ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the importance of the context in which the science teachers are working as a mentor, highlighting a number of documents from England and other countries, which impact on their mentoring practice. It considers mentoring models that a mentor could adopt to inform their practice. Mentoring is widely used in many contexts for the purpose of helping people to learn and develop, both professionally and personally. Mentoring involves the use of the same models and skills of questioning, listening, clarifying and reframing associated with coaching. In education, school-based mentors play a vital role in the development of student teachers and the induction and development of newly qualified teachers. There have been a number of attempts to characterise attributes of mentors. For example, Child and Merrill sought to generate an understanding of the attributes of a mentor in the initial teacher education.
