Mathematics Mentoring Program

All current NSW Department of Education secondary mathematics teachers with an interest in mentoring upcoming mathematics educators are encouraged to apply.

To be eligible, mentors must:

• be an Australian citizen or permanent resident
• have a current proficient mathematics teacher role in an NSW public secondary school and have a minimum of 3 years’ teaching experience
• have the endorsement of your principal to become a program mentor for a minimum of 12 (full-time participants) or 24 months (part-time participants).

The Mathematics Mentoring Program will offer up to 40 places for mentors.

Mentors will have the opportunity to develop their leadership and mathematical skills as part of the program. Mentors will have access to professional development and financial incentives throughout the program, including a fully-funded professional learning course, release time and facilitated networking opportunities.

Mentors will support the participant/s they are paired with as they undertake the Mathematics Retraining Program. Mentors are responsible for:

• sharing professional experiences, working knowledge of school operations and expertise to support participant’s learning and development through regular meetings
• providing advice, connections and assistance to participant/s
• modelling different teaching strategies
• participating in professional learning and/or accessing relevant resources
• conducting lesson observations and providing advice and guidance to enhance teaching practices of participant/s
• maintaining a thorough record of mentor/participant meetings and reporting any at risk participants to the mathematics support team.

Mentors will provide this support virtually but may encourage face-to-face engagements where feasible and desirable. Mentors will meet their participant/s face-to-face during the program’s expenses paid induction event.

The Mathematics Mentoring Program will provide funding to each mentor's school to reduce their regular workload to 0.9 FTE for 12 months, allowing up to approximately 20 days of release time per year to focus on mentoring related duties, including attending training and networking events.

Mentors will provide support to participants from 12 to 24 months, in line with their participants concluding their studies. The department will support mentors and schools on a case-by-case basis if they wish to extend their mentoring program.

Mentors will engage with their participant/s through regular online mentoring sessions. The frequency and duration of these sessions should be agreed by mentors and their participant/s and may change over time based on the participant’s needs.

Ideally mentors will provide a weekly 10-minute catchup and a fortnightly one-hour meeting for each participant mentored (or equivalent contribution to the Community of Practice).

The department will engage program mentors up to 24 months on a 0.1 FTE basis.

The department will work with the mentor's Principal and Head Teacher - Mathematics to schedule dedicated release time for mentoring. Mentors can take mentoring time as days or half-days as needed. If built into the timetable, some relief will need to be set aside for the Induction Conference and classroom observations of their participant/s.

Applications for the Mathematics Mentoring Program are now closed. You can subscribe to the mailing list for updates about the program.

Mentors must provide the following documents:

• CV or resume, including information about past mathematics teaching experience
• evidence of Australian citizenship or permanent residence
• a letter of agreement from their principal

After each application has been reviewed and assessed, applicants will be contacted by the department and informed if they have been accepted into the Mathematics Mentoring Program as a mentor.