ABSTRACT
Mentors can serve many purposes, from helping individuals with immediate needs to longer-term support and guidance. Good mentors are self-reflective; they take time to become reacquainted with their own needs, feelings, wishes and fears. Daniel Goleman, the author of the book Emotional Intelligence, identified self-awareness as the first of the five competences that make up emotional intelligence. The other competences are self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. Self-reflection is a process by which one analyses their own practice, evaluate it and plan to improve it. As a mentor, one has to be accepting of a beginning physical education teacher as a developing person and professional. It is sometimes easy to forget that not all beginning teachers are created equal, nor are all mentors, and therefore, it is critical that as a mentor one understand themselves and their own values and beliefs to help them respond appropriately to the needs and emotions of a beginning teacher.
