Mentoring

What is mentoring?  

• “a nurturing process in which a more experienced individual acts as a role model, teaches, supports and counsels a learner.” 
• “the potential of a 1 on 1 constructive relationship that can simultaneously empower and enhance practice.”
• “mentoring means guiding and supporting students to assist them through difficult transitions”
• “smoothing the way, enabling, reassuring as well as directing, managing and instructing.”
• “unblock the way to change, build self-confidence, self-esteem and a readiness to act.”
• facilitates solutions to problems

Mentoring must be responsive to individual strengths, values and needs.

Mentoring is a dynamic process – it changes in response to student needs – and should be thought of as a process that is done WITH a student rather than TO a student.

Mentors can assist students in making the connection between their actions of today and their goals of tomorrow.

Why mentor?

Effective mentors work on developing the “3 R’s.”  Relationships / Relationships / Relationships. We aim to build supportive relationships with students to improve their well-being, connectedness to school, morale and overall outcomes in the broader sense.

Resilience research confirms that the presence of a caring adult in a student’s life is important in assisting students to overcome adversity and achieve at school. Effective mentoring seeks to provide such a presence by establishing a trusting relationship between a student and mentor that:

• focuses on the needs of the student
• models and fosters caring and supportive relationships to increase
• self-confidence, awareness and management of behaviour
• positive attitudes towards assisting others

Mentors can have a great deal of impact; it’s not always immediately evident. Look for signs such as increased school attendance, improved grades, showing up for meetings and expressing appreciation.

Role of the mentor:

• The mentor should work to build a safe and supportive relationship with students.
• Identify the student’s interests and take them seriously. Be alert for opportunities and conversation starters.
• Explore positive and negative consequences of actions
• Influence through constructive feedback.
• Listen with empathy, be objective and non-judgmental
• Share experiences and assist students to learn from both successes and failures
• Develop a professional and supportive relationship by being honest and respectful
• Assist students to set SMART goals
• Reflect on past performances and look for positives and improvements
• Review reports / SAC results / homework and praise successes and discuss strategies for improvement
• Review time management strategies
• Make contact with teachers, parents and managers/coordinators where appropriate

As the mentor you are a:   

• Positive Role Model
• Coach
• Advisor
• Self-esteem Builder
• Career Supporter
• Advocate
• Significant Adult
• Listener

Prompting Questions??

The following questions could be used with students to promote discussion to assist during a mentoring session if necessary:

• What is going well today / this week? Why?
• What are you good at? Why are you good at these things?
• What do you like about school? Why?
• What are your favourite subjects at school? Why? 
• What would you change about school if you could?
• What are your passions / interests / hobbies?
• What did you do on the weekend?
• Where do you go / where have you visited on your holidays?
• What do you hope to achieve by the end of the year?
• Where will you be in 2 / 5 / 10 years?
• What career paths are you interested in?
• What steps do you need to take to get towards these career aspirations?

Student Mentoring Structure

Heads of Year Level and Year Level Coordinators are responsible for the content of Mentoring sessions. With approximately 20 students in these mentoring groups, the aim is to have a 1 on 1 discussion with 4-5 students in each session. This would roughly cover all the students over a 5-6 week block and allow mentors to have about 2 discussions per term with each student. Aim to spend approximately 10 minutes with each student. More time with each student would be ideal but is not possible with our current structure.

Depending on the location of the mentoring session and resources available, you may have to set up an area at the front or back of the classroom to have these mentoring discussions. Some rooms may have a space / store / pod adjoining the classroom that may be an appropriate space for mentoring discussions. Be aware of creating a space that makes the students feel comfortable.

Recording of information

It is very important that an accurate log is kept of which students have been mentored and a brief summary of what was discussed. Record this information on student chronicle. This way it can be easily accessed by the mentor and other relevant staff if and when required. This will also provide an opportunity to refer students to coordinators and managers / welfare / careers etc. if required. Student attendance will also need to be recorded on compass for each mentoring session.