Become an Outstanding Mentor: The Broader Picture

The habits a good mentor uses, like listening, asking and letting people find their own answers, work well beyond the weekly one-to-one. Used in a lesson observation, they make it something a teacher might ask for.

You'll be able to agree a focus before an observation and let the teacher tell the story of the lesson before anyone judges it. You'll know how to set up peer mentoring, whether it's a recently qualified teacher supporting a new one or Year 8s mentoring Year 7s. Mentors get proper training, clear boundaries and a route for any concern that has to go to safeguarding.

And you'll have the questions that help pupils and staff plan a task, notice where they're stuck and get going again. That's when mentoring starts to shape how a whole school works.