The Community Mentoring programme aims to support communities to raise educational aspirations by connecting groups with role models from further and higher education, inspiring the next generation of learners.
Mentors are a valuable community resource who help to share information and advice about their college experience, helping prospective students build their awareness of college courses, how to apply, and the benefits of a college education.
The “Becoming a Community Mentor” module will give an overview of the Community Mentoring Programme and the importance of being a mentor within a community. The module as well as the handbooks provided will focus on the skills and knowledge required to develop successful mentoring sessions and provide mentors with the information to plan, deliver and evaluate sessions.
The modules and resources are suitable for mentors working with both young people and adult learners, covering topics such as storytelling and building relationships. It also provides mentors with sample lesson plans which guide them through the steps involved in creating a session.
The “Setting Up a Community Mentoring programme” will support schools and organisations to implement a mentoring programme in their place of learning. It will provide them with support regarding the logistics, recruitment and training of mentors. The module also has links to lesson plans for mentoring sessions and tasks for the mentees to complete.
Mentoring activities are founded on evidence-based practice in order to increase aspirations and support students to make informed decisions about their future. Feedback from the programme has shown the positive effect mentoring has had on both mentors and mentees and has overall shown that it has increased mentee’s confidence in attending third-level education.
Based on longitudinal research by Trinity Access Programmes, the ‘Mentoring’ core practice involves various type of mentoring programmes designed
to foster personal and Mentoring academic growth amongst all students. It includes, for example,college-focused mentoring, peer-to-peer mentoring and career-focused mentoring. This means that students could be mentored by a range of different individuals such as an older student, a teacher, a university student or an outside professional or expert. Ideally, the mentors come from similar communities and backgrounds to the students themselves, and serve as a role models that students can relate to.
These handbooks and modules can be adapted to suit the needs and resources of different organisations. They are also accessible and deisigned within the Universal Design for Learning teaching approach. As well as university students and FET award holders, the mentoring modules and resources have been used by people from a wide range of industries and careers, former apprentices, school staff and senior cycle students showing the adaptability of the programme.
