Mentor an aspiring or beginning principal
Find out how to apply to become a mentor
Experienced principals have always played a vital role in shaping other school leaders. As part of the Aspiring and Beginning Principal Programmes (launching in 2026), we’re inviting current principals to apply to become mentors - guiding, supporting, and inspiring the next generation of school leaders.
Mentoring allows you to reflect on your own leadership journey, share your experience and help build a pipeline of prepared, confident, and culturally responsive leaders for our schools and kura.
Applications to become a mentor will open 9am on 11 September 2025.
Applications for the aspiring principal programme will open 9am on 17 September 2025.
Becoming a mentor
Becoming a mentor of an aspiring or beginning principal is a unique opportunity to contribute to system-wide improvement while deepening your own professional practice.
The programmes are professional learning and development initiatives designed to grow well-prepared principals who can lead with vision, cultural capability, and educational excellence from day one in the role.
Key to the success of the programmes is the one-to-one matching of an experienced principal with programme participants, and success for emerging principals in the programmes relies on having a significant pool of skilled principals to act as mentors.
Mentoring applicants can apply to mentor:
- An aspiring principal | tumuaki (1-year engagement)
- A beginning principal | tumuaki (up to 2-year engagement)
- Or both
Matching with an aspiring or beginning principal
When your application has been accepted, including endorsement by a referee, your details will be shared with the aspiring principal and beginning principal programme providers. You will then be added to their mentor register and provided with onboarding information.
Once registered, you will be matched with a mentee as opportunities arise. Acceptance as a mentor does not guarantee a match.
Using information provided in your application and your preferences, mentor matches will be made for each aspiring and beginning principal. How close the match is will depend on several factors including school setting, location, cultural needs (e.g., wāhine Māori leadership), to ensure relevance and appropriate support.
If your school or kura has someone accepted into the aspiring principal programme, you will not be matched with them.
Eligibility criteria apply to becoming a mentor. They include:
- Leading a state or state-integrated school as a Principal/Tumuaki
- Holding a Full Practising Certificate (Category One)
- Having at least six years’ recent principalship experience
- Confirming your school is not under any statutory intervention
- Being available to mentor for the next 1–2 years (i.e., you have no planned sabbatical, study award, or secondment)
See the mentor application guidance for full eligibility criteria in the popular resources section of the webpage.
Choosing a referee
You will need to choose a referee to endorse your mentor application. They must be a current or recent principal who can attest to your suitability as a mentor and will need to complete an online mentor endorsement form.
The referee will be required to assess your mentoring and leadership capabilities across the key competencies based on the Teaching Council’s Educational Leadership Capability Framework.
Referees should read the referee guidance in the popular resources section of the webpage before completing the online form.
Getting school Board support
You will also need to secure formal Board support for your application and upload one of the following as part of your application:
- an excerpt of the board motion confirming support (not full minutes)
- a signed letter from the presiding member or their delegate
- an email from the presiding member sent directly to the Ministry.
Preparing and completing your mentor application
We strongly recommend reading the mentor application guidance before starting your online application. the format of the application requires long form examples and statements about your principal and leadership career, areas of expertise, and your mentoring and coaching experience and development.
We also recommend drafting your responses to the long form questions and copying them into the online application. You do not need to complete your application in one sitting as long as you click on the application link below using the same internet browser (e.g., chrome, bing, safari etc).
Referees are recommended to review the assessment capability framework before completing the online referee endorsement form. They will also need to know the mentor applicant's MOE number so their endorsement can be matched with the mentor application.
Contact us
For additional information about becoming a mentor or the aspiring and beginning principal programmes, please contact us. We're here to help.