Professional Recognition mentoring
Who is it for?
Supporting colleagues to achieve professional recognition in Learning and Teaching
- ALPINE applicants working towards Associate Fellow HEA, Fellow HEA and Senior Fellow HEA
- Principal Fellow HEA applicants
- National Teaching Fellow and CATE applicants
- Staff seeking external professional recognition
Benefits of mentoring
- Confidence building
- Pointers to relevant professional development, networking and coaching
- Skills development/enhancement
- Career advice and planning
- Guidance on where to start
- Identifying and planning development opportunities
Mentoring cycle
The mentoring cycle operates around the duration of a professional recognition application process.
Professional Recognition Strand Lead
Professional Recognition Strand Lead
Alex started working in the Learning and Teaching Academy in 2016, implementing the newly accredited ALPINE Scheme for colleagues applying for Fellowships of the HEA from Advance HE, including organising and facilitating mentoring to support applicants submitting applications. In 2017 Alex began to coordinate the University Mentoring Scheme, as well as leading the Professional Recognition Strand. Alex also mentors colleagues for professional recognition. Alex’s interest in mentoring has grown with her role, recognising and seeing the benefits that mentoring can bring, including supporting the development and enhancement of practice and connecting colleagues across universities, the university academic partnership, disciplines and roles. Alex has written a number of blogs around mentoring including:
- Mentoring spotlight month post #3: using synchronous technologies in a distributed university to support mentoring
- Mentoring spotlight month post #1: mentoring circles to support staff through covid (joint blog with Ann Tilbury and Heather Fotheringham)
- Reflections on Bhutan
Alex has also written the chapter ‘Establishing collaborative ways of mentoring: digitally enabled and transnational approaches within distributed universities’ from the free to download book ‘Bhutan: Ways of learning and teaching (Rennie, F, (ed) (2020). Etips.)
Alex was recently awarded an MEd (distinction) and carried out a research project exploring the experiences of colleagues engaged in the University Mentoring Scheme for HEA Fellowship recognition from Advance HE, and aims to submit the study in December 2021. Alex is also enrolled on an ILM coaching and mentoring qualification programme to keep her mentoring practice and approaches up to date and to inform mentoring professional development offered through the University Mentoring Scheme.