Making mentoring transformational through co-teaching: a case study in the FE sector

ABSTRACT Enhancing students’ experience in classrooms in the FE sector by improving instructional quality has been an ongoing challenge for years. Although mentoring has contributed quite considerably to developing teachers’ competence and making them more resilient, looking at mentoring from a different perspective requires and deserves immediate attention. Using a case study, this research explores in depth how mentoring can prove constructive, efficacious and transformational through co-teaching. A novel model of mentoring (Mentoring through Co-Teaching – MTCT) is presented and investigated in order to further explore mentoring in the moment to support teachers as well as mentors become more skilled and resilient practitioners through mentoring in action. Rich and ample qualitative data, in the form of a semi-structured interview with the participant, observation reports, self-evaluation reports and learners’ voice, are analysed to determine the impact of this study and future recommendations are made in an attempt to further improve teaching, learning and assessment in the FE sector.