Mentoring Qualification Program (MQP)

Overview

Our Mentoring Qualification Program (MQP) will teach you the strategies, tools and processes that form the foundations of effective mentoring and coaching. Using a practical, applied approach to learning, this program provides transformational skills to support administrators, teachers, managers, supervisors, business and support staff in an inclusive and collaborative learning environment.

Our MQP was developed by experienced elementary and secondary principals from across the province to enhance leadership capacity throughout the system by combining the skills, strategies and processes of both mentoring and coaching. This Additional Qualification (AQ) program is aligned with the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT) guideline for Mentoring, the Ontario Leadership Framework (2013) and the Ministry of Education resource, Mentoring for All.

Key learning components include

theoretical foundations of Mentoring and Coaching
program planning, development and implementation
instructional strategies and support, including an emphasis on equity, experiential learning and skill development
building relationships and developing people
having courageous conversations and
legislation, policy and practical resources.

A minimum of 125 hours of instructional contact time is included in the program through the practical application of learning and skills with a chosen mentee, a personalized project, digital tools, a choice of reading materials and personalized learning opportunities engaging candidates with trained facilitators and one another.

Module Information

Module 1 - Introducing and Understanding Mentoring/Coaching

Principles of adult learning
Research on mentoring and coaching (including a personalized reading choice)
The importance of equity in mentoring/coaching
Principles of anti-oppressive leadership
Supporting MentorCoaching through the Co-Active model and skills (based on the seminal text Co-Active Coaching currently in its 4^th edition)
Attributes, processes, tools and skills of MentorCoaching, including:
- The MentorCoaching relationship (including trust, honesty, confidentiality, safety, non-judgement, and bias awareness)
- Deep listening (also articulating, clarifying, meta-view, metaphor, and acknowledging)
- Curiosity and asking powerful questions

Module 2 - Continued Skill Development

Models of mentoring and coaching
Mindsets (including the impact of unconscious bias, strategies to support a positive/growth MentorCoaching mindset, fostering culturally responsive mentoring practices, supporting equity and inclusion)
Leveraging our signature strengths
Values in MentorCoaching
Feedback vs. feedforward
The guiding principles, critical skills and processes of MentorCoaching continued:
- Listening, curiosity and powerful questions, intuition, forwarding the action and deepening the learning (also focusing on the mentee’s agenda, goal setting and accountability), self-management (also recovery, asking permission, bottom-lining, championing, clearing, reframing, making distinctions)

Module 3 - Leading with MentorCoaching and Courageous Conversations

The role of MentorCoaching in 21^st century learning and leadership
Responding to leadership challenges (including applying MentorCoaching to school improvement and student achievement)
Moving toward equitable leadership (including the creation of an anti-oppressive culture and responding to micro-aggressions)
Differentiating supports for novice and experienced leaders
Risk taking and the importance of learning from failure
Mentoring new teachers (including collaborative inquiry in building teacher efficacy)
Case study analysis, Ministry of Education and other mentoring resources
Courageous conversations (based on the text Having Hard Conversations and/or Hard Conversations Unpacked and/or Swimming in the Deep End)

Module 4 - Applications and Creating a Culture of MentorCoaching

Creating a culture of MentorCoaching
Issues of race and equity (including using MentorCoaching to build a safe, equitable and inclusive culture)
Using MentorCoaching to support sustainability, health and well-being
Multi-generational mentoring opportunities
MentorCoaching across districts and in other careers

Required Reading

Candidates are required to read three texts for the program. Co-Active Coaching is the first required reading. You may choose one text from the second section that includes a selection of Jennifer Abrams’ works. Lastly, choose one text from the third section which has been divided into multiple topics focusing on Mentoring/Coaching.

Purchasing links are provided for your convenience. You may purchase the texts from wherever you choose. The cost of texts is separate from the cost of the program.

Required Reading # 1

Co-Active Coaching: The Proven Framework for Transformative Conversations at Work and in Life, (4th ed.), H. Kimsey-House, K. Kimsey-House, P. Sandahl, L. Whitworth

Required Reading #2 - Choose one of the following:

Having Hard Conversations, Jennifer Abrams
Swimming in the Deep End: Four Foundational Skills for Leading Successful School Initiatives, Jennifer Abrams
Hard Conversations Unpacked: The Whos, the Whens and the What-Ifs, Jennifer Abrams

Required Reading #3 - Choose one of the following:

Mentoring

Mentoring Matters: A practical guide to learning-focused relationships, (3rd ed.), Laura Lipton, Bruce Wellman, et al.

Coaching

The Impact Cycle: What instructional coaches should do to foster powerful improvements in teaching, Jim Knight

Mentoring and Coaching

The Leader's Guide to Coaching and Mentoring: How to use soft skills to get hard results, Mike Brent and Fiona Dent

Mentoring/Coaching and Equity

Coaching for Equity: Conversations that change practice, Elena Aguilar
Embers: One Ojibway's meditations, Richard Wagamese

Mentoring/Coaching and Leadership

Wait, What? And Life’s Other Essential Questions, James E. Ryan

Course Fee

$900.00 (covers all four modules, includes $50 non-refundable registration fee).

Upcoming Sessions

Modules 1 - 3 will be facilitated online in a synchronous model using Teama unless otherwise stated.

Module 4 will be completed online through Canvas, our Learning Management System (LMS). Deadlines are firm.

Auditing the program

Winter 2024 - Online

Module 1 (synchronous)
- Janauary 27 - 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
- January 28 - 8:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Module 2 (synchronous)
- February 10 - 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
- February 11 - 8:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Module 3 (synchronous)
- March 02 - 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
- March 03 - 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Module 4 (asynchronous)

To be complete by April 15

Registration Deadline: January 13

Summer 2024 - Online

Module 1 (synchronous)
- July 10 - 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
- July 11 - 8:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Module 2 (synchronous)
- July 18 - 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
- July 19 - 8:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Module 3 (synchronous)
- July 24 - 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
- July 25 - 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Module 4 (asynchronous)

To be complete by August 31

Registration Deadline: June 26

Current Board Partnerships

York Region District School Board

Email us to offer the MQP within your Board.

Terms and Conditions

Academic Integrity

All candidates participating in our Additional Qualification Programs must review and comply with our academic integrity and engagement guidelines.

Refund Policy

A full refund is available if you cancel up to two weeks before the start date, less a $50.00 non-refundable registration fee.

A $250.00 refund is available if you cancel one week before the start date.

There is no refund for cancellations after the start date.

A full refund applies when a session is cancelled due to low enrollment.

Interpretation Services Terms and Conditions

The Ontario Principal’s Council (OPC) is committed to accommodating the individual needs of our Members, in accordance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and the Ontario Human Rights Code. Once a candidate has registered and paid the applicable registration fees for a course, the OPC will contract with an interpretation service of its choosing and will cover the fees and expenses related to interpretation services in accordance with its contract arrangements with the interpreter. The candidate is welcome to provide a list of preferred interpreters for us to consider, but OPC retains the discretion to choose the provider of these services.

As the OPC is required to comply with the cancellation policy specific to each independent interpreter, it will communicate the cancellation policy to the course candidate in writing. A candidate seeking to cancel their participation in an OPC course must comply with the interpreter’s cancellation policy and be respectful of the associated timelines. Candidates will be held responsible for cancellation fees applied as a result of missing timelines for cancellation.

OPC’s standard refund policy will also apply to all cancellations.