in the development of knowledge and skills related to the diverse concepts, purposes and processes of mentoring. Students have the opportunity to attend synchronous online webinars to participate in the construction and synthesis of this knowledge. Such an approach allows flexibility for students are largely engaged in full-time work. 

Where required by cohorts, part or all of the unit could be delivered face-to-face with students engaging in lectures and workshops as well as students accessing digital resources and activities available through the LEO site.

This is a 10-credit point unit and has been designed to ensure that the time needed to complete the required volume of learning to the requisite standard is approximately 150 hours in total across the semester. To achieve a passing standard in this unit, students will find it helpful to engage in the full range of learning activities and assessments utilised in this unit, as described in the learning and teaching strategy and the assessment strategy. The learning and teaching and assessment strategies include a range of approaches to support your learning such as reading, reflection, discussion, webinars, podcasts, video, workshops, and assignments etc.

Assessment strategy and rationale

In order to successfully complete this unit, postgraduate students need to complete and submit three graded assessment tasks. The assessment strategy used allows students to demonstrate their knowledge related to mentoring for professional learning.

The first task requires students to respond to a series of questions related to module 1. The second task is a case study of a particular context. The third task requires students to develop a mentoring program and implementation plan.

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Cairns, L. (2011). Learning in the workplace: Communities of practice and beyond. In M. Malloch, L. Cairns, K. Evans, & B.N. O’Connor (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of workplace learning (pp. 73-85) London, England: SAGE

Dominguez, N., & Hager, M. (2013). Mentoring frameworks: synthesis and critique. International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, 2(3), 171.

Elliot, J. (Ed.). (2012). Reconstructing teacher education: Teacher development. London: Routledge.

Ellinger, A., Hamlin, R., & Beattie, R. (2008). Behavioural indicators of ineffective managerial coaching. Journal of European Industrial Training, 32(4), 240-257.

Goldhaber, D., & Cowan, J. (2014). Excavating the Teacher Pipeline: Teacher Preparation Programs and Teacher Attrition. Journal of Teacher Education, 65(5), 449-462.

Hargreaves, A., & Fink, D. (2008). Distributed leadership: democracy or delivery. Journal of Educational Administration, 46(2), 229-240.

Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning. London: Routledge.

Lieberman, A., Hanson, S., & Gless, J. (2012). Mentoring teachers: Navigating the real-world tensions. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Myers, S. D., & Anderson, C. W. (2012). Dimensions in mentoring: A continuum of practice from beginning teachers to teacher leaders. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

Stanulis, R., & Floden, R. (2009). Intensive mentoring as a way to help beginning teachers develop balanced instruction. 60(2), 112-133.