The Subject Mentor in Modern Foreign Languages’ Teacher Education
The Subject Mentor in Modern Foreign Languages’ Teacher Education

Summary/Abstract: This paper comes at a time of curriculum and Initial Teacher Education (ITE) change in England. The need to hold on tightly to many first principles is vital and one of these is the role of the modern foreign languages mentor in schools, in the context of secondary ITE, the Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) more specifically. This paper aims to restate the definition of the subject mentor, focusing on the qualities, the complexity and evolution of the role. A theoretical framework has been developed based on the theory of mentoring and associated concepts of reflective practice and professional dialogical relationships. Theory and practice of mentoring are then supported with a small-scale research study based on openended questionnaires to subject mentors of PGCE Modern Foreign Languages (MFL). The paper also explores the type of collaboration that subject mentors would appreciate having with Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and observes whether the subject mentoring role in MFL is changing as a result of government policy changes.

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