Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/mentoring-advocates-in-our-field/5021832/
Say the word ‘mentoring’ in an early childhood conversation, and most people think of mentoring a classroom teacher or mentoring another practitioner early in their career in early childhood education. And most of you probably didn’t expect mentoring to be the focus of a Policy Matters column. But just as mentoring of classroom teachers and program directors is important, mentoring also has a place in the realm of public policy. Why do you mentor classroom teachers, after all? To retain them and to help them be more effective with children. And you need that if you’re going to achieve the goal of providing high-quality early childhood services. Mentoring in the public policy context is important for achieving that goal, too. Helping people be more effective advocates �" helping their advocacy message be heard more clearly �" is a sure-fire way to win the policy and funding decisions that will give every child access to high-quality early childhood education.Mentoring in Advocacy
Mentoring in advocacy can take many shapes and encompasses a variety of relationships, largely because advocacy covers such a broad range of activities. In general, there are three kinds of mentoring relationships:
• Mentoring a newcomer
• Peer-to-peer mentoring
• Mentoring an interested party
While the ...