The mentor's journey

The metaphor of journey is commonly applied to student learning. It is easy to conceive of a student on a journey from one preliminary state of being to another, more educated state. They arrive at their destination knowing more, seeing the world from a new viewpoint and with more nuanced understanding of the world. The journey changes them. A mentor's destination might not be as clearly articulated as that of a student, or even considered at all, but they are undisputedly on a journey of transformation - they cannot fail to be affected by their relationship with a student. Perhaps, though, the extent to which they are transformed depends upon opportunities to reflect. This might occur in the company of a critical friend, through flashes of insight during practice, or in conversation with their students.

Daloz (1999), drawing on his research with adult learners in higher education, suggested that mentors do three distinct things - they support, challenge and provide vision. Mentors make intuitive judgements of when to support and when to challenge so that they provide sufficient support to enable the student to trust them and to feel confident enough to try out new things. Too much challenge can destabilise a student and cause them to retreat into a 'safe' mode which stifles development. Providing vision can be achieved, for example, by modelling the endpoint of the learning journey (when students might have aspirations to become like their mentor), or offering students ways to see the practices and ways of working that make up the tradition they are entering.

In my PhD thesis, there appear to be several journeys - the student journey that mentors dip in and out of, the mentor journey and my own journey of transformation. Any journey of this sort can be hard and forces one to leave something of the old self behind. The people around  you may also need support to recognise the journey you have travelled.

Daloz, L. A. (1999). Mentor: Guiding the Journey of Adult Learners, San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.