''There is a big debate currently raging about the quality of subject-specific training that is afforded to Initial Teachers Trainees and Early Career Teachers. This book provides an excellent framework of history-specific training and represents the best practise of the profession. Chapters are sequenced to cover the journey from the relationship between trainee and mentor, developing subject, substantive and pedagogical knowledge onto the journey beyond training. They are enriched with the best thinking in the profession using a range of articles and blogs. Case studies and guidance activities will enliven conversations that have become constrained by often formulaic non-subject-specific tasks. This book belongs on the desk of every mentor, trainee and anyone else that is interested in developing their skills in history teaching.'' Simon Beale, Head of History & Politics Vyners School ''Mentoring History Teachers in the Secondary School is a very welcome and much needed addition to mentoring literature. It shows very clearly just why generic approaches to learning to teach a subject are not enough to support mentees become the very best history teachers that students in our schools deserve.

The book celebrates the importance of subject-specific mentoring and supports mentors to reflect on their own practice as well as providing a wide range of strategies, tasks and discussion points to structure training activities and mentor meetings. Not only will this book be useful for ITE and ECT mentors, it will also provide food for thought for any history teacher looking to develop their own practice, with chapters ranging from developing substantive and disciplinary knowledge, to lesson planning and ways to engage with the History subject community. The book draws on an impressive range of literature and has lots of suggested reading for mentors and mentees alike. Whether you read from cover to cover or dip in for inspiration this book will be a valuable tool for new and experienced mentors, mentees and anyone supporting History teachers at any point in their career.'' Sally Burnham , History teacher, Mentor and Lead Practitioner, Carre''s Grammar School ''The authors set the bar high in their expectations of mentors and of mentees but provide the detailed scaffolding required to enable both parties achieve those heights. Four things stood out for me. Firstly, the authors'' awareness of the human relationships at the heart of mentoring, the need to respond to individuals, each with their own personality, strengths, weaknesses and preconceptions of what being a teacher involves. Secondly, the absolute importance of initial mentoring and career-long training in the context of the subject specialism, history teaching, with its individuality of aims, processes and challenges.

Thirdly, the enthusiasm and commitment of the authors - their description of the ''joyous responsibility'' of mentoring kept me turning the pages. Finally, they tell us about teaching as well as about mentoring - readers will come away with ideas to improve their teaching as well as their mentoring. If this book had been available when I was a young teacher and then mentor, its pragmatic idealism would have made my progress in both roles far more effective and rewarding.'' Ian Dawson , former PGCE tutor, Director of Schools History Project and creator of thinkinghistory.co.uk ''Hitherto there has been a void in literature containing subject-specific advice for History mentors and this wonderful book fills it emphatically. For too long subject-specific practices in mentoring have been overlooked, in favour of unhelpful generic approaches. Whilst the newly introduced Early Career Framework rightly places a welcome and long overdue emphasis on the role of the mentor, it does not offer a definitive recipe for action for mentors of beginning History teachers.

This outstanding book offers such a recipe, guiding novice and experienced mentors alike through a range or pertinent aspects of the History mentors'' craft. It succeeds in outlining the challenges both trainees and mentors face in the crucial endeavour of mentoring. It explores policy, pedagogy, planning and classroom practice, and locates the pivotal role of the mentor, who is undoubtedly one of the greatest determinants in the success of a beginning History teacher. This timely and important guide serves as an ideal curriculum for mentors to follow and will undoubtedly become important to ITE providers and schools seeking to better support their trainee teachers. This book contains numerous practical examples that will inform the reader, supported with reference to a host of relevant academic and practitioner-based literature. Mentors truly matter, and this book will support all those wishing to help their trainees flourish in the secondary History classroom'' Tom Donnai , Subject Leader, PGCE History, University of Manchester ''We are at a challenging crossroads in Teacher Education. On one hand there has been an increasing focus on subject specificity in DfE policy and in Ofsted inspection. On the other hand, the ITE landscape has been reworked and underpinned by far more generic core frameworks for trainee and early career teachers.

This book is an important contribution in enabling school-based mentors to support new history teachers in ways which transcend the generic. The authors give careful and comprehensive consideration to the many issues which new teachers encounter in schools and offer clearly grounded, practical and subject-specific advice and guidance to support mentors in helping trainees to navigate these. The reflection points and tasks are especially helpful for mentors seeking to develop their own practice and encourage new history teachers to reflect critically on theirs as well. The chapters themselves are lively and well written, drawing on a wide range of theory and research; making this accessible and relevant to specific classroom issues. On this basis alone, I would recommend this book to anyone mentoring a history trainee or ECT. The authors are driven by a clear and genuine desire to empower both mentors and new history teachers to be critically aware practitioners, so that they can have a positive impact on history teaching in the long term. This underpinning ethic provides a powerful justification for the authors'' recommendations and means the book will certainly stand the test of time. It should be read not just by mentors, but by trainees, new teachers, as well as all those seeking to reform the ITE system.

'' Alex Ford, Schools History Project Fellow & Senior Lecturer in History Education at Leeds Trinity University ''At a time when the focus of new teacher education seems increasingly on general teaching techniques, this book is a timely reminder about the importance of the role of subject-specific training. It looks at how a mentor can guide a trainee or ECT to consider and overcome the unique challenges of teaching history. It does this by considering recent research, practical tasks to undertake and following up with further reading. The book comprehensively covers all aspects of mentoring, from the familiar topic of lesson planning to the less obvious potential and pitfalls of new technology. As a PGCE and ECT mentor this provides lots of sensible, well thought out advice about carrying out the role well, showing how the theory of teaching history underpins the proaction in the classroom and giving the beginning history teacher a stronger base from which to start their career.'' Swerupa Gosrani, Assistant Head of Humanities, History Teacher and mentor, Belper School in Derbyshire ''As Crooks, Haydn and London point out, high-quality mentoring of beginning teachers is vital to the health of our education system; high-quality mentoring of beginning history teachers is vital to the future of school history. The authors show that such mentoring requires a distinct, subject-specific body of professional knowledge, beyond the knowledge of what makes effective history teaching. Yet, mentors are all too rarely provided with the opportunities to develop this necessary knowledge.

Now, with this thorough, deeply researched and wide-ranging exploration of all that history mentoring involves - within and beyond the classroom - the authors provide an indispensable and timely guide for all those working with history teachers in the early stages of their career. Throughout, the authors draw on both research and their extensive expertise in working with beginning history teachers to identify their particular needs as history teachers: issues that are specific to the subject, such as handling controversial and sensitive histories in the classroom; aspects of teaching that beginning history teachers often find difficult, such as planning sequences of lessons as rigorous historical enquiries; misconceptions and knowledge gaps beginning history teachers often have. Readers are then provided with a wealth of practical, carefully-designed suggestions for mentoring activities that will help to address these particular, subject-specific needs, along with countless references to further useful resources and ideas about how to make the most of them with mentees. These well-structured practical ideas, along with the light shone on often-neglected areas of history teacher development, will change the way I mentor and work with fellow mentors. But more than that, by placing a microscope over all aspects of the history teachers'' craft and how they can be developed, the book will change the way I approach my own continuing development. I would encourage all history teachers to read it.'' Jonathan Grande , Head of History and Network Lead for History (KS3/4), Ark Pioneer Academy ''This book is the key to being an excellent History.