Talking the Talk: Dialogic Mentoring in Physical Education

Abstract

The core aim of physical education initial teacher training in England is to prepare associate teachers to become creative, inspiring, and highly skilled practitioners who will contribute to the teaching and development of the subject. School-based mentors play a critical role in this process, and an appreciation of their impact has raised the importance of understanding the nuanced way they work with associate teachers in school. This paper uses the framework of monologic and dialogic mentoring to identify and analyze effective mentoring practices. More specifically, it summarises some of the main findings of five research papers that the authors have written about mentoring and draws attention to the processes that are more likely to improve outcomes for associate teachers as they begin their careers in physical education

Since September 2019, the core content framework (Department for Education [DfE], 2019) has guided the preparation of associate teachers (ATs; also known as trainee or preservice teachers) within initial teacher training (ITT) in England. The framework sets out the minimum entitlement of all ATs as it outlines the content that universities and their partnership schools must include when constructing and teaching their ITT programs. The core content framework is also used alongside the Teachers’ Standards to guide and assess the progress of the ATs as they move toward qualified teacher status (DfE, 2013).

A range of interrelated factors influence the professional learning of ATs in England and other countries. However, the most significant influence on their progress is the guidance and support of their mentor, a more experienced and knowledgeable school-based colleague who works alongside the AT during their time at the placement school (Jones et al., 2020; Lofthouse, 2017). Mentoring is a critical element of the core content framework (DfE, 2019) and is understood to include three overlapping aims: that the mentor facilitates the AT’s professional learning, integrates them into the school community and empowers them to take increasing responsibility for their own learning (Jones et al., 2020). This article will consider the three overlapping aims of mentoring through the lens of dialogic mentoring. More specifically, it will use the monologic–dialogic framework (Bokeno & Gantt, 2000) to identify and analyze effective mentoring practices in the subject area of physical education (PE).

When PE mentors adopt a monologic approach, they position themselves as the expert in their relationship with the AT. They use predetermined criteria to assess the progress of the AT and provide feedback that directs them toward a clearly defined goal (Nahmad-Williams & Taylor, 2015). If they are following a monologic approach, the mentor will often use a standardized form when observing the teaching of an AT. They will use this to identify the AT’s strengths and areas for development during the formal lesson observation. The use of explicit criteria means that this direct approach can be a valuable means of identifying and solving the AT’s immediate problems (Wang & Odell, 2002). That said, the monologic approach can also position the ATs as more passive recipients of knowledge who uncritically replicate the existing teaching models without challenging themselves to consider alternatives (Jones et al., 2019). Moreover, ongoing formal evaluations of the AT by the mentor can cause anxiety and lead to tension in the relationship.

The need to generate evidence demonstrating ATs’ progress against the Teachers’ Standards (DfE, 2013) has meant that formal, criterion-based approaches have tended to dominate within ITT. That said, the limitations of monologic mentoring are increasingly recognized, which has led to the emergence of more equitable and empowering approaches (Hobson & Malderez, 2013).

When PE mentors adopt a dialogic approach, they move away from a hierarchical expert–novice relationship and toward a collaborative partnership that promotes shared discussion about aspects of teaching and learning. In a dialogic approach, the ATs are not passive recipients of information; they work alongside their mentors to develop their shared understanding (Nahmad-Williams & Taylor, 2015). The approach does not rely on programmed observations of teaching because feedback flows instead from ongoing everyday discussions about learning (Bokeno & Gantt, 2000). In this way, the dialogic approach is distinct because it relies on the mutuality of talk. It encourages the mentor and AT to engage in learning conversations and value the impact of informal dialogue. As such, the dialogic approach offers a valuable means of strengthening mentor relationships, developing autonomy and promoting honest and authentic discussions that enhance ATs’ understanding of teaching and learning (Jones et al., 2018).

This article will use the monologic–dialogic framework (Bokeno & Gantt, 2000) to analyze mentoring. It will share findings from relevant empirical studies, particularly the authors’ own research papers, to identify more effective mentoring practices within the subject area of PE. It will begin by examining how the mentor builds relationships and integrates the AT into the school community. It will then consider how the mentor facilitates the AT’s professional learning before finally reviewing how the mentor empowers the AT to take increasing responsibility for their own learning (Jones et al., 2020).

Facilitating Integration

Effective mentoring is more likely when it is a whole-school priority. Working with schools that value mentoring and allow sufficient time for the support of ATs is crucial because the ethos of collaborative learning underpins the process. School-based mentors, university tutors, PE teachers and other ATs are all part of a community that influences the learning of the AT. The mentor is the most powerfully positioned influence because they guide the AT’s learning and assess their progress as they prepare to teach the subject (Jones et al., 2020). ATs rely on their mentors to support their growth and integrate them into the department and broader school community (Malderez, 2001). The university-based tutor is also powerfully positioned to influence the AT’s successful completion of their ITT program but has less daily contact than other teachers in the PE department.

The PE teachers, along with the mentor and, to a lesser degree, other ATs form the learning community that ATs encounter daily. More experienced and powerful teachers form the culture and norms of the PE department, and as new and inexperienced members of the community, ATs are susceptible to their influence. When ATs work in PE departments, pressures, exerted in different ways and directions, can work together to constrain or enable their behavior. The mentor remains the key influence, but other PE teachers help create the learning culture that supports the AT. Thus, they should also be involved in mentor training to raise awareness of their role in promoting the active involvement of AT and their influence in legitimizing the PE department as a place for shared learning and collaboration (Jones et al., 2020).

Relationships. When PE mentors and teachers fully invest in the process, they commit to supporting the learning and integration of the AT within the school setting (Malderez, 2001). That said, mentors also assess and grade the AT’s teaching, and this dual role of both guiding and assessing progress can unintentionally distort the connection between them. In addition, the relatively powerful position of the mentor can cause evaluation apprehension for the AT and lead to tension in their relationship (Hobson & Malderez, 2013). Mentors can overcome these issues and build trusting and respectful relationships in the following ways.

Firstly, ATs respect PE mentors who are good role models, especially those teachers who maintain an interest in professional learning and only expect ATs to do what they consistently do themselves. Conversely, a “do what I say, not what I do” approach is destructive. It undermines the AT’s respect for the mentor and makes them more reluctant to ask for feedback. When mentors maintain high standards, show interest in the AT and engage them in supportive dialogue, they are more likely to develop a trusting and respectful relationship. This, in turn, impacts learning by encouraging ATs to ask for and respond to more feedback (Jones et al., 2019).

Secondly, the PE ATs also want a supportive mentor who will challenge their development while always being on their side. Creating a highly supportive and highly challenging environment depends on the mentor allowing the AT to take risks while reassuring them that they would be supported if the lesson did not go as planned. Adopting a supportive but challenging, dialogic approach reduces the AT's fear of failure and gives them the confidence to engage in more creative acts (Payne, 2018).

Finally, moving toward a dialogic approach helps to develop the relationship between the PE mentor and the AT because it emphasizes the need for them to work in a mutually productive and respectful way (Jones et al., 2018). ATs recognize the favorable impact of ongoing professional dialogue about aspects of their teaching. Moreover, they also appreciate that this approach gives them a voice. ATs feel trusted and respected when they can contribute to a collaborative learning process.

Learning Conversations. When ATs work with a mentor within a PE department, three types of conversations occur: monologic, dialogic and social. They are all part of building effective mentoring relationships and contribute to learning in different ways.

One-way interactions that are more consistent with monologic mentoring approaches have a primarily cognitive impact. The instructions from the mentor develop the AT’s understanding and make them think about established practice. There is also an affective aspect to these interactions as PE mentors aim to provide emotional support by recognizing and praising any progress in their teaching. Two-way dialogic conversations also include cognitive and affective outcomes, but the greater complexity of these interactions brings a wider range of responses (Jones et al., 2019). They also provide insights and ideas and reassure and encourage ATs. Moreover, they help develop a trusting relationship with the mentor, give the AT a voice and prompt them to reflect on the challenge of improving their own teaching. Dialogic learning conversations fit well in PE, given the opportunities to engage in talk when, for example, supervising changing or walking in from the field. They also work best when the ATs are further into their school placement and can find their own solutions rather than have problems resolved for them (Jones et al., 2019).

One clear benefit of informal dialogic mentoring is the development of positive relationships, because this discursive approach helps link “teaching talk” with “social talk” (Talbot et al., 2017). Informal learning conversations promote a stronger social bond where the discussion can move more easily away from teaching and learning and toward “offline” social conversations. These social conversations may not directly focus on teaching and learning, yet they are important for the teaching and learning of the AT. They help develop a social bond that allows the AT to access the mentor’s knowledge and support and move from the periphery to be more active participants within the PE department.

ATs typically identify two-way dialogic learning conversations as being the most meaningful (Jones et al., 2019). They value conversations where all can contribute and share their own thinking while also being informed and challenged by the views of others. Given the nature of the subject, PE ATs also note that several more meaningful learning conversations occur away from the lesson, in extracurricular activities that take place throughout and beyond the school day. As such, effective mentoring is an ongoing and immersive dialogic process that seeks to build trusting relationships and promote shared collaborative learning.

A dialogic approach emphasizes the role of learning conversations in building relationships and integrating the AT into the school community. In addition, the dialogic approach establishes the AT as a more active participant in the department and helps to support their ongoing professional learning. The latter will now be examined in more detail.

Supporting Professional Learning

Effective feedback recognizes progress, engages the learner and identifies the next steps. It leads to more significant improvements in ATs’ practice and is a key part of the mentor’s role (Lofthouse, 2017). Within ITT, mentors provide feedback to ATs on their ability to plan, teach and assess learning through the use of formal or informal approaches.

Formal lesson observations are long established in ITT. When adopting a formal approach, the mentor observes the AT’s lesson, records written comments on a standardized and criterion-based form and then provides feedback on the perceived strengths and areas for development. The written comments capture transient aspects of teaching and offer evidence of progress. They can also provide more specific and immediately useful feedback that directs novices to clearly defined aims (Wang & Odell, 2002). That said, this approach retains features of monologic mentoring because it positions ATs as more passive recipients of knowledge who simply replicate the prevailing and dominant models of teaching and learning (Nahmad-Williams & Taylor, 2015). Moreover, these intense feedback events can lead to what Hobson and Malderez (2013) called “judgementoring,” where ongoing evaluations and discussions about competence cause anxiety and impede, rather than promote, the AT’s teaching.

In contrast, informal lesson feedback is a more open and spontaneous two-way conversation about learning to teach. Informal feedback fits well within a dialogic mentoring approach in PE, because access to formal recording methods can be difficult when working away from the classroom. These learning conversations also help reframe the relationship by moving away from an expert–novice model that positions the AT as a more passive recipient of knowledge. When adopting a dialogic model, mentors promote inquiry and reflection and use informal feedback conversations to develop thinking and understanding (Nahmad-Williams & Taylor, 2015). ATs prefer more frequent, authentic and informal feedback conversations that strengthen relationships and extend shared understanding. Indeed, Jones et al. (2018) noted that PE ATs often claim these personalized and informal learning conversations to be where genuine learning takes place. Though informal feedback has many benefits, more discursive approaches can be more inconsistent and lacking in a clear focus. In addition, a dialogic approach does create a more complex social relationship because the AT and mentor are both asked to contribute and learn from the other (Jones et al., 2019).

Feedback, be it formal or informal, is consistently identified as one of the most effective means of improving achievement, and yet it is a complex process. People have different needs and respond in different ways, making it difficult to provide precise guidance on appropriate practice in all contexts. That said, some approaches are worth drawing attention to:

• We should consider how feedback will be received. Feedback is more likely to be asked for and acted on when it is located within supportive and trusting relationships; that is, when ATs know that the mentor has their best interests at heart (Coe et al., 2014; Timperley et al., 2007).

• Feedback should be focused on and informed by an assessment of pupils’ learning. The mentor should help identify and solve learning problems so that ATs have specific ideas about supporting pupils’ progress (Coe et al., 2014; Timperley et al., 2007).

• Feedback should be an ongoing series of shorter interactions where ATs can use the feedback and mentors can monitor their responses and help them sustain their practice.

• Feedback, recorded simply by the AT as clear and concise action steps, can inform a positive cyclical plan, teach and review process, particularly when the specific actions are agreed and acted upon and discussed as part of a regular review of progress. In contrast, one-off, lengthy and judgmental written commentary on lessons is less helpful. It can create anxiety and overawe the AT and should be avoided.

• Finally, feedback should be adapted to the AT’s needs as they progress toward qualified teacher status. As such, feedback should be focused both on the process of learning and on the ability to self-regulate so that ATs are well prepared for ongoing professional learning as independent teachers (Jones et al., 2019).

Responding to Needs. Providing feedback is complex, and PE mentors often move between different and overlapping models in response to ATs’ needs. When ATs start their training year, mentors typically adopt a monologic approach with greater reliance on formal lesson observations. They focus on more general and basic aspects of teaching and aim to provide positive and reassuring feedback that promotes confidence. Over time, effective mentors adapt to the AT’s developing ability to teach and reflect on more complex aspects of their own practice (Jones et al., 2019; Van Ginkel et al., 2018). They begin to provide feedback that helps ATs self-regulate and develop their ability to manage their own learning. As such, mentors move to more of a dialogic approach where understanding is co-constructed through frequent informal learning conversations about specific aspects of teaching. At this point, the mentor and AT can have open, trusting and more critical discussions about increasingly personalized and challenging aspects of practice.

Though there is a general pattern of movement toward more critical feedback conversations, the organization of the PE curriculum into activity areas often means that mentors must revert to more simplistic and promoting feedback when ATs face teaching a new activity for the first time (Jones et al., 2019). Mentors must be flexible in their approach and alter their expectations in response to the AT’s teaching experience and confidence in different curriculum areas. Successful mentors adapt and refine their approach in relation to the needs of the AT (Van Ginkel et al., 2018). They understand that ATs have different needs at different times and draw on a range of approaches to promote their development, in both the short and longer term.

A key aim of mentoring is to support ATs’ development over the longer term, so that they can continue to learn from their own practice. The mentor’s role in empowering self-regulation will now be examined in more detail.

Empowering Self-Regulation

An effective mentor seemingly aims to make themselves redundant by engaging in a dialogic approach where, over time, more of an onus is placed on the AT to find solutions to learning problems. A dialogic approach helps develop PE ATs’ teaching skills while also promoting their ability to self-regulate so that they can continue to learn from an analysis of their own teaching and pupil learning when a mentor no longer supports them.

A monologic approach is limited in this regard as ATs are expected to reproduce the mentor’s existing ideas rather than engage in more independent thinking. In contrast, adopting a dialogic model promotes a more democratic approach as the PE mentor begins to develop the AT’s agency by committing to an ethos of shared learning. They ask the AT for their views and advice and, in doing so, deliberately change the balance of power by stressing that the AT’s views also count (Jones et al., 2021). When adopting a dialogic approach, PE mentors accept that knowledge of teaching is socially constructed through the experiences of all participants. In addition, a collaborative dialogic approach helps ATs feel like teachers. They have the emotional support needed for more risk-taking, which reduces their fear of failure. ATs are encouraged to explore what effective teaching means for their own personal practice and are supported to develop their own professional identity (Payne, 2018).

Repositioning the relationship in this way is more democratic because ATs are empowered to express their own views and challenge some aspects of practice. That said, adopting a dialogic approach does create more complex social relationships because PE mentors are engaging in shared critical reflection. This can bring about a desirable level of conflict where both parties face challenges in their thinking, but it can also produce feelings of discomfort when there is a deeper-rooted disagreement that is harder to resolve. Indeed, the challenge of adopting a dialogic approach may intensify any tension in the relationship and cause some mentors to revert to arguably more comfortable and straightforward monologic approaches where their view is the one that dominates (Jones et al., 2021).

Adopting a dialogic approach means that mentors must develop key democratic skills (Payne, 2018). Engaging in collaboration and critical reflection is more challenging for mentors, but it promotes ATs’ self-regulation and supports them in developing their own professional identity.

Professional Learning. Promoting the ability to self-regulate is an important part of ITT. It moves beyond the immediate aim of developing teaching competencies and toward a focus on the skills needed for the AT to manage their own learning as a fully qualified teacher (Jones, 2021). Engagement in specific approaches to professional learning can also enhance the AT’s ability to self-regulate.

Professional learning is any activity that aims to improve the practice of established teachers and transform the learning of the pupils in their care (Jones, 2021). Within PE, teachers often experience professional learning as a generic, one-off and decontextualized “training” event. This approach may provide teachers with a coaching qualification, but it falls short of the recognized principles of effective practice. Professional learning is more authentic when it is within the teacher’s classroom and tailored to their interests and needs. Furthermore, when teachers are actively involved in solving problems together in their own lessons, the outcomes are more relevant and impactful than traditional approaches to professional learning that rely on teachers receiving information from experts at a one-off event (Jones, 2021).

When ATs are actively involved in contextualized professional learning with their mentors, they have an opportunity to investigate their own teaching with the support of a more knowledgeable other. They can develop their pedagogical skills and inclusion in a teaching community through the collaborative experiences of planning, teaching and reflecting on pupils’ learning together. Participation also enhances the AT’s transition to working as a qualified teacher because it facilitates critical reflection and nurtures an independent professional identity (Jones, 2022).

In addition, when the PE mentor engages in professional learning with their AT, they commit to a process of promoting shared understanding through collaborative enquiry. The process aligns well with dialogic mentoring, because the mentor is encouraged to facilitate good practice and provide opportunities to design, teach and review learning together. Moreover, the PE mentor is modeling good practice by showing that learning and refining teaching skills are as important to them as they are to the AT (Payne, 2018). Finally, engagement in professional learning can be an effective means of preparing mentors to support ATs. Professional learning helps to develop the mentor’s teaching expertise. It engages them in a community of professional learning and can make them more empathetic toward those who are trying to learn and enhance their skills.

Conclusion

More effective dialogic mentoring is characterized by expertise, engagement and empathy. ATs are more likely to ask for and act on feedback when the mentor is secure in their position as an expert teacher who can model best practice within a PE setting (Jones et al., 2018). It is also helpful for the mentor to model the desire to participate in ongoing learning by engaging with professional literature and reflecting openly on aspects of their own practice. Finally, effective practice develops more readily when the mentor is more empathetic toward the experience of the AT. This approach reframes the mentoring relationship and helps establish the rapport needed for ongoing professional learning where both parties want to engage in open, honest and sometimes difficult discussions about developing professional practice (Jones et al., 2021).

Dialogic mentoring is consistent with other nondirective and developmental approaches in highlighting the value of trusting relationships that support the development of ATs. However, it does offer a distinct conception of mentoring because it is based explicitly on the mutuality of talk. Dialogic mentoring is a reciprocal and collaborative approach that encourages the mentor and AT to engage in learning conversations and value the impact of informal dialogue. This approach is maybe most appropriate in PE, because the subject is taught in varied, dynamic and sometimes challenging contexts, where access to formal assessment and recording methods can be difficult. Dialogic mentoring accounts for these difficulties. Moreover, engaging in a dialogic approach challenges participants to strengthen relationships and develop shared understanding through talk.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Luke Jones

Luke Jones ([email protected]) is a PE lecturer in Faculty of Education and Children’s Services at University of Chester in Chester, UK.

Steven Tones

Steven Tones is a director of partnership in Faculty of Education and Children’s Services at University of Chester in Chester, UK.

Gethin Foulkes

Gethin Foulkes is a PE lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Children’s Services at the University of Chester in Chester, UK