Unhelpful school mentor?

“Trainees are a burden” really?
Yes they take up time yes they require support yes in many occupations (not just teachers) mentors are not given extra time or money but we need them. Not only to ensure that our chosen occupation continues but because having a trainee who challenges our practice by questioning why we do what we do we have to be able to justify our actions and this helps us as individuals to maintain high standards In our practice. They may have worked in other areas be it another school hospital office local council etc and have seen alternative ways of working which they can share again or have ideas that will improve our practice. As a mentor I am acting as a role model for my mentee I want to be a good role model, I reflect on what I do, am I behaving in a professional way, are my decisions correct, am I demonstrating the highest standard possible? They also bring up to date ideas they’ve learnt in university and often know about current research. Three times in my career I’ve worked in areas with no trainees and the staff’s practice was out of date, unused to being challenged the staff had become complacent their practice was not underpinned by current research and they didn’t like it when what they did was questioned. Trainees are not a burden they are essential part of maintaining high standards we need hem as much as they need us.

BubblesBuddy
I think teachermaths is making some fair points.

I really enjoy teaching. I'm glad i retrained. On advice threads here I'll always give realistic and honest advice (including when I think schools and mentors are out of order) I also love being a trainee and NQT mentor and bend over backwards for them because I know how much I valued having to supportive mentors (helpful but not hand holding).

But, and this is true, there is no extra pay for it and I don't get given time for it.

With a good trainee (not as in teaching good, as in good approach), they are proactive, thoughtful, self-aware, understand the demands of schools or are at the very much open to the idea that they are finding their feet. They refer to the course packs, they make notes, they use materials given to them (e.g. maps/staff or trainee handbooks). They slot into the team well, get involved but don't demand loads of fuss. Even if they are a good trainee who is weak at teaching, they work with class teachers and mentors but they also use their own initiative and don't place unreasonable demands on the school. It's a pleasure to work with them and see them grow.

With less good trainees they are very much a burden. They are very quick to complain about the tiniest things, they will turn up regularly during people's prep time asking questions that have already been covered multiple times, complain to their training provider if I've set them prep work other than lesson planning because they have decided (with all of the expertise of 20 days in school) that it's not useful to them and is preventing them planning lessons (rather than accepting that prep is going to make them a better teacher). They take professional constructive criticism as personal nastiness and are quick to be the victim saying class teachers and mentors are being mean and 'always telling them what's wrong' without thinking thay every lesson has positives and areas of development. They can be regularly incessant with questions rather than using their initiative (e.g. I had a trainee who would stop me asking for information that I knew was in the training provider file given to all trainees and then when I told them that I didn't know off my head but go and look in their course pack, got shirty).

Both types of trainee exist. I do my very best for both, but on occasions have had to involve the training provider with the second type because they were becoming like a vampire sucking the life out of staff. It's always horrible if it gets to that point, but ultimately they have to be made aware of how training placements work.

I hope you don't decide I'd be a horrible person to work with now.

What was your previous job?

What are they expecting of you over these 4 days?

What subject?

You haven't actually said, apart from lunch, why they haven't been friendly? It might just be a different environment to what you are used to.

Agree with @noblegiraffe. I think the key thing to point out is that the school gets money for trainees. The Dept/teachers don't - and they are the ones who get the extra burden. Our SLT happily take PGCE students and assign them mentors. I'm a massively overstretched HoD and really wouldn't want a PGCE student next year, thanks. It's one more thing on my workload - not one less. No one will give me any extra time which is the thing I'm short of; my A level classes are bursting at the seams - classes of 25 or more, which is utterly ridiculous. My PPA is slashed to the minimum - I actually get 30 mins a week to do my HoD role - 1 extra PPA per fortnight, yet the amount of work I'm expected to do on top is incredible. I don't have the time or the energy to mentor a student and at this point in the year I am knackered. Energy levels have been sucked by Y11 and Y13 - and now (hooray) I have Y7-9 doing end of year exams, 3 Y10 classes (90 students) sitting GSCE papers and 2 Year 12 classes sitting Mock A level papers. Great. Huge amounts of History marking. On top of that end of year reports, UCAS reports - and I can see why your mentor might be a bit curt and frazzled.

Perhaps if SLT mentored trainee PGCE students rather than just expecting overstretched staff to do it they would be lovelier. You say your mentor is nice, but makes me feel like a burden. You are one. At least she's nice. I'm struggling to be that to anyone at the moment.

How could they be nicer? Eat lunch with you and show you the way round? You're a grown up!

Bubbles buddy you know nothing about what it would be like working with me or noble.

I'm a very supportive mentor who gives up time for mentees over and above the expected amount. I reply to last minute lesson plans after 11pm, I sort things at the last minute in the morning if trainees are struggling, I sit with them more than the required hour a week and help them. I dealt with an issue during February half term which took over 6 hours of phonecalls, emails etc. I don't mind doing this to get people in the classroom and teaching half decent lessons. However the reality is that the time is a drain on me mentally and impacts on my workload. A lot of time when training is spent reflecting and reviewing your practise....sometimes these conversations aren't pleasant and can contain criticisms. Part of being a trainee is accepting this and acting on it.

