Towards mentoring as feminist praxis in early childhood education and care in England

Following our contribution to a study of mentoring in seven European countries, we explored epistemological and ontological inconsistencies within mainstream mentoring systems and their regulated practice in England. We considered how feminist mentoring praxis can unsettle conceptualisations of mentoring relationships and challenge inequity in the early education systems and the practice of teaching young children. Predominantly female, early childhood educators suffer from low status in England, and their working lives may be controlled and policed through inequitable systems. On entering the workforce, trainees encounter a reductionist policy milieu where mentoring structures and normative assessment arrangements contribute to inequity. Mentors play pivotal roles in inducting trainees into their worlds of work with young children. Mentoring relationships can determine whether trainees accept the status quo. Principles derived from feminist praxis enable mentors to practise an ‘engaged pedagogy’, co-constructing knowledge, subverting hierarchies and contesting taken-for-granted aspects of policy and practice

Careers leadership in practice: a study of 27 careers leaders in English secondary schools

Historically, responsibility for career education and guidance in English schools was shared between the school and an external careers service. The Education Act 2011 transferred responsibility for career guidance to schools. Andrews and Hooley (2017) argued that for schools to successfully manage these new arrangements they require a ‘careers leader’. In this article, we report on research in 27 English state schools and multi-academy trusts where careers leadership currently exists. This research broadly endorses Andrews and Hooley’s typology of careers leadership tasks with the addition of a new task around securing funding. However, it is noted that the way in which these tasks are organised varies, with five models of careers leadership evident. The advantages and potential challenges of each model are outlined and implications for the training and professional development of careers leaders are discussed.The Careers & Enterprise Compan