‘Supporting Early Childhood Colleagues and Pre-Service Teachers in a Mentoring Relationship’ is designed for early childhood leaders looking to progress to HAT level.
As the expertise among early childhood teachers continues to be recognised and valued, available professional development courses have allowed early childhood teachers to achieve proficient level status. However, progress to Highly Accomplished Teacher (HAT) level has not been possible because of a lack of courses designed to meet the needs of early childhood teachers.
Macquarie University’s new course ‘Supporting colleagues and preservice teachers in a mentoring relationship’ is designed for early childhood leaders looking to progress into HAT level.
“Similar to primary and high school teachers, many early childhood teachers feel they lack the knowledge and skills they need to supervise preservice teachers and mentor colleagues’ in supervisory roles,” explains Dr Fay Hadley, a Senior Lecturer at Macquarie, specialising in leadership in early childhood education. She worked in partnership with Dr Rebecca Andrews, a lecturer in Early Childhood and Ms Doranna Wong, a PhD student, to develop the course.
“The primary aim for this course is to guide teachers in establishing successful mentoring relationships.
It is aimed at those wanting to successfully mentor colleagues and teacher education students, as undertaking the course requires participants to be mentoring someone at the time.”
Demonstrated experience as a mentor is required to achieve Highly Accomplished Teacher accreditation, Dr Hadley adds. “This is provided by the actual mentoring undertaken as part of this course, and will help early childhood teachers achieve their HAT accreditation.
“As far we know, this is the only Highly Accomplished Teacher (HAT) professional development course for early childhood that exists in New South Wales. It is also based on research which means early childhood educators will get the most up-to-date relevant content.”
Mentoring as a leadership strategy
Dr Andrews says the recent changes to the early childhood teachers’ accreditation processes has created the opportunity for early childhood teachers to complete courses that will support their applications for HAT accreditation.
“Given mentoring in the early childhood sector is still being conceptualised, this course provides teachers with opportunities to understand this phenomena (mentoring) and to work with both colleagues and teacher education students,” she explains.
Participants of the course will get the chance to examine mentoring as a leadership strategy, and will be expected to practice self-reflection, which is key for teachers to become capable mentors in leadership roles.
Participants produce written evidence demonstrating their successful mentoring skills at a HAT level, as this course requires a formal written contract between involved colleagues and demonstrates the development of a contract, goal setting, and implementation of goals.
Encouraging advocacy
With the increasing regulation within the early childhood sector, it’s also important that early childhood leaders continue to be advocates for the profession, Dr Andrews adds.
“With the Professional Development accreditation for early childhood teachers now in place, we felt it was a great opportunity to help develop future early childhood leaders through our own experience with teaching and research, notably our earlier research around negotiating the space between mentor and mentee.
“It’s a phenomenon that requires unpacking in order to understand how teacher education students are supported.”
Leadership is a professional responsibility for teachers working in the early childhood sector, she adds.
“Recognition of the professionalism of this group of educators is something we’re keen to build as well as inspire early childhood leaders, so this course aims to do just that.
Course leaders Fay Hadley and Rebecca Andrews enjoy connecting with people who are inspired and energised by the prospect of positive mentoring relationships.
“We believe that to truly reap the benefits of the mentoring process (including the relationship), we need to move beyond the traditional model of ‘do it like me’, and embrace the knowledge that the people we are mentoring are valuable contributors of knowledge, with the realisation that we can learn from each other.
“From this perspective, we’re helping each other learn and grow.”
Learn more about Macquarie’s professional development courses and register now.