ABSTRACT
Few practitioners2 within the sector will deny that the past 15 years or more have transformed the status of early childhood services in the United Kingdom. Within this context the role of the mentor has increased in both importance and complexity, especially as work-based training is an established element of vocational qualifications as well as academic programmes across further and higher education. Wilkin (1992) suggests that the role of the mentor should be related to specific frameworks, such as training or qualification requirements. This approach provides a principle that may be broadly applied to early childhood contexts if we accept that the framework within which both mentor and practitioner operate is determined by the ‘curriculum’ for the child and the vision of the professional practitioner within it.
