Page 43 - Guiding-at-risk-youth-through-learning-to-work-Lessons-from-across-Europe

Guiding at-risk youth through learning to work
Lessons from across Europe

grassroots level mentoring and peer support projects to the provision of training
to teachers and comprehensive national policies to prevent early school leaving.
This section starts by looking at the role of mentoring.

4.2.1. Mentoring
Mentoring has become an increasingly popular method of providing support and
guidance to those in need and projects can now be found in different settings
across society, targeting a wide range of people. Mentoring programmes aim to
provide a structured and trusting relationship, bringing young people together
with caring individuals who offer guidance, support and encouragement (Youth
Mentoring Network, 2009).
EU policies have also recognised the value of mentoring. The new EU
strategy for youth, ‘Investing and empowering’ promotes mentoring as an
effective tool in empowering young people in their personal, academic and
professional lives (European Commission, 2009a).
There are many different definitions of mentoring. Megginson and
Clutterbuck (1995) define mentoring as ‘offline help by one person to another in
making significant transitions in knowledge, work or thinking’. Mentoring can be
split into two main categories: natural mentoring and formal mentoring. In natural
mentoring a sustained relationship develops naturally between a coach, teacher,
neighbour, or other adult and a young person. Formal mentoring consciously
creates a relationship between a mentor and a mentee to help the young person
to access support which may not otherwise be available. This study has
examined formal mentoring programmes in school-based settings ( ), which aim
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to improve wellbeing at school and to support education transition, thereby
preventing young people from leaving school early.
Relevant mentoring projects and programmes are universally present across
all European countries. As part of this study mentoring projects were reviewed
from countries such as Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Romania,
Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK. They were found to provide concentrated
support for a range of young people, all of whom have different needs and
requirements. Examples were found of mentoring projects that target specific
groups, including:

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( ) Mentoring projects can take place in a variety of different settings, depending on the project,
the people involved and the local facilities. These can include: school-based mentoring
programmes, juvenile detention centres, adult prisons, faith-based organisations, community
centres, the workplace, other community settings (such as, cafes and libraries), or in the virtual
community. Mentoring can also be provided by a range of different providers from community
groups, companies, NGOs to state authorities and schools.

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