Peer mentoring
Encyclopedia
Peer mentoring is a form of mentorship
that takes place in learning environments such as schools, usually between an older more experienced student and a new student. Peer mentors should not be confused with prefects (students who have been given limited authority over other students). Peer mentoring is a good way of practicing social skills for the mentor
and helps the mentee adapt to a new setting. Most peer mentors are picked for their sensibility, confidence
, social skills
and reliability.
Critics of peer mentoring insist that little is known of the nature of peer mentoring relationships and that there are few consistent studies indicating the outcomes of peer mentoring beyond good feelings among peers and the development of friendships. Peer mentoring led by senior students may discourage diversity
and prevent critical analysis of the higher education system.
The compatibility
of mentor and mentee is a factor that should be taken into consideration when choosing pairs. Mentors and mentees may benefit from having similar backgrounds, interests and life experiences. Age, gender, ethnicity, language preferences, and education may be taken into consideration when pairing mentors with mentees.
The objectives
of a peer mentoring program should be well-defined and measurable. The effectiveness of the program should be monitored to ensure that the objectives are being met. One way to monitor the effectiveness of a program is to administer evaluations to the mentors and mentees.
Mentoring is usually done on a volunteer basis, although some institutions pay mentors and offer other benefits. Mentors often undergo training that will help guide them in the mentoring process. Peer mentors usually benefit from recommendations from the school they mentored in and this can aid admission into a university
.
:
Peer mentors appear mainly in secondary school
s where students moving up from primary schools may need assistance in settling in to the new schedule and lifestyle of secondary school life, however peer mentoring can occur at the grade school level, the undergraduate level, and the graduate school
level. The goals of the program may vary according to the level, the educational institution or the discipline.
Peer mentors in secondary schools aid in the transition of younger students from primary school to secondary school. They may assist mentees with their school work and study skills, peer pressure
(such as pressure to use drugs or have sex), issues with attendance and behavior, and typical family problems. Youth mentors
are persons for children or adolescents to spend time with, often to compensate for absent family members or an inadequate home environment. Mentoring programs for youth can be especially useful for students who are suffering from a lack of social support
, and who therefore may be susceptible to delinquency
.
Peer mentors for undergraduates may assist newly admitted students with time management, study skills, organizational skills, curriculum
planning, administrative issues, test preparation, term paper preparation, goal setting, and grade monitoring. Additionally, such mentors may provide other forms of social support for the student, such as friendship, networking, and aiding the student's adjustment to college life.
A peer mentor at the graduate school level may assist new students in selecting an advisor, negotiating the advisor/advisee relationship, preparation for major examinations, publishing articles, searching for jobs, and adjusting to the rigors of graduate school life.
has enjoyed a good name and is seen favorably by both educational administrators and students. During the last decade, peer mentoring has expanded and is found in most colleges and universities, frequently as a means to outreach, retain, and recruit minority
students.
Peer mentoring is used extensively in higher education for several reasons:
Mentors also stand to benefit from the mentor/mentee relationship. Mentors develop friendships through their participation in mentoring programs and usually derive satisfaction from helping a younger student, and possibly shaping his or her life in a positive way. Mentors may also be paid, and they may receive other benefits such as prioritized registration, course credit, and references.
In higher education tutorial settings, the benefits of peer mentoring programs also extend to class tutor
s. Using grounded theory
techniques, Outhred and Chester found that five themes underlie their experiences: role exploration, sharing responsibility, regulation of the peer-tutored groups, harnessing the peer tutors’ role, and community.
among ethnic minority students because of the use of student role models who are perceived as successful in social and educational environments characterized by majority students. These role models then become the people that peer mentees strive to imitate or emulate. A more subtle criticism of peer mentoring refers to the lack of supervision and structure of most peer mentoring programs. Most peer mentoring programs that are led by undergraduate students rarely have direct supervision of full-time university staff.
Given the fact that students are led by other students who serve as peer mentors, critics say that university staff may free themselves from their responsibility to listen and help first year students classified as peer mentees, the group with the largest attrition rate in higher education. Without extensive training and supervision, the guidance given to peer mentees by senior students who serve as mentors may be unreliable. There is little research on what happens within peer mentoring relationships. Maryann Jacobi, in an extensive meta-analysis of mentoring research, concludes by asking, "Simply put, does mentoring help students succeed in college? If so, how? Both theoretical and empirical answers to these questions are lacking.” Stephanie Budge states:
Peer mentoring in higher education usually focuses on social, academic, and cultural skills that can help students graduate from colleges and universities, and how the educational system works (e.g. how to apply for financial aid, how to register for classes, how to write papers, how to choose a major, etc.). But the knowledge students receive usually comes from senior students who serve as peer mentors and this presents a limitation.
Although peer mentoring programs are appealing to most people and seem easy to implement and develop, there is little research to suggest that peer mentoring gives the same results as classical mentoring.
Peer mentoring differs from classical mentoring in two aspects. First, in peer mentoring mentors and mentees are close in age, experience, educational level, and they may also overlap in their personal identities, which are usually the criteria for matching, but this may leave junior students vulnerable to peer pressure and unