Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Glossary and FAQs
FAQs
Here is a list of frequently asked questions than may answer some of your queries:
As a Mentor, you should be afforded the time, resources and the support of your school or college to discharge the requirements of your role. Mentors play a crucial role in the development of student teachers as expert professionals and role models. Mentors knowingly pass on their skills by modelling and sharing feedback with students but perhaps as importantly, they pass on their tacit knowledge about what being a teacher means in a broader sense. We ask Mentors to:
- Carry out a weekly recorded observation and have a 60–90-minute weekly meeting with your student in which you will discuss progress and set targets.
- Assess your student accurately using the framework on PebblePad with the support of the university Link Tutor.
- Support your student in continually reviewing and extending their subject knowledge and teaching practice.
- Maintain records as required in PebblePad. Your student and Link Tutor will help you in this.
- Make sure your student understands the procedures and policies of the school and you have agreed with your student on a broad structure for the placement including when the student is expected to arrive and leave and how they should spend their time when not teaching.
- Prepare for and attend a progress review and final review meeting with your student and the Link Tutor.
Leeds Beckett University will provide free Mentor training that will ensure connectedness, consistency and high-quality support for all students.
Mentor training will ensure that not only are our Mentors knowledgeable in the key skills needed to be a good Mentor but also aware of the training journey of our students and have the specialist skills needed to develop teachers. Primary and Secondary colleagues will join separate training sessions which will be tailored to the needs of new Mentors and those returning to work with Leeds Beckett University. Attendance at, and completion of training is an expectation for all Mentors, and this will be monitored.
Some of the Mentor training will be delivered via live, face-to-face sessions, some delivered via live virtual sessions, and some will be via online self-directed learning modules via our learning portal that may include links to videos to watch and tasks to complete.
You will be asked to complete a self-assessment audit of your own training needs as a Mentor, and this will be used to help guide your Mentor training over the year.
Whilst on placement, each student is assigned a university Link Tutor who will make regular contact with your student and you and be a source of support. They will complete an in-person visit to your school roughly halfway through placement to moderate a Progress Review and meet with your student and you at the end of the placement to sign it off.
Our placements team will contact you to outline the students we are looking to place, with dates, number of days on placement, what percentage of teaching these students will take, key stages needed and payments for taking these students. You will then let us know what you can offer. We have:
- Undergraduate primary 3-11 students in years 1, 2 and 3
- Postgraduate primary 3-11 students
- Postgraduate secondary 11-18 students for Art and Design, English, Geography, Maths and Physical Education.
We aim to send this information across to you 2-3 weeks before the start of the placement, if not earlier.
Students will build their teaching up on placement to the following percentages:
Undergraduate
| Placement type | Phase 1 (Single placement) |
Phase 1 (Paired placement) |
Phase 2 (Single placement) |
Phase 3 (Single placement) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teaching | 50% | 30% | 60% | 80% |
| Helping in the role of a Teaching Assistant | 20% | 40% | 15% | 5% |
| Observing expert colleagues teaching | 20% | 20% | 15% | 5% |
| Marking and preparation | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% |
Postgraduate
| Phase | Phase 1 | Phase 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Teaching | 60% | 80% |
| Helping in the role of a Teaching Assistant | 15% | 5% |
| Observing expert colleagues teaching | 15% | 5% |
| Marking and preparation | 10% | 10% |
On PebblePad there are subject overviews that will help you to understand what your student is taught at the university and how your role can fit with this. You will also receive a Mentor training session that will help you to understand this.
As their Mentor, you will assess your student against expected progress statements, and in their final placement against the Teachers' Standards. The university Link Tutor will moderate these assessments.
We have tried to make this as straight forward as possible for you. The paperwork you complete will be via PebblePad. This includes:
- One weekly recorded observation
- Weekly meeting comments
- Comments against expected progress
- Completion of a progress review and final review
With any issues, you should contact the university Link Tutor as soon as possible.
PebblePad is an e-portfolio workbook for placement assessment and learning. As a Mentor, you will be provided with an 'external' PebblePad account to allow you to log in. This account will provide you with authenticated access to your students' workbooks to enable you to carry out your role as a Mentor. You will be able to log in, view their workbooks, and assess and provide feedback on the pages of the workbook using 'assessor fields’, which are sections labelled specifically for you to complete.
