BLÁTHÚ mentoring

Pedagogical Quality Assurance through BLÁTHÚ Mentoring 
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BLÁTHÚ Mentoring Service offers pedagogical support to our member services through on-site Mentoring Visits.
An experienced and qualified mentor will spend one or two days in your service. Through respectful guidance and observation, together you will reflect on aspects of the pedagogy of relevance to your service and matters of concern for you, the teachers. 
At the end of the visit, an evaluation report from the mentor will be offered to the service for the attention of the teachers and the committee. Also your evaluation of the process will be requested and much appreciated.

HOW TO PREPARE FOR YOUR VISIT 
  • Reflect on your expectations.
  • If you have questions/concerns, tell them to the mentor prior to visit.
  • Allow ample time for your staff team to reflect with the mentor after having contact time with the children. 
  • While the opportunity avails itself, it is worthwhile for your service to arrange a parent/public evening talk or workshop with Ulrike as guest speaker/facilitator. (A small income generated from the evening’s event will help your service to cover the cost of the overall visit). 
  • Or alternatively Ulrike, in her capacity as mentor, could attend a committee meeting. 

Please plan, and book your annual visit from Ulrike Farnleitner, our NDO and Mentor, by emailing; ndo.blathu@gmail.com


​For information on costs for all mentoring, advisory visits and coaching, please click here.

INDEPENDENT MENTOR
​If you would like to avail of an advisor other than our in-house mentor, we will arrange an independent mentor to visit. The independent mentors’ cost is not subsidised by BLÁTHÚ, so the fee will be higher. ​To discuss, please contact Ruth
SIOLTA MENTORING
Due to the work commitment required when engaging with the SIOLTA Quality Assurance Programme, the Síolta mentoring is priced as a package. 
When your team is ready to participate formally in the Síolta Quality Assurance Process, an agreement will be drawn up between yourself and Ulrike Farnleitner, Síolta mentor. This agreement will include a schedule of visits, approximately 4, plus a realistic time-frame for completion of components. 
We estimate a time frame of 9-12 months. Phone and email support will be available throughout this time.
BLÁTHÚ will endeavour to keep the costs as low as is possible. Travel is the main expense for us, so the more a team can achieve on their own or within local peer groups/CPD the lower the cost can be kept. 
Your services engagement with the Siolta process is seen as a form of quality assurance, so a separate mentoring visit is not required.  
COST: €60 per visit x 3 visits paid upfront.
BOOKINGS & ENQUIRIES:
For all bookings and enquiries about mentoring, coaching and other advisory services please contact:
Ruth – 089 2411816  or Ulrike - 087 1247317
​For information on costs, please click here.
COACHING by phone 
In addition to the mentoring service, BLÁTHÚ is offering coaching to its members and non-members. It is seen as a service for teachers, managers, committee members and parents.
Coaching is not to direct or advise the coachee, but to assume that the coachee has all the resources necessary to make their own choices. It is not counselling or psychotherapy where the wounds of the past are looked at and where healing is sought.
Coaching is to work in the present moment and in a partnership between coachee and coach. The coach is your listening partner in a confidential realm, where the coach keeps the coachee focused and challenges with questions in an agreed way. Listening is an essential skill that will be applied by the coach.
The desired outcome will be clarified, and it is the coach’s work to support the coachee on the path of success.
It is envisaged that the initial session will be conducted in person and the subsequent ones over the phone unless the driving to a meeting place would be in acceptable distances.
Between the scheduled coaching sessions, the coachee may be asked to complete specific actions that support the achievement of the envisaged goals and aspirations. It is recommended to keep a journal for your reflections.
Each coaching session duration is approx. 50min. The number of coaching sessions will vary and will likely be 4-8 according to agreement. Generally, there will be 2 weeks between each session. If the goal is achieved in less hours than agreed, there is no need to continue with coaching. However, there will always be a first session, a time together, where the coaching process will be explained in detail, and a last coaching session, where one looks at the past process and achievements.