This blog is a little overview of articles, storytelling and innovative strategies, in order to get
prepared and refreshed for our summit.
There, you can find:
-a variety of tools for mentoring programmes for all age groups for formal and informal
education
-an application of one of this tools with coaching in secondary and tertiary education,
designed in Australia
-a story about the action and the impact of a non-profit organization in Spain
Did you know that?
● The social company Evolve UK thinks that mentoring is” a real game-changer for the
world of children and young people in terms of making a significant impact on their
lives.”
● Lena Karnalova who is the founder and CEO at Big Brothers and Big Sisters of
Bulgaria, stated that the needs of children from social care are very big and there is
an increase in the number of volunteers stepping forward to help them.
● ”Befriending offers supportive, reliable relationships through volunteer befrienders to
people of all ages and backgrounds who would otherwise be socially isolated” p.11
from ONE
to ONE united in diversity – EMBEP European Mentoring and Befriending Exchange
Programme 2014/ 2015 , HANDBOOK
Some evidence for the upcoming summit…
Posted on 15 March 2022
This blog endeavors to provide you a few articles, powerful stories and innovative strategies
in order to get inspired and ready for our summit.
You can find a webpage here, which also contains a wide range of themes that are
important tools for mentoring.
Based on Bernard’s very complex model (in the theoretical concepts, contained in the link
below), the research design mentoring programmes for all age groups for formal and
informal education, meaning schools, mentors (in formal and informal institutions) and
parents (informal).
Bernard’s complex model is a statistical model which crosses group assignments, with role
modeling and mentoring, motivation and coping skills activities and persistence of the effort
and results. Each activity has subtasks and every subtask is crossed with specific
competencies. What is particular with this complex model, is that every competence is
crossed with other competences, because mentoring is multidisciplinary.
To give an example, in order to develop inspiration, it is important to have mentorship quality
(item presented under the category “role modeling and mentoring”), but mentorship quality is
also connected and statistically crossed with identity and information support seeking, items
belonging under the categories “motivation and coping skills”.
The Australian researchers also made a mentoring programme for higher education: “The
Successful Mind.” This was aimed at improving student success and addressing 10 key
topics which would help students achieve success within their university life. In this model,
mentors focus on the mindset for post-secondary work and stress management. This
mentoring programme is not completely new, but it is highly successful because it is
incorporated in existing mentoring programs.
“The Successful MInd” managed to transform the mission of the university , which went
beyond the academic results.
In other words, before thinking about academic and professional success of students, there
is a growing and essential need to care and focus about the mental health of university
students.
Mentoring programs aim to help students with mental health challenges, training with
exercises and techniques to promote their socio-emotional well-being. Another fundamental
point of this mentoring programme, is to reduce attrition with university, helping to create a
sense of belonging. Moreover, “The Successful MInd” is enriching the overall student
experience, creating happier, more loyal individuals and employees, improving student
satisfaction and success.
If you want to discover more explanations and articles about this innovative perspective in
education, based on social emotional development in learning, here is the link to You Can
Do It! Education:
You Can Do It! Education – Social-Emotional Learning Curriculum
(youcandoiteducation.com.au)
The other evidence that we chose to present is considered as an application of the methods
that have been designed in the previous mentoring program. In fact, as you can see,
coaching is a valuable tool that proves itself to be effective regarding students’ well-being
and teachers’ stress in the long term. Because our main goal is to work together for the
benefit of mentees.
But how effective is it? For Michael Bernard (2005), You Can Do It! (YCDI) Mentoring
Program helps improve the 5 Keys, which are self-confidence, persistence, organization,
getting along, and emotional resilience. These 5 Keys provide tools for underachievers
(students that achieve less than their potential) to adapt and perform better in school. The
effectiveness of the programme has been statistically measured through the evaluation of
the 5 Keys criteria, crossed with results on social-emotional characteristics and behaviors.
It has also been observed that the degree of this so-called student-related stress among
secondary school teachers decreased after students had worked on the 5Keys through the
YCDI! Mentoring Program. In fact, the experimental group becomes more confident,
persistent, organized, emotionally resilient and get- along than the control group.
What are the conclusions? On the one hand, this programme helps students regulate their
emotions and change their behaviors in a positive way, but on the other hand no significant
results have been observed in the stress decrease of teachers.
To know more:
Coaching in secondary and tertiary education: The effects of two interventions on students’
well-being and teachers’ stress — de research portal van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
(rug.nl)
Another good example of supporting youth through mentoring is the non-profit organization
Punt de Referència in Catalonia, Spain.
Created in 1997, they work with supporting vulnerable youth who have left the care of their
parents and lack support from a family. The organization now runs several mentoring
programmes with the support of volunteers; helping unaccompanied youth with their studies,
jobs and transition into adulthood.
Punt de Referència seeks to provide these children with a community to which they can turn,
help in their social integration and provide them with equal opportunities and improvement in
their quality of life.
Alba Pi Barris, the project coordinator at Punt de Referència explains how proud she is of
the results of the work they are doing. She has seen first-hand how important mentoring is
and how it has helped support these young people who come to them for help. The most
important and powerful key-point is that they receive the recognition they deserve at the
Punt de Referència.
What exactly does Punt de Referencia provide? They provide Mentoring Projects, training
and consulting in mentoring and training for professionals.
They also host minors in equipped apartments, make journeys and find referrals for
emotional support.
What are the main values? Trust, quality, transparency, commitment, innovation, inclusion,
enthusiasm and participation.
What happens to the young people after? The main goal of this organization is to make
young people fully emancipated and able to leave the structure at the age of 18, in order to
let them live the life they deserve, with the initial guidance of professionals for practical
issues , such as finding a job, an independent apartment, etc…
Last but not least, Punt de Referencia is also part of the Citizen Commitment to
Sustainability from 2012.
Want to know more? Here is the link to their web page:
https://www.puntdereferencia.org
