What is mentoring? www.worcester.ac.uk

This section is designed to help students who will be working one to one or in groups with young people either on campus or in schools and colleges. www.worcester.ac.uk

This may include: • Visiting schools and other settings to talk to pupils • Providing one–to-one mentoring • Working with groups of pupils • Planning and giving talks to visitors to the university • Giving presentations and/or performances • Delivering subject focussed sessions • Contributing to Summer schools • Providing Information, advice and guidance www.worcester.ac.uk

What is mentoring? It has been defined as ‘the art of facilitating the learning and development of others.’ Downey ( 2001) At the University of Worcester, mentoring is defined as including any student employment opportunity that supports the access agreement, including the work of the Outreach Ambassador. There are many different definitions of mentoring. At its heart is the process of linking an experienced person with a less experienced person to help foster professional growth, aspiration and development. Facilitator Introduce the question and highlight the definition debate   Activity 1 – What is mentoring In pairs the students will draw the ideal mentor and will label their drawing with the attributes, skills, characteristics they consider are the most important for the role. The pairs can then feed back their ideas. The facilitator can collect and group the responses on a Flip Chart. It is good to display the drawings. Do the drawings reveal any unconscious assumptions? Look for gender issues, head over heart preferences, ages etc. www.worcester.ac.uk

Mentoring and Communication Skills The key mentoring skills are: • Building rapport • Listening for meaning • Questioning for understanding • Prompting action • Moving on They are underpinned by Communication Skills : speaking, listening, active listening, showing empathy, challenging, questioning, paraphrasing, summarising, focusing, giving presentations and providing information, advice and guidance. Spend some time reflecting on this skill set. Where are your strengths? www.worcester.ac.uk

Mentoring Qualities The essential qualities of the effective mentor : • A good role model • Self awareness and understanding • An advocate with an interest in developing others • Respectful of diversity • Well organised and reliable • Enthusiastic and encouraging • A challenger of assumptions • The ability to form professional relationships with young people • The ability to personalise the University of Worcester demonstrating sincerity, enthusiasm, credibility, interest and helpfulness www.worcester.ac.uk

Self Awareness Fundamental to being a good mentor and outreach ambassador is self awareness – the ability to know yourself. Where are you most and least confident? Keeping a reflective diary of your experiences as a mentor is a good way to support your learning journey and to reflect on the development of your skills Facilitator   Summarise the key points on the slides. Activity2 : Reflection on mentoring skills Ask the group to reflect upon the mentor skills and qualities and to relate them to their drawings. Do they match and what is missing? What is new? Reflect individually on their strengths and weaknesses. Identify their top 3 and those they need to work on. Make the point that most of these skills and attributes will develop over time. The keeping of a reflective learning journal will be an important element in evaluating your progress and capturing the learning. It is also part of the wider evaluation. Things you might include in the journal: Information on what you did and when Reflection on the experience Critical Incidents What went well and what didn’t go well How have you improved Good questions Examples of learning and adapting your approach. www.worcester.ac.uk

Description of Mentoring There is a vast body of literature on the subject of mentoring. David Clutterbuck, in Everyone needs a mentor (1991, p. 36), draws from his research to compile a description of the mentoring role. This helps to illustrate the essential qualities of the effective mentor and Outreach Ambassador. He used the following description: ‘M E N T O R’ description in the following slides www.worcester.ac.uk

Description of Mentoring • M - Manages the relationship Maintains a steady presence, has high level self-management skills Is assertive, clear about boundaries & management skills Has excellent interpersonal skills • E - Encourages Motivates others Is a good role model Able to provide clear and objective feedback finds & focuses on the positive www.worcester.ac.uk

Description of Mentoring • N - Nurtures Fosters independence and personal responsibility Is able to maintain work-life balance Acknowledges need to maintain health Respects higher goals, values spiritual needs • T - Teaches Understands the mentee’s learning needs Offers opportunities for learning Provides or directs to resources Accepts and responds to different learning styles www.worcester.ac.uk

Description of Mentoring • O - Offers mutual respect Accepts differences in values and interests Avoids judgement Maintains a relationship of equality • R - Responds to the mentee’s needs Does not seek to impose advice on the basis of own needs Acts as a resource base www.worcester.ac.uk

Values and beliefs Part of developing your self awareness is knowledge of your core values and beliefs. Often these are taken for granted assumptions. What are your core values and beliefs? HONESTY – FAIRNESS – LOVE OF LEARNING – JUSTICE – INTEGRITY – LOVE – OPEN MINDEDNESS – SPIRITUALITY – TRUTH – CREATIVITY – KINDNESS -HUMILITY – HOPE – FORGIVENESS – EQUAL RIGHTS and OPPORTUNITIES What are your values and beliefs in relation to Education? How might these inform your work as an Outreach Ambassador? Facilitator It’s good to spend some time exploring the student ambassador’s values and beliefs in relation to education, learning career aspirations etc. It’s more about reflecting on underlying assumptions than reaching any definitive conclusion.   Activity 3 - values & beliefs: Ask the individuals to draw an Ice Berg. Label the Values, Behaviours etc  Make the point that this can be related to those they will be working with. For example an able student at school may not be considering university because of their underlying beliefs informed by their environment. For example ‘people like me don’t go to university.’ www.worcester.ac.uk

Any Questions? www.worcester.ac.uk