127for their own emancipation, it is possible that so too can a mentor teach navigation
of system requirements in a way that moves towards emancipation of the mentee
preservice or beginning teacher. As a way of explanation, let us assume that it is
expected that mentors can aid the development of a mentee’s pedagogical knowl-
edge. In this activity, a mentor supports the mentee in developing content knowl-
edge, assessment and questioning skills, planning/timetabling/preparation strategies
and classroom management skills – as well as the integration of these skills with
problem-solving (Fenech & Sumsion, 2007 ; Groundwater-Smith & Mockler, 2009 ).
In developing a praxis of pedagogical knowledge, the mentor assists the mentee to
develop the critical faculties to question pedagogical assumptions. For example,
some preservice or beginning teachers enter a school and are told by the principal
that the school is a ‘Marzano’ school that teaches using dimensions of learning
framework (Marzano, Pickering, & McTighe, 1993 ) or an early childhood setting
that uses a ‘Reggio Emilia’ philosophy (Gandini, 1993 ; Tomlinson, 1996 ). Through
a praxis-based understanding, mentors can assist mentees to develop the critical
faculties to understand how a particular educational philosophy may be productive/
unproductive or lead to greater equality/inequality.
The third activity involved in mentorship is the effective modelling of classroom
practice, in which the mentor provides the mentee with exemplars of what they
should be aiming for. These include important abilities of enthusiasm, lesson design,
language, teaching structure, effective teaching, classroom management, rapport
with students and ‘hands-on’ lessons (Hudson et al., 2005 ). A praxis-based account
suggests that mentors will aid mentees in developing the skills to reflect upon their
own practice and of the practices of others. Rather than simply showing a teacher
what a successful class looks like, they reveal their own areas of confusion and use
these as an opportunity to reflect critically with the mentee upon practice.
The fourth activity involved in mentorship is providing critical feedback for the
mentee. The practice of providing feedback involves the mentor setting expecta-
tions for the mentee, reviewing lesson plans, observing teaching, providing both
oral and written feedback and guiding self-reflection. These are all activities that
can have a high or a low quality of praxis brought to them. A typical example is the
provision of oral feedback to a mentee teacher. A mentor can assume a position of
authority in telling a mentee teacher what they have done well – or they can help the
mentee to see multiple perspective upon their own teaching and assist the mentee to
learn the skills for reflecting upon their own practice by approaching this through
the lens of allowing the mentee to lead these conversations (Hudson, 2014 ). This
question of authority within the mentoring dialogue is an important discussion but
beyond the aim of this chapter.
The final element required of a mentor is that they have the right personal attri-
butes that contribute to effective mentoring. For this factor, practice and praxis are
closely aligned. Hudson et al. ( 2005 ) report that being a good mentor teacher
requires a teacher to have an ability to facilitate reflective practice, be an attentive
listener, develop positive attitudes, be comfortable and confident talking about
teaching and be able to instil confidence in a mentee. A high quality of praxis in
8 Raising the Quality of Praxis in Online Mentoring