Introducing the MEL framework scales: measuring the emotional labour involved in mentoring pre-service teachers

Purpose This paper aims to present the development and validation of a set of five psychometric scales designed to measure how mentors navigate the emotional dimensions of their role in relation to the Mentoring as Emotional Labour (MEL) framework (Relihan and O'Donovan, 2024). It situates this work within the Australian initial teacher education (ITE) mentoring landscape, highlighting limitations in current approaches and addressing a significant gap in the field: the lack of tools that systematically capture the emotional complexity of mentoring. Design/methodology/approach The paper details the empirical development of the MEL scales, including item construction and data collection and analysis using Rasch modelling on a sample of mentors (N = 240). Five scales were developed to measure each aspect of the MEL framework and validated using Rasch analysis: an overarching MEL-15 scale, providing an integrated snapshot of mentors’ capacity to navigate EL, and one scale for each of the MEL framework quadrants (self, context, tasks and others), each providing targeted assessment of distinct areas of mentoring practice and developed as independent, Rasch-fit, unidimensional measures. Findings All five scales satisfied Rasch measurement requirements, demonstrating strong validity, reliability and targeting (person separation index >0.80; non-significant chi-square). This confirms that all retained items define a single coherent construct within each scale, enabling meaningful interpretation of mentor capacity across the MEL framework. The overarching MEL-15 scale comprises 15 items that provide a concise snapshot of how mentors navigate the EL of mentoring, while 4 12-item aspect scales capture distinct areas of mentoring practice. All scales and scoring tables are provided for those wishing to utilise them in their practice or research. Originality/value This study introduces the first Rasch-validated set of scales designed to measure mentors’ capacity to navigate the EL involved in mentoring within ITE. It contributes a theoretically grounded and empirically validated tool to support mentor development in ITE.