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Having someone to talk to about their challenges and dilemmas is making a significant difference to pupils’ lives. Patrick Kelly chats through the issues.
Every fortnight for the past two years Tom Shepherd leaves early from his maintenance job at the local council to do some coaching at Fulford school near York. But you won't find Tom in a tracksuit, teaching the finer points of tackling to a group of would-be Beckhams. Instead, he will be sitting in a room listening to a teenager grapple with the ups and downs of school life. "I was concerned about young people getting excluded and this is a way of helping personally,” says Tom. "I'm there to talk things through really - to help the student find strategies for dealing with problems."
Tom is one of a new breed of mentors who are appearing in schools up and down the country as coaching moves out of the locker room and into the classroom. Lots of schools now see that the connection between motivation and achievement can be made by involving mentors like Tom. These can be professionals, adult volunteers or even older pupils, but their task is the same – to provide a helping hand to students who are struggling in one way or another. At Fulford school, four mentoring schemes have been set up with the help of the LEA’s Business Education Partnership. One involves 15 students with behaviour problems, another is for mainly year 11 students while a third – involving 50 sixth formers – works with students at York University. Each has different aims – from assisting with the transition from primary to secondary school to broadening young people’s aspirations. Head of year Dan Bodey says teachers at Fulford welcome mentoring support schemes. "For us, the value is that it allows the school to have input that we ourselves would like to be able to put in, but struggle to find the time for in the school day," he says. Many schools have been given advice and assistance in their mentoring programmes by the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation – a national specialist charity. Alan Rosser is the education consultant with the Foundation and first got involved in school mentoring in 1991. He recognises that it has evolved hugely since its inception. “Mentoring has become very much a part of what schools are seeking in terms of external support and there’s a wide range of different mentoring schemes,” he says. These include schemes for gifted and talented youngsters, projects for non-attenders and schemes for raising aspirations. For example, in Kent some parts of the county have very low staying on rates post 16. Using a scheme called 'AimHigher' some schools linked their year 11 students with sixth formers from grammar schools and further education colleges. They acted as role models, providing information on life in the sixth form and leading discussions. As a consequence, expectations have improved substantially, according to Roger Silk, deputy head of The Hereson school in Broadstairs, which was involved in a
pilot programme.
Some London schools have effectively outsourced the mentoring task to one of the most experienced organisations in the field – the Hanover Foundation, which now has links to 43 schools in the capital. Chief Executive Serena Standing is quick to emphasise that while her organisation may be not-for–profit, it takes its cue from the corporate world. "Good businesses invest in coaching - why shouldn’t we transfer good practice from the workplace?" she says. Hanover's mentors are all professionals - recruited from business, social work and teaching - and paid for their services. They usually meet their mentees every three weeks for a year, starting in the second term of year 10 and continuing through to the first term of year 11. They concentrate on setting achievable goals for the following sessions with each student formulating their own agenda within the confines of the programme. Topics covered include: relationships, expectations, health, hobbies, studies, coursework, exams and work experience.
The style is firm but non-judgemental. The aim is to create a climate "where student clients can explore anxieties without fear of judgement, resentments without anticipation of reprisal, and aspirations without fear of ridicule” explains Serena. Hanover coaches also attend assemblies and staff briefings and mix in the staff room at breaks. They are seen at parents’ evenings, work experience presentations and governors’ meetings. The system gets results. Of the coached students, 48 per cent received higher grades than predicted and all of those recommended for coaching because of attendance raised their attendance levels. Of those referred for behavioural concerns in year 10, 76 per cent were not raised as behavioural concerns through year 11. Teachers gave the programme a rating of nine out of 10. The Foundation also trains year 12 students to become coaches and runs coaching workshops with groups of up to 10 children to discuss issues like anger management and behavioural problems. They also have a special programme for gifted and talented students. Serena puts the success of the Hanover formula down to good preparation and a professional approach by coaches. “They are not volunteers. They are committed to attending all scheduled client sessions and are trained, contracted, and required to attend monthly group supervision, individual supervision every other month and an annual appraisal.” It all seems a long way since the Foundation's first tentative moves into education. "When we began we were practically having to knock down doors of head teachers - now schools are coming to us," says Serena.
At Sunfield - a special school in Stourbridge, Worcestershire - they have found that mentoring makes a difference to pupils with severe learning difficulties. A scheme with year 11 and sixth formers from nearby Heybridge high school mentors pupils aged 14 to 18. After training, which includes an induction into the problems of children with autism or attention deficit disorder, the mentors spend weekly sessions with the mentees, acting as role models, guides and friends. "We are getting very positive feedback from everyone involved," says Nick Logan, Sunfield’s consultant psychologist. "They are learning how to greet people, how to express emotion appropriately, how to take part in games and to share." Peter Burton, a year 12 student from Heybridge says of his mentoring experience. "It’s been brilliant. I really enjoy working with Isaac, my mentee, and I have learned something about people with learning difficulties – something you wouldn't normally get to know. I am going to do some extra work at Sunfield in the school holidays."
*Patrick Kelly is a freelance journalist.
