We understand the crucial role that Mentors play in the success of the Early Career Framework. To acknowledge and celebrate their hard work and contributions to the programme, we have introduced the 'Mentor of the Month' initiative. This is an opportunity to recognise Mentors who go the extra mile to support their Early Career Teachers.

The winners of this award are selected based on their engagement with the programme, attendance at events, and nominations from their Headteacher or Induction Tutor.

This month, we are pleased to announce that the winner of the 'Mentor of the Month' award is Jo Genn Bromley from Northgate High School . We had the opportunity to speak with Jo about her experiences as a Mentor and the skills she has developed through the Early Career Framework programme.

What is your name and role within your school?

I am Jo Genn Bromley; I work at Northgate High School, in Ipswich, where I am a teacher of Physical Education and Food Technology. I mentor ECTs and PGCE trainees within my school. In addition, I help to run a whole-school support group for all the ECTs across the school.

How long have you been a Mentor and how many Early Career Mentors do you support?

I have been a mentor for Early Career Teachers for three years and mentored PGCE trainees for over 10 years. I currently mentor one second year Early Career Teacher who I have worked with since the start of his ECT year.

What aspects of being an Early Career Mentor do you find most rewarding, and why? 

The aspects of being an Early Career Mentor which I find most rewarding are being able to support someone by listening to areas they are finding a challenge and helping them to realise that they can successfully overcome these areas. I also enjoy supporting ECTs to have the confidence to explore new ideas.

I feel that support for Early Career teachers is vital to help them to settle into a demanding but very rewarding career.

What makes an excellent Mentor? 

From my time on the programme, I feel that I have further developed the ability to listen carefully to someone’s needs and to use my knowledge, research and resources provided by Best Practice Network, including the Audits at the start of each module, to help ECTs to further develop their teaching. I think that listening carefully has helped me to support ECTs with their individual needs; I feel that this has also helped ECTs to discover answers to their own questions.

What advice would you give to someone considering becoming an Early Career Mentor? 

The advice I would give to someone considering becoming an Early Career Mentor is to definitely start your mentoring journey; not only is being an ECT mentor rewarding by supporting someone to settle into a new career, mentoring an ECT can also help to develop your own teaching as you work through each standard with your ECT and revisit useful research. ECTs have great ideas which can be fantastic for mentors to try too!

Do you know an Early Career Mentor that goes above and beyond? Nominate them below:

Nominate a Mentor 

Looking for more information?

Find out more about our Early Career Framework programme here

If you would like any more information on our ECF programme, get in contact with us:

 Email: ecf@bestpracticenet.co.uk

 Tel: +44 (0) 117 920 9200 (8.30am-5.30pm, Mon-Fri)

Visit our ECF page