Mentoring and Induction in the Continuum of Teacher Education are internationally recognised as an effective process for engaging teachers and school leaders in Continuous Professional Development (CPD) and co-inquiry across their professional lifetime. Premised on the assumption that transformational leadership involves building capacity for leadership widely among teachers in a school, this module will focus on the ways in which mentoring, and coaching are key leadership tools in fostering the development of teaching and leadership. Participants will explore current theory, policy and practice of mentoring in the Irish system and will examine international best practice models. The module will pay particular attention to how mentoring and induction are integral to teacher professional development and will examine Driochead as a model that has shown greater levels of improvement in teaching and learning and lower stress levels for participants (as per the ESRI evaluation 2016). Participants will examine national supports and practices for mentoring /coaching particularly connecting with supports offered by the CSL and will look to ongoing relevant developments in the JCT and PDST. The module will also examine the role of coaching in the promotion of sustainable and empowering leadership practices and will link the centrality of coaching skills as invaluable to effective distributive leadership practices in schools. Participants will also examine international expertise in coaching and will practice goal setting and the giving and receiving of coaching feedback. Based upon the learning from the previous iteration of this module, content delivery will blend more strongly, immersion in policy, theory and practice. Through practical skills development in weekly tutorials, both in pairs and triads, students will experience first-hand the skills needed for attentive listening, focused questioning, reflective listening, goal setting and formative and productive feedback. Based on Kolb's experiential learning cycle, participants will experience the principles of effective mentoring and of effective coaching Kolb's cycle of action and reflection will be a pedagogical cornerstone of participants' engagement in learning from a dual perspective by a) practice the procedures and role development as mentors and b) reflexively engage in being mentored themselves as part of their coursework in order to have lived experience of the value of this method of professional development.

Participants will learn about the contemporary research on mentoring, coaching, analyse case studies, engage with podcasts, keynotes and engage in skills practice to develop the requisite knowledge, skills and dispositions vis-a-vis developing mentoring and coaching as part of the participants' leadership repertoire. Drawing on experiential learning, case studies and skills development sessions, participants will foster their knowledge, skills and awareness vis-a-vis mentoring and coaching as learning and development practices in schools. The main topics explored during the module include: - Mentoring and induction policy and practice (national and international) - Engagement with the national supports for mentoring/coaching CSL; Driochead, PDSL and JCT - Differentiation of coaching/mentoring in terms of focus, duration, purpose and process - Practical mentoring skills development for effective mentoring and induction, communicative and feedback skills, roles development, ethical mentoring/coaching practice, responsibilities in the mentoring/coaching relationship. - Practical coaching skills development i.e., goal setting and feedback. - Mentoring and coaching as CPD for enhanced teaching and/or leadership development - Mentoring leadership - Coaching leadership - Intersection of these skills with distributive leadership practice.

On successful completion of this module, students will be enabled to: Have confident practice of mentoring particularly in the skills of active listening, effective and focused questioning, productive feedback and reflective practice. Demonstrate critical understanding of Irish educational policy and practice specific to mentoring, induction and coaching. Be knowledgeable of national approaches to mentoring in the Irish education system (informal/formal mentoring, mentoring in induction for newly qualified teachers). Be aware of national supports for the implementation of these mentoring and coaching support initiatives such as the work of the CSL. Evaluate the implications of different perspectives on learning for framing, enacting and evaluating both mentoring and coaching and be able to apply them to relevant contexts. Demonstrate a capacity building approach in order to apply mentoring and coaching in school contexts in terms of developing mentors as well as appreciate the importance of fostering a mentoring and coaching culture for teacher development. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the key skills, protocols and practices associated with both mentoring and coaching in schools and gain deep understanding of the roles and responsibilities in formal mentoring and coaching.

On successful completion of this module, students will be enabled to: Effectively differentiate coaching and mentoring and be able to apply relevant approaches to various contexts. Identify the intersection between mentoring and coaching culture and effective distributive leadership practice.

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Seminars are offered by academics in the university partner institutions in collaboration with practicing education leaders i.e. each is designed and developed by a team of experienced education leaders/academics and are made available online. Local/regional experienced education leaders (who act as tutors) in participating institutions, offer both support for participation in seminars through online learning and follow-up support during a series of structured formal tutorial sessions. A detailed Module programme, available online and designed by the module team, will detail each lecture, will scaffold for students how the lectures foreshadow the linked weekly tutorials both conceptually and pedagogically (i.e. learning tasks/activities, pedagogical process protocols, reflection sheets for in-class activities, online readings etc). Successful participants graduate attributes: (i) Knowledgeable about perspectives on mentoring and coaching and the role of leaders in fostering both in support of learning in schools (ii) Creative in their use of resources and development of mentoring and coaching in support of teaching, learning and leadership (iii) Collaborative with the school and professional community in developing a culture of mentoring and coaching in schools (iv) Articulate about the dynamics and significance of mentoring and coaching in the context of mentoring and coaching in the school context.