Principals and schools

Mentor an aspiring or beginning principal

Find out how to register to become a mentor

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Last updated 8 October 2026

Experienced principals have always played a vital role in supporting and guiding others in their school communities. As part of the Aspiring and Beginning Principal Programmes we’re inviting eligible current and recent principals 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.

You can register at any time during the year, although all aspiring and most beginning principals will be matched early in the calendar year.

About the mentor role

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. Success for the emerging principals in the programmes relies on having a significant and diverse pool of skilled principal mentors to draw from.

Current principals can mentor one programme participant and can register:

to mentor an aspiring principal (up to a 1-year engagement)
to mentor a beginning principal (up to a 2-year engagement), or
indicate they have no particular preference.

Recent principals cannot mentor aspiring principals as programme participants will need to have opportunities to shadow their mentor. Once registered, recent principals can agree to mentor up to three beginning principals.

Matching with an aspiring or beginning principal

Programme participant matching will be undertaken by the programme providers. Information provided in your mentor registration form and information provided by programme participants, will be used to make the mentor / participant match.

Matching depends on multiple factors. These include school setting, location, individual skill profiles and cultural needs. This helps ensure aspiring or beginning principals have the support they need.

If your school or kura has someone accepted into the Aspiring Principal Programme, you will not be matched with them.

To be eligible to register as a mentor, you:

Must have at least 6 years* principal experience in New Zealand state or state-integrated schools or kura (recent principals must have held a full-time permanent principal role in the last 3 years).
Can confirm your school, or the last school you were a principal of, has not been under statutory intervention while you were principal. (Extenuating circumstances eg, you took over a school under statutory intervention, should be included in the registration form).
Can be available to mentor for the next 1 to 2 years (any planned sabbatical or extended leave should be included in the registration form).
Have the support of your Board to become a mentor if you are a current principal.
Are prepared to complete provider-led onboarding and mentor training.
Must be endorsed by a referee.

* If you have 5 years’ experience, we recommend you apply now and let us know when your 6th anniversary is.

Choosing a referee

You will need to choose a referee to endorse your mentor registration. 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 competency across the key capability areas.

We recommend encouraging your referees to read the referee guidance before completing the endorsement form. You will also need to provide them with your MoE number so their endorsement can be matched with your registration.

Getting school Board support

You will also need to secure formal Board support for your registration and upload one of the following in the registration form:

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.

An example Board template is available in the Popular Resources section of this webpage.

Completing your mentor registration

We strongly recommend reading the mentor registration guidance before starting your registration. The format of the registration form requires statements about your:

principal and leadership career
areas of expertise
mentoring and coaching experience and development.

The information you provide will be used for matching purposes. You do not need to complete your registration in one sitting as long as you return to your application by clicking on the application link below using the same internet browser (eg, Chrome, Bing, Safari).

See the mentor registration guidance linked below and in the Popular Resources section of this webpage.

Mentor registration guidance

Mentor Registration Form

Ready to register?

Instructions for mentor referees

Referees must be a current or recent principal who can attest to the mentor applicant's suitability as a mentor. As a referee, you will be asked to assess the mentor applicant's mentoring and leadership competency across key capability areas.

Referees should read the referee guidance linked below and included in the Popular Resources section of this webpage before completing the online endorsement form. You will also need to know the mentor applicant's MOE number so your endorsement can be matched with the mentor registration.

Guidance for mentor referees