“Send Me in, Coach!” Ruminations on the Ethics of Mentoring in Teaching and Research

The author begins with an extended account of the manner in which popular accounts treat the topic of mentoring or coaching. This treatment is contrasted with the problems of coaching described in other articles in this issue, especially in connection to the National Board portfolio assessment. The distinction between “mediated” and “unmediated” mentoring is proposed to clarify why some forms of coaching are more problematic than others when judging the performance or competence of the individual. The settings of mediated mentoring include doctoral dissertations; architectural designs; published books, poems, and essays; in addition to coached portfolios. Reasons for why products of coaching and collaboration are necessary, even in high-stakes assessment, are discussed. Three principles are offered for dealing with the attendant ambiguities of mediated performances: explicitness, ethical formation, and transparency. Their application to the circumstances of both National Board assessment and doctoral ment...