The role of mentors in supporting the professional learning of lecturers in further education colleges in Scotland and Wales

Abstract

This article details the findings of a research project that aimed to interpret and understand the experiences of further education lecturers as they undertook initial teacher education. Using rigorous methods grounded in hermeneutic phenomenology, the research situated in colleges in Scotland and Wales structured as two significant case studies, revealed that the 20 respondents had a reliance on both formal and informal mentoring from colleagues in developing their practice as lecturers. The support received from mentors supplemented the perceived deficiencies of formal training courses in preparing the respondents for supporting students with extended needs. The article analyses the relationship between formal university provided teacher education and the practicalities of supported work based practice. The research foregrounds UK further education as a suitable and internationally important model for the broader study of utilised methods of professional learning and the relationships between mentoring and prescriptive qualifications. The paper concludes by highlighting the importance of strengthening and developing mentoring and work based professional learning partnerships within colleges and foregrounds the pertinence of this in relation to the next phase of FE development in the UK.