Leadership Development

Mentoring

Mentoring for Newly Appointed School Leaders – Principals and Vice-Principals

Newly appointed principals and vice-principals receive mentoring support in their first and second years of practice. Experienced principals and vice-principals also receive support and resources to prepare them to become effective mentors and continue developing their own leadership competencies. Since 2008, the government has invested $9.7 million to support mentoring across the province. Support will continue in 2011-12 as part of Board Leadership Development Strategy (BLDS) funding.

Mentoring for Newly Appointed System Leaders – Directors and Supervisory Officers

Mentoring for newly appointed system leaders was implemented province-wide in 2009-10 following a field test in 2008-09. System leaders who are in their first and second years in the role are eligible to receive mentoring supports from their director and supervisory officer associations in partnership with school boards.

The ministry continues to provide funding to the associations in 2011-12 to implement mentoring based on requirements set out in the Mentoring for Newly Appointed System Leaders Guideline (forthcoming).

Resources for mentors and mentees

The following resources are provided through the Ministry of Education and Association partners. Contact the mentoring lead in your school board for more information.

Tools

Websites

For principals and vice-principals

For directors and supervisory officers

Other Resources

Handbook

Supporting Effective School Leadership: A Handbook for Implementing Mentoring for Newly Appointed School Leaders in Ontario was developed as a companion to the School Board Guideline for Implementation of Mentoring for Newly Appointed School Leaders in 2009-10. The mentoring handbook was written by a development writing team representing the Association des directions et directions adjointes des écoles franco-ontariennes (ADFO), the Catholic Principals' Council of Ontario (CPCO) (PDF, 930 KB) and the Ontario Principals' Council (OPC), in partnership with the Ministry of Education. It is available on all three websites.

Webcast

Watch Gary Bloom, Associate Director of the New Teacher Centre at the University of Santa Cruz, California, address the challenges newly appointed school leaders face and present coaching and mentoring strategies in his webcast Blended Coaching for School and System Leaders. Many school boards have found this resource helpful in implementing mentoring.