The quality of the relationship between you and your mentee will be an important factor in determining how well the mentee develops. Therefore you will want to get off to a good start.
Many organisations have mentor handbooks that give guidelines as to what should be agreed between you and your mentee at the outset and may include a formal mentoring agreement to be completed. If your joint relationship is to achieve its intended purpose, it is important that both of you have a shared understanding of the rules that govern it.
Here are some important issues it would be useful to agree at the start:
- The nature of the support you will give your mentee, including any specific support needs. You may find it useful to refer to your mentee’s ILP in defining this area of agreement.
- How often you will meet formally, the length of these mentor meetings, and how you will contact each other at other times, e.g. via email, telephone, etc.
- The nature and level of confidentiality that governs the relationship e.g disclosure of observation judgements to the mentee’s line manager, teacher education tutor or others, or of personal issues affecting either you or your mentee that may impact on your professional roles.
- The boundaries of your role, e.g. such issues as times when you are willing to be reached by telephone or how soon you will commit to responding to an email, etc.
Experience has shown that there are a number of pitfalls to be avoided in the mentoring context.
