Previous articles in this series have defined words and concepts that guide our thinking in the areas of teaching and learning, set in the greater world of education; but what happens in the quiet and often lonely world of individual practice?

As we reflect upon our pasts, many of us recognise that we have at some point in time engaged with a significant figure who has had a long term and positive influence on our personal development; someone who has the unusual and valuable qualities that mean that whatever else is happening to them personally, they maintain a genuine interest in at least one other person's development. All too frequently, this becomes an isolated event; a lost activity from which there is limited gain. This article explores how, as busy practitioners, we may think of using the principles implied in this experience and build upon them to facilitate a powerful and cost effective method that encourages personal development.

“To know someone with whom you feel there is understanding in spite of distances or thoughts expressed… that can make this life a garden”—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832)