To my delight I was placed in a secondary school just up the road from my home town. I arrived on the first day to be greeted by my mentor, who happened to be a graduate from the same university as I was. The omens looked good, but within a few weeks things would take a turn for the worse.
My first inkling that something might be wrong was within the first couple of days when I presented my CV to my mentor. Gazing at my qualifications he commented how I'd obviously "done some work" at university and come out with a much better degree than he had. It seemed an unusual comment at the time, but it didn't dawn on me until a few weeks later that he was jealous of my academic standing.
In my first solo lessons I hit the ground at a thousand miles an hour. It was such a steep learning curve, having to plan each lesson in almost word for word detail and prepare all my resources from scratch. I really tried my best to respond to feedback and improve my performance in the classroom, but I was getting concerned at the lack of written feedback I was receiving. Despite my concerns most people in the school acknowledged the fact my performance was improving, so I was quite satisfied that I was heading in the right direction.
A few weeks in and I had a visit from a university tutor. We discussed my performance and he said that he'd heard I was "definitely getting better", apparently confirming what I'd been told earlier. I told him my concerns about my lack of written feedback and how the school were delaying (or simply couldn't be bothered) to sign my standards book when I kept on asking them. I asked him to discuss my concerns with my mentor, which he obviously did given the fact I was castigated from then on.
Within the space of a few days I had gone from "definitely getting better" to public enemy number one, who wouldn't listen to a word I was told and who couldn't be trusted to work safely with children. My mentor called university expressing his concern and demanding they come and review my progress. Of course I was blissfully unaware of these background rumblings until the day my university tutor turned up and confronted me with my mentor's concerns. I was belittled and humiliated in front of my university tutor, facing a barrage of criticism from my mentor that I had never heard before.
Thankfully the university could tell something wasn't quite right, given my mentor's dramatic change of tune when he was confronted about my lack of feedback. I told them my concerns - that my mentor decided to stick the boot in because he didn't like the fact that I'd complained about his lack of support. I can only assume this was put to him because he underwent another change of heart in the final couple of weeks of my placement.
Reading around the TES forums I see that my experience of a petty, vindictive and arrogant mentor are far from an isolated case. It's a sad fact that some mentors see it as their role to undermine and pick fault with trainees, simply to cast their own mediocre performance in a more positive light. Students are fearful of the disproportionate power their mentor has, so the path of least resistance is to grit their teeth, keep their heads down and endure the belittlement and snide comments.
It's totally unacceptable for your mentor to behave like this and you must tell your training provider so something can be done about it.
I'm hopeful my second placement will prove more enjoyable.
My first inkling that something might be wrong was within the first couple of days when I presented my CV to my mentor. Gazing at my qualifications he commented how I'd obviously "done some work" at university and come out with a much better degree than he had. It seemed an unusual comment at the time, but it didn't dawn on me until a few weeks later that he was jealous of my academic standing.
In my first solo lessons I hit the ground at a thousand miles an hour. It was such a steep learning curve, having to plan each lesson in almost word for word detail and prepare all my resources from scratch. I really tried my best to respond to feedback and improve my performance in the classroom, but I was getting concerned at the lack of written feedback I was receiving. Despite my concerns most people in the school acknowledged the fact my performance was improving, so I was quite satisfied that I was heading in the right direction.
A few weeks in and I had a visit from a university tutor. We discussed my performance and he said that he'd heard I was "definitely getting better", apparently confirming what I'd been told earlier. I told him my concerns about my lack of written feedback and how the school were delaying (or simply couldn't be bothered) to sign my standards book when I kept on asking them. I asked him to discuss my concerns with my mentor, which he obviously did given the fact I was castigated from then on.
Within the space of a few days I had gone from "definitely getting better" to public enemy number one, who wouldn't listen to a word I was told and who couldn't be trusted to work safely with children. My mentor called university expressing his concern and demanding they come and review my progress. Of course I was blissfully unaware of these background rumblings until the day my university tutor turned up and confronted me with my mentor's concerns. I was belittled and humiliated in front of my university tutor, facing a barrage of criticism from my mentor that I had never heard before.
Thankfully the university could tell something wasn't quite right, given my mentor's dramatic change of tune when he was confronted about my lack of feedback. I told them my concerns - that my mentor decided to stick the boot in because he didn't like the fact that I'd complained about his lack of support. I can only assume this was put to him because he underwent another change of heart in the final couple of weeks of my placement.
Reading around the TES forums I see that my experience of a petty, vindictive and arrogant mentor are far from an isolated case. It's a sad fact that some mentors see it as their role to undermine and pick fault with trainees, simply to cast their own mediocre performance in a more positive light. Students are fearful of the disproportionate power their mentor has, so the path of least resistance is to grit their teeth, keep their heads down and endure the belittlement and snide comments.
It's totally unacceptable for your mentor to behave like this and you must tell your training provider so something can be done about it.
I'm hopeful my second placement will prove more enjoyable.