ABSTRACT
This chapter invites readers to consider the extent to which high-quality geography teaching and mentoring is founded on sustained engagement with the wider subject-specialist community. The potential of the subject community to influence the professional identity, understanding of purpose and professional practice of the mentor is established by considering the power of subject communities to define what it means to be and become a teacher of geography and to establish and maintain professional norms and expectations. The significance of wider connections in constructing knowledge of specialist content and pedagogy is examined, alongside the value of external expert challenge and opportunities for innovation and collaboration. The chapter also explores the ways in which the subject community intersects with the practice of mentoring. One perspective focusses on why mentors and beginning teachers of geography engage with developments in the academic discipline and seek to utilise subject scholarship. Another addresses the value of geography mentees actively engaging with the values, purposes and acquired wisdom of the profession in order to achieve valuable gains in specialist knowledge and to develop their agency as professional teachers of geography.
