A Series of Webinars on Mentoring for Teachers was Held

During 6-14 June, a series of six webinars «School as a Learning Organization. Together toward Effective Learning. How can Mentors Help Teachers as Equal Members of a School Community?» was held. 

The webinars were carried out by Riia Palmqvist, Counselor of Education in the Finnish National Agency for Education, PhD in Education with 20 years of experience in teaching, and Anja Huurinainen-Kosunen, MA in Education, trainer, primary school teacher with almost 30 years of experience in teaching.

The trainers stressed that during the first years of a teacher career, mentoring increases motivation and trust, strengthens self-confidence and helps cope with difficulties. Mentoring is also a tool with the help of which teachers receive support from their school community and principal. 

During the webinars, the trainees considered in detail roles, tasks and responsibilities of mentors and mentees as well as mentoring methods – group mentoring, peer group mentoring and e-mentoring. They also discussed «one-to-one» mentoring – peer mentoring, which suits for a novice teacher or a new teacher at school.

One of the most popular methods in Finland is peer group mentoring, known there as Verme. This is an activity during which teachers share their experience and reflect on it, discuss problems and challenges that arise during work, listen to and encourage each other, learn together and from each other.

While traditional mentoring consists of individual consultations, peer group mentoring is carried out in groups, which include both novice teachers and more experienced colleagues. The group usually meets once a month after school and consists of 4-10 teachers and their mentor.

Peer mentoring is based on the idea that everyone involved in teaching and learning can learn from each other: new teachers need support early in their careers, and experienced teachers need new ideas.

As the Finnish experience shows, an efficient mentor can be a teacher who:

• has worked as a teacher for at least five years,
• has a variety of teaching and assessment skills,
• understands the importance of a teacher’s practical theory, professional identity, and professional development,
• has developed emotional and interaction skills,
• is a lifelong learner.

In general, the mentor should be trustworthy, friendly, positive, interested, decision-focused, supportive, and an active listener.

During the webinars, the trainees also learned about:

• professional learning communities and the school as a learning organization,
• strength-based pedagogy, positive pedagogy,
• teachers’ tools for working with students and parents,
• teachers’ professional well-being and prevention of professional burnout,
• development of a school culture.

Anja Huurinainen-Kosunen and Riia Palmqvist also noted that in general lifelong learning, self-assessment and reflection, joint discussions, peer assessment and discussions with a school principal/administrator should become important components of teacher professional development.