Mentor Training

Business Mentor Training Workshop

Aims:

To understand the role of the mentor
To develop the skills necessary for mentoring
To develop strategies for meeting with the mentee

Course overview

“I’ve really valued my experience as a mentor at City of Leeds school. Although I was little overwhelmed to begin with, my mentee and I soon established good rapport and made steady progress in raising self-confidence. The campus tour proved a great success and gave my mentee first hand experience of university life – something a bit different to the school environment.”

Beth Shannon

Business mentors receive training and induction covering: the role of the mentor, communication and interpersonal skills, helping strategies, planning the first meeting, motivational skills and techniques, setting SMART targets and goals, structure of mentor meetings and use of Progress Files. Each participant is given a handbook containing key points from the training programme, advice from experienced mentors and details of next steps leading to first meeting with the mentee.

For further information please contact Mohammed Rafique

E-Mentor Training

Mentor training (see Business Mentor Training). Additionally mentors receive training in the use of specific e-mail procedures and in using documents on-line to improve attainment. This may include using the new DfES Progress File document and Leeds Mentoring tracking sheet on-line. This half day workshop will prepare the mentors for their role as a mentor and can be supplemented with additional workshops if necessary.
Mentee training on how to use and send email, including attachments, documents etc. Training will include talking to the mentees about the aims and objectives of the programme and highlighting the benefits of taking part.
School co-ordinators receive training on Internal procedures/systems and how to effectively monitor the programme and the partnerships (a half-day workshop).

Evaluation from the initial e-mentor pilot shows the importance of training for the school co-ordinators if the scheme to be a success. The school co-ordinator is the main point of contact for both the mentor and the mentee and therefore it is important that this person is given appropriate time to co-ordinate the programme.

For further information contact Jason Tattersall

Subject Specific Mentor Training

The training combines generic mentor training with specialist information relating to the subject specific area. e.g. a University student studying Law and working with a AS/A2 Law student would receive information and training on the makeup of the Law AS/A2 qualification, including modules covered, coursework details and deadlines, work experience etc.

The training places great emphasis on the working partnership and the focus of the relationship, which for this individual programme is to maximise the potential grades of the mentee and at the same time encourage progression on to Higher Education. The training highlights the importance of the mentor not doing the work for the mentee but sharing ways of learning, experience of revision techniques, coursework planning, university life and progression routes into the desired field of work.

For further information contact Jason Tattersall

PGCE Student Mentor Training/Induction workshop

Student Tutors receive training and induction covering: the aims of the DfES Aim Higher/Excellence Challenge mentoring project, Study Support activities, mentoring v teaching, communication skills, barriers to learning, structuring mentor meetings, using the Leeds Mentoring tracking booklet, developing and setting goals and targets, use of Progress Files, feedback from previous PGCE mentoring schemes, child protection and disclosures, baseline data information, introductions and first meetings.

Mentees

The mentees have a similar induction. They also provide personal background information which is given to the mentors.

Peer Mentor Training

The main aims of the peer mentors training are to:

Recognise and identify the learning that has resulted from the personal experiences of the student in the school/college.
Develop a spirit of achievement by recognising the skills used to overcome difficulties previously faced by the peer mentor.
Develop self-confidence and inter-personal skills of the students by allowing them to evaluate their own experiences of school life and to use it appropriately to help and guide younger or new students.
Develop a sense of self-worth in acting as a peer mentor for other students.
Understand what mentoring is and identify essential skills required to becoming a good mentor.

The peer mentor training is designed to enhance the students’ helping skills, which include:

Effective communication and listening skills
Basic counselling skills
Planning and setting targets
Motivation skills
Time management
Cultural and racial awareness
Gender issues.

The training provided is more informal and proactive. It generally last for two days (about 5 hours each day). But for those students who opted to take accredited peer mentoring training, accredited by West and North Yorkshire Open College, the training lasts a bit longer – total of 32 hours. The training sessions include:

Tutor-led activities
Role play
Brainstorming
Group work – pamphlet production
One-to-one mentoring

Training for the BME scheme

Separate training sessions were arranged for the mentees and mentors, each lasting a day. Background information to the scheme was provided, the roles and responsibilities of both mentees and mentors were explained and the processes and tasks involved in mentoring were worked through. The evaluation of the training showed that the overwhelming majority of participants were fully satisfied with it. Each participant was given a handbook with key points from the training and pro-formas for action plans, learning logs and review sessions.

For further information contact Barry Hilton.

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