Page 48 - Guiding-at-risk-youth-through-learning-to-work-Lessons-from-across-Europe

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

plays a significant role in the opportunities for children from disadvantaged
backgrounds to take part. Some schools in the most disadvantaged areas have
less information and less capacity and skills to write applications and therefore
require support in these efforts, which the national programme does not have in
place.
Many of the mentors who take part in these programmes are volunteers. This
can often be an important factor in building a positive relationship with mentees;
for some young people this is the first time an adult has actively chosen to
interact with them without being paid for their time. In other cases, such as the
Hungarian Ultravalo and the Danish projects, mentors are paid for the service
they provided to the mentees. However, the payment is usually nominal and is a
way of thanking the mentor for their participation.
In most cases mentors are adults: guidance counsellors, qualified teachers
or social pedagogues. In other cases, young people are guided either by older
students, former mentees (‘buddies’) or even their peers; this last approach helps
young people to help each other. Students develop an encouraging and
supportive relationship with other students, usually younger in age, for the
primary purpose of providing broad support, guidance, and friendship (Mentoring
+ Befriending Foundation ( )). Peer mentoring can range from being target
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focused to informal ‘buddying’. It can be used to tackle problems related to
school work, social issues (such as pressure to drink or smoke) and other typical
problems associated with growing up which can hinder progress and even lead to
school failure.
Peer mentoring can also be used to resolve disputes, encourage friendships
for children who may otherwise struggle to fit in their school and help address
problems caused by bullying. Examples of such mentoring/mediation schemes
can be found in Belgium (Flanders) and Austria. Peer mentoring can also be
used to support school completion by raising aspirations and promoting career
development. ‘Rise and follow your dreams’ is a mentoring project based in
Copenhagen that aims to prevent early school leaving. It targets young people
from grades six to nine who are supported by an ethnically diverse group of 20 to
29 years old individuals.
Many mentoring projects are small and they are often run by individual
schools, education establishments or community organisations relying on
volunteer support. Project budgets tend to be limited and a systematic,
longitudinal approach to evaluation is often out of the question. Plenty of

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( ) Mentoring and Befriending Foundation. What is mentoring and befriending? Available from
Internet: http://www.mandbf.org.uk/about/definitions/ [cited 1.3.2010].

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