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The role of the mentor has been strengthened in initial teacher education, as a way of helping the student teacher to bridge the theory and the practice of their teaching (Welsh Government, 2018; Furlong, 2020; DfE, 2024). The professional conversation forms a significant part of a student teacher’s professional learning. Although no single definition of professional conversation exists, it is generally assumed to involve a critical interaction between the student teacher and an experienced teacher or mentor, facilitating collaborative knowledge construction and reflection (Nsibande, 2007). Within teacher education, this usually occurs more briefly after a lesson observation and in more depth at regular progress review points during the student teacher’s learning journey. This blog post focuses on the outcome of research into these professional conversations, and suggests ways of making these conversations more effective for the participants.

‘The professional conversation forms a significant part of a student teacher’s professional learning.’

Working with 10 mentors and student teachers, a focus group and individual interviews were conducted to learn more about the preparation for professional conversations and individuals’ understanding of their benefits. We identified several enablers which led to effective conversations, including:

• giving sufficient time prior to meeting to review programme documentation and check through a student teacher’s e-portfolio
• taking time to build a rapport with the student teacher both offline and online prior to meeting
• supporting a student teacher’s reflection by identifying strengths and weaknesses
• working with the student teacher to develop collaborative target setting
• developing effective questioning skills to challenge and develop the student teacher.

Although the intended outcome of a professional conversation is the continuing progress that a student teacher might make towards qualified teacher status, interestingly, our research found that mentors also commented on their own professional development through leading these conversations themselves.

From this research, we have developed a framework (see figure 1) to help make professional conversations in our initial teacher education programme more effective.

Figure 1. Framework to make professional conversations more effective

We understand ‘soft inputs’ to mean the personal attributes that individuals bring to professional conversations, such as listening skills and effective questioning, whereas ‘hard inputs’ are those aspects that can be quantified and evidenced more easily, such as preparation time for the conversation and knowledge and understanding of the programme’s expectations/requirements according to the appropriate documentation. In a similar vein, outputs from a professional conversation might be soft or hard – ‘hard outputs’ might include the student teacher’s progress and specific targets against the teaching standards, whereas ‘soft outputs’ might include the developing collaboration and relationship between the student teacher and mentor. It is possible that this framework may also be applied to other sectors where professional conversation is used as a form of professional development, for example nursing and social work.

We are working now to further consolidate our understanding of the student teacher’s experiences of professional conversations. Using the framework, we are looking to develop specific resources for student teachers to help them prepare for and navigate the professional conversation more actively. In addition, we will also build up a bank of resources to support experienced teachers in all four areas of the framework. In this way, we hope to continue to improve participants’ experiences of professional conversation, making it a more effective part of the student teacher learning experience.

References

Department for Education [DfE]. (2024). Initial teacher training (ITT) criteria and supporting advice.

Furlong, J. (2020). Reforming initial teacher education in Wales: A personal review of the literature. Wales Journal of Education, 22(1), 37–58.

Glover, A., Bleasdale, C., Clifton, G., & Thomas, A. (2025). ‘It’s good to talk’: Exploring effective professional conversations in teacher education. International Journal of Changes in Education. Advance online publication.

Nsibande, R. (2007). Using professional dialogue to facilitate meaningful reflection for higher education practitioners. In G. Crisp, M. Hicks, J. Burdett, D. Gannaway, L. Maddox, & T.
Winning (Eds.), Enhancing higher education, theory and scholarship, Proceedings of the 30th Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia Annual Conference, 8–11 July, Adelaide, Australia, pp. 421–428.

Welsh Government. 2018 (updated 2023). Criteria for the accreditation of initial teacher education programmes in Wales: Teaching tomorrow’s teachers. Ìý