Supporting a beginning teacher to implement extension and enrichment

When beginning teachers commence teaching in a classroom in initial teacher education (ITE), they commonly find it a challenge simply to plan basic lessons. They are likely to give pupils access to all learning outcomes but are unlikely to respond to individual pupils or to offer rich learning experiences (see Chapter 6 on lesson planning). Instead, beginning teachers are likely to focus on teaching essential content and establishing classroom routines. The next phase of practice involves planning and teaching lessons which are differentiated to meet the needs of the full range of pupils, learning which is stimulating and achieves diverse outcomes, underpinned by confident classroom management (see Chapter 7, pp.xx). This transition gives a beginning teacher rewarding new insights into their ability to support high quality learning and enables them to witness the full capabilities of their pupils. How a mentor might support this post-basic professional growth further is considered in this chapter. A set of practical mentoring strategies to support a beginning teacher to use differentiated forms of extension practices and to enrich their planning practices are presented in the context of two case studies. The process of helping a beginning teacher to implement enrichment practices is discussed, in detail, against current models of mentoring (Maynard & Furlong, 1995, Clutterbuck (2004) and Katz (1995); outlined in some detail in Chapter 1).