Building Better Classrooms Begins with Better Mentorship

By Hifza Azeem

Teaching is one of the most cognitively demanding professions. As Korthagen (2017) notes, a teacher’s behaviour is unconsciously guided by interaction of cognitive, emotional, and motivational dimensions, each influencing how teachers think, feel, and act in a classroom. Studies show that teachers make multiple micro-decisions throughout a day, such as whom to call, when to pause, and how to respond to student needs. Researchers have estimated that a teacher makes 1,500 classroom decisions per day (Education Week, 2021). Each decision demands empathy; and instructional precision, leaving teachers with limited cognitive space for reflection and improvement. 

Structured pedagogy helps ease this. Hwa et al. (2024) defines structured pedagogy as “a teaching and learning approach centred on a well-sequenced and scoped progression of competencies for children to master and an aligned package of detailed lesson plans, student learning materials, introductory teacher training, ongoing coaching and/or supervision for teachers and other forms of support.” Using structured pedagogy reduces unnecessary decision points and allows teachers to focus on what truly matters: learning and understanding. Evidence from structured pedagogy programs across low and middle-income countries, including Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) which is an initiative by Pratham, shows consistent improvement in foundational learning when teachers are well-equipped and are supported with coherent routines and continuous support.

This is where mentorship becomes essential. While structured pedagogy defines the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of teaching, mentorship explains the ‘why’. It enables teachers to internalise effective practices, tailor them to the classroom environment, and respond thoughtfully to student needs. With strong mentorship, teachers move beyond instinctive reactions and begin making intentional decisions. Their classroom practice becomes reflective, contextual, and adaptive. However, for mentoring to have this transformative effect, it must go beyond being a compliance-driven activity. In reality, school visits by teacher mentors are confined to basic observations. In states such as Maharashtra, classroom observations have traditionally followed a format centered on ‘three things that went well’ and ‘three things that need improvement’. While this method promotes some degree of reflection, it does not explore the deeper dynamics of teaching and learning. Consequently, the feedback provided tends to be generic, offers minimal direction for improving instructional practices, and is detached from student learning outcomes. In such scenarios, teacher mentors also struggle without structured frameworks to guide meaningful observations and feedback. 

The National Mission for Mentoring (NMM), launched under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, directly responds to this challenge. It envisions mentoring as a continuous, school-based, and need-responsive process. NMM conceptualises mentoring as “a process that supports and encourages individuals to manage their learning, maximize their potential, develop skills, improve performance, and become the person they aspire to be”. It aims to strengthen the quality of education by establishing a network of mentors who can guide and support teachers in creating an inclusive and equitable classroom environment (NCTE, 2023).

NMM moves mentoring from evaluation to collaboration, grounded in trust, dialogue, and evidence. For this vision to translate effectively into practice, teacher mentors need structured tools that enable them to observe classrooms systematically and give actionable, evidence-based feedback. 

The NMM Bluebook (NCTE, 2023) highlights that an interaction is effective when it has four core elements: “assurance, consensus, structure and tools”. The World Bank’s TEACH tool serves precisely this function. It is a classroom observation tool that shifts attention from administrative compliance to pedagogical practice. It captures the quality of classroom instruction, supports a positive learning environment, and focuses on socioemotional skills. TEACH is diagnostic to understand classroom dynamics and instructional practices, but it can provide mentors with a shared language to transform observation into a collaborative learning experience. When mentors use tools like TEACH, their conversations with teachers become structured and purposeful. 

As an open-source tool, it has been contextualised by states to fit their classrooms better, with locally relevant terminology and examples. In Haryana, where the state has invested in mentoring since 2009, Effective Classroom Observation (ECO, adapted from TEACH) implementation has been integrated into classroom observation and feedback cycles. One of the teacher mentors reported that the tool helps them focus on structured classroom observation. Similarly, in Maharashtra, classroom observations have been perceived as evaluative, often creating apprehension among teachers. One of the teachers recalled an instance where initially, observers would share feedback publicly with the teachers, leaving them discouraged and unsupported. 

The introduction of TEACH has helped shift this culture. Observers now use the structured elements and behaviours of the tool to identify specific pedagogical strengths and areas of improvement. As one observer from Haryana reflected, “So many elements and so many behaviours shape classroom learning, aspects I had never paid attention to before.” This change has begun to redefine the culture of observation, turning school visits into spaces for reflection and growth. 

Within education systems, it is usually the Block Resource Persons (BRPs) and Cluster Resource Persons (CRPs), who are best positioned to drive this shift. As ground-level implementors, they already work closely with schools and teachers. Furthermore, under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, 2001, the BRPs and CRPs have been envisioned to grow as teacher mentors-cum-educators. With proper training as observers and mentors, they can transform a classroom into a structured learning environment. TEACH requires observers to go through intensive training to learn how to use the tool effectively. All participants are required to clear a post-training assessment with at least an eighty percent score. Once certified, the observers conduct classroom observations across their blocks and clusters, generating rich data which can help identify strengths and gaps, inform training priorities, and guide targeted mentoring support.

However, World Bank (2021) reports that most Resource Persons (RPs) understand the use of monitoring tools as instruments to measure performance or collect school-level data. While some see value in using data for planning and policy, others admit that such tools primarily serve reporting functions. This misunderstanding reflects a broader structural issue: the role overload faced by BRPs and CRPs. Across states, they have multiple roles and responsibilities, from conducting school visits and teacher training to managing funds, community mobilisation, and even non-academic tasks such as election duties or mid-day meal monitoring. The report also mentions that many of the RPs face delay in allowances, lack of resources such as travel support, and limited training on pedagogy or mentoring. As the MHRD (2010) report observed, this overdependence on BRPs and CRPs as an all-purpose workforce leaves them overstretched and under-supported, reducing their ability to make meaningful academic contributions. 

Korthagen (2017) highlights that teacher professional development programs must be “individualised, contextual, problem-driven and facilitated through reflective dialogue with knowledgeable peers.” This aligns strongly with the vision of NMM and the structure of the TEACH tool, emphasising reflection over inspection.

To make this shift real, teacher mentors (in this case, BRPs and/or CRPs) need both conceptual clarity and institutional support. They must see observation tools as mirrors for instructional practice. Equally, states must ensure that BRPs and CRPs have the time, resources and recognition to focus on academic mentoring. 

States like Haryana, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh which are implementing versions of TEACH aim to show what this transformation can look like, with evolving mentorship structures, data-informed feedback, and growth of BRPs and CRPs as instructional leaders. What is needed now is coherence across policy, training, and implementation, ensuring that mentoring is not a one-time initiative, but a professional culture of schools. 

If implemented with intent and integrity, the congruence of NMM’s mentoring, TEACH tool’s structured evidence, and the teacher mentor network can redefine teacher professional development in India. Together, they build a culture where professional growth is continuous, classroom-focused, and grounded in evidence. Every observation becomes a learning opportunity, every mentoring conversation builds capacity, and every teacher gains the confidence to make instructional decisions that truly enhance student learning outcomes.

References

Klein, A., & Lisna, A. (2021, December 6). 1,500 Decisions a Day (At Least!): How Teachers Cope With a Dizzying Array of Questions. Education Week. 

Korthagen, F. (2017). Inconvenient truths about teacher learning: towards professional development 3.0. Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice, 23(4), 387–405.

Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. (2010). Study of effectiveness of BRCs & CRCs in providing academic support to elementary schools.

National Council for Teacher Education. (2023). National Mission for Mentoring Bluebook.

World Bank. (2021). Strengthening Teacher Mentoring and Monitoring Systems: Evidence from India.