In the first instance, your student teacher will be required to provide the placement team with your email address so that we can add you to PebblePad. You will then receive a link to access the system.
We are very grateful for any support schools can provide. If you can offer more placements, please contact our Placement Team: carnegie.partnerships@leedsbeckett.ac.uk.
Payments are made towards the end of the placement.
Glossary of terms
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Associate Mentor
School-based classroom teacher for whom a student has taken over some of their teaching. Will support and feedback to student via student.
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Core area
Overall areas against which progress is measured during the placements. The Core Areas are:
- Becoming a professional
- Behaviour Management
- Pedagogy
- Curriculum
- Assessment
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Expected Progress Statements
These are statements within each Core Area that Mentors will use to determine if the correct progress is being made. They are different for each phase, and for PG and UG.
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Final review
This is to determine that, by the end of the placement, the student has made expected progress in each of the Core Areas for that phase, and for UG phase 3 and PG phase 2, that the Teachers' Standards have been met. It includes:
- Completion of a review on PebblePad by the Mentor and student
- A tripartite meeting between the Mentor, student and Link Tutor via Microsoft Teams
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Intervention
A process put in place should a student not be making expected progress on a placement by or before the Progress Review. This consists of a Student Support Plan based on a maximum of three Teachers’ Standards or Core Areas that will be reviewed one week later. Should the student not make the progress required, there will be no second intervention and the placement will be terminated. For more details of the pathway of an intervention, please see the Placement Guidance section.
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Level 4/5/6/7
This refers to the level of study the student is completing in that year as follows:
- UG year 1 = level 4
- UG year 2 = level 5
- UG year 3 = level 6
- PG = level 7
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Link Tutor
This is the university-based tutor who is the bridge between the university and the placement school. Their role is vital in:
- Quality assuring placements
- Confirming that the student is making expected progress and if not, pursue an intervention
- Supporting Professional and Associate Mentors
- Building partnership working with school colleagues.
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PebblePad
PebblePad is an online tool facilitating the broad and secure assessment of students, taking into account lesson observations, pupil assessment data and scrutiny of pupil work. The system allows students and those who work with them to record and measure progress through the Teacher Standards while students also build an online evidence portfolio.
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Personal Tutor
A university-based tutor whose role is to be a personal tutor to a group of students. They help to guide students, discuss course progress, devise a PREP form if needed, and consider targets for each phase and the students’ ECT years with them.
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PG
Abbreviation for postgraduate.
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Phase 1/2/3
This refers to what stage of placement the student is on during their course.
For UG:
- Phase 1 = level 4 placement, or placement in their first year
- Phase 2 = level 5 placement, or placement in their second year
- Phase 3 = level 6 placement, or placement in their third year
For PG:
- Phase 1 = first level 7 placement over the first three half terms of the academic year
- Phase 2 = second level 7 placement over the last three half terms of the academic year
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Placement Readiness Engagement Planner (PREP)
This is a plan put in place for a student who has not made the expected progress on a placement and therefore needs to re-sit a placement. This is produced by the student with their Personal Tutor. If you are hosting a re-sit placement student, he/she/they should share his/her/their PREP form with you.
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Professional Mentor
School-based Mentor who may oversee and Mentor several students while on placement in a school.
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Progress Review
This is to determine that roughly halfway through a placement, the student is making expected progress in each of the Core Areas for that phase. It includes:
- Completion of a review on PebblePad by the Mentor and student
- An in-person visit to the school by the Link Tutor to observe the student teaching and to hold a tripartite meeting between the Mentor, student and Link Tutor
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Reasonable Adjustment Plan (RAP)
This is an evidence-based plan that gives details of any adjustments to the way a student is taught or assessed based on disability and identified needs. It will detail any study related challenges the student may experience, and tailored support needs based on their individual requirements.
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Student Support Plan
This is the plan, based on a maximum of three Teachers’ Standards or Core Areas, that is put in place during an Intervention. A copy of this can be found on PebblePad.
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Teachers' Standards
These are the DfE standards against which a Mentor will formatively assess their students in their final placement to achieve QTS.
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UG
Abbreviation for undergraduate.