Life’s too short to work with people like Teschermaths too!! You can take these posts as a warning OP!

It might be a case of being a keyboard warrior with Noble here. The teaching profession is all doom and gloom on MN but they are all still bitching after all these years and still working as teachers! It’s not as bad as they say. Noble is a maths teacher. She could get another job (part time I think I recall) but she chooses not to. So it’s ok really!!! If you hang on in there!!

I agree though: if it’s not ok, walk. Life is too short to be unhappy.

4 days is enough to know the bare bones of your way round.

What else has she criticised you for?

Trainees are a burden. I try not to make them feel like this, but they are. They suck your time and some require a lot of support above a normal teaching timetable. There's no extra pay or time given to being a mentor. Some mentors are shit, equally some trainees have unrealistic expectations. I'd imagine your mentor could be slightly kinder and you could be a bit less touchy.

followthefairytalexx
For me it would depend on what it is (E.g. someone asking where the nearest toilets are to the department block multiple times would be a bit irritating but someone not knowing how to get to a small admin office to process their IT access would be understandable and wrong for a mentor to be irritated) Equally, we give trainees a map of the site and there's maps up in every block so it's a little frustrating for situations where, for example, they arrive late to assembly in the main hall when it's shown clearly on the map, we've shown them round the school and they know what time they need to be there, or worse when they know they have an assembly and they sit in the staff room waiting for their mentor to take them to the room for their next lesson when it's in the same block and all the doors are numbered.
In those situations I'd be thinking 'come on, use your initiative, leave before the bell goes, use the map, ask a member of staff or student if you get close but aren't sure'.

In my experience as career changer trainee and as a mentor, there's sometimes a disconnect between expectations and that's where there can be tensions and writing off a department / mentor early on leads to the most drama and stress (that happened to a trainee on my course and then I had a trainee who decided I was horrible because I didn't sit down and plan lessons with them every day)

noble can I suggest that you reread your comments. The first comment you made on this thread “the school are doing you a favour”. What by asking their new trainee to come in to get a few days experience and then treating her like she’s a burden, criticising what she eats for lunch and refusing to her how to do things. If that’s doing her a favour I dread to think how they’d behave if they didn’t want her there.
Good luck with your PGCE OP fingers crossed that your mentor will treat you decently when you actually start in Sept.

Reading Nobles posts, I'm not surprised that the teaching profession is on its knees. Not exactly a welcoming environment and no one likes to feel a burden. I'm glad I'm not her mentee.

Honestly OP if I were you, I'd run screaming. I've had a job where I felt unwelcome and sticking at it was the biggest mistake I have ever made. I wish I'd said fuck you all on the first day and walked.

Possibly mentor could be friendlier but as an fe teacher and ex school teacher I never take a lunch break. I would as a mentor do my best to make a potential trainee feel welcome but I would be unable to sit down and chat with them over a lunch break.

Could the mentor do a little more?Probably.
Are you equally being a bit precious? Yes.

Ultimately, you're there on work experience and you start your training in September. I would imagine the reason school have asked you to come in for a few days is so you can get a feel for the school and how things work, where things are etc. Or they've asked you to get more experience of secondary before the course starts (which is par for the course i'm afraid)

I career changed into teaching and based on your posts, you appear to have a touch of the attitude of other career changers who found the transfer difficult.

Trainees should never be accepting of being shat on, but they do need to be aware of the reality of school life and avoid being oversensitive or overcritical.

E.g. I can go 3 days without seeing some members of my department. Nobody is rude. People are busy. I had lunch with someone on work experience on 2 days of the week they were in, other days different colleagues were in the staff area. Unfortunately school life doesn't stop because there's someone in for a few days and once you're in school fully you'll realise that. Equally, your mentor will probably have lots of directed tasks to do in their gained time and so can't drop them to sit down and chat/go through everything/be on call all week. Whether you are being awkward and expecting too much or the mentor, well that could be either side. Equally, I've met a not insignificant number of trainees who seem to think that unless their mentor is fussing over them and dropping everything for them that they're being ignored and neglected . I'm afraid that there is a fair chance you're taking part and parcel of school life to be a sign people are rude and unhelpful.

I'd say you need to clarify the purpose of your time in school. Is it to familiarise yourself with the school? Is it to get to know the department? Is it to spend some more time shadowing classes? Is it formal induction?
Your course will set out the expectations for mentors and trainees, including meeting times, observations etc. That will kick in from september. They'll also be able to explain how and when they are free on top of that (and remember you're joining a department so support is more than judt the mentor). Clarity of expectations is key for an effective mentor/mentor relationships

The lunch thing is crazy. Where did she have her lunch?

We tend to congregate in the dept office for a couple of mins, ram a sandwich in and get on with more work. Not exactly a pleasurable shareable life experience.

How big is the school that you don't know the way round in 4 days?

When you say she criticises things you do, is it just that she's not overly positive?

Thats not a lot to ask

Yeah, it is. When you get into teaching, you’ll learn.