Mentoring in Higher Education: a synoptic overview

In 1995 academic staff in the Graduate Diploma of Education program from Charles Sturt University in Bathurst worked with teachers from 7 local high schools to co‐operatively deliver the Graduate Diploma of Education. Students were inducted into the profession of teaching by teachers and lecturers working together to ensure that students developed effective teaching skills, competence and confidence. The program emphasised learning to teach (and understanding students' learning) rather than learning about teaching. Practising teachers were involved in the planning and delivery of the program and students' induction into the profession. The program was firmly embedded in the context of current secondary schools and built on existing productive partnerships. This new program provided opportunities for students to develop more realistic and sustained contact with secondary schools and to develop reflective workplace practices. Students engaged in critical reflection on, and discussion of, their teaching with practising teachers and university lecturers. In what follows, we describe the process of reform and delivery of the new program from the perspectives of the students, teachers and lecturers involved.