Mentoring Excellence

To build on the training sessions developed and to encourage GTAs to reflect on their teaching, in 2017, Dr Thomas Rodgers (Chemical Engineering) and Dr Claudia Henninger (Materials) produced an accredited mentored route to Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA).

This route runs twice each year, with a current intake of around 80 GTAs per round. Each round is started with a general introduction session covering the benefits of gaining AFHEA, expectations of the AFHEA application, and information about the mentoring sessions. The mentor groups tend to be of a size between 8-12 (this depends on the exact number of applicants and mentors of each cohort).

To help guide the mentors and the applicants the mentor sessions are themed, one per month:

• Understanding the UKPSF and case study ideas;
• Linking the UKPSF and pedagogy to case studies;
• Checking of mapping documents and presentation drafts.

In addition to the mentor sessions, we also have an online Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) with FAQs, example submissions and some supporting information on pedagogical theories and reflection. This is also the system through which the GTAs submit their application.

Booking for the mentored programme can be found here.