Mentors will play an active role throughout the  programme, being by providing support, advice and coaching for up to eighteen trainee teachers, between two and three days a week.  The mentor’s guidance will help NQTs to develop their skills and prove their competence to the practicing teacher standards in order to earn their MEP, This is South Wales website reports.

"A key part of raising standards and performance in schools in Wales is developing highly skilled teachers who are able to deliver effective teaching and learning in the classroom.” Commented Leighton Andrews, Education Secretary, upon announcing the programme, adding: "I’m confident that our new Masters in Educational Practice will help us achieve that, but Newly Qualified Teachers are going to need support and guidance from the best.”

The three year programme for NQTs in Wales will start from September 2012 and can be followed alongside induction and early professional development.  The role of mentors will be to:

• promote improving learner outcomes and raising standards of teaching in Wales.
• be part of a new and exciting network of mentors across Wales with opportunities for development and training in coaching and mentoring.
• experience a unique opportunity to work alongside practitioners, Higher Education Institutions and the Welsh Government in a key role as part of the Masters in Educational Practice programme.

The announcement was welcomed by Angela Jardine, Chairperson of the General Teaching Council for Wales: “We fully support the Welsh Government’s aim to make teaching a masters level profession, which is an exciting strategy for education in Wales. Its hasty implementation, and the current requirements that the qualification be completed in the first few stressful years of teaching, could be counterproductive for the profession and run the risk of failure.”