I have recently been matched with a mentor to guide me through my Aurora journey. It took some time for me to get a mentor as I was part of an early cohort. So, I am in a celebratory mood.
In January I had a get-to-know mentor-mentee meeting which was very productive. My mentor is undertaking a coaching course, so had a professional template for undertaking management coaching/mentoring in the workplace. I was very pleased, because that was my preferred style of working too and I also felt reassured as we had a confidentiality agreement between us.
During the subsequent meeting, we worked on my focus for the next few years and also a CPD plan for 2020. My focus for the next few years involves working more in the forefront to support students and staff. It was already something that I was doing, but I would definitely like my work to have a large percentage of support activities and less low-level administrative work. This is a struggle that most women of colour face, however competent we are, we will still be thrown into the background and hardly get a chance to be in the limelight, despite often being the person behind successful ideas and projects. My CPD plan for 2020 includes:
- completing my Senior Fellowship of HEA
- having some shadowing experience in frontline Student Support and Wellbeing
- being involved in more (re)validation of taught programmes, in particular, online programmes
- completing my Aurora programme
These are not “just” four goals, but they required lots of hours of preparation, meetings, and reflections that will help improve my practice, something that I have always been very keen on (read my thoughts on lifelong learning).
Reshaping HE - International, Inclusive & Digital Ed 