Mentoring and coaching for teachers in the further education and skills sector in England

Through the research we sought to:

1: learn more about the reach, strengths and limitations of institution-based teacher mentoring in FE and of other forms of support for FE teachers’ PLD, with a particular but not exclusive focus on teachers of STEM subjects.

2: explore the potential need for and appropriateness of a programme of external mentor support for FE teachers in general and STEM teachers in particular.

3: identify factors which may encourage or discourage FE teachers of STEM and other subjects from accessing and taking full advantage of external and/or institution-based mentoring, and identify other barriers to effective mentoring and potential means of overcoming these.

4: make recommendations with respect to strengthening institution-based mentoring and/or introducing a programme of external mentor support for FE teachers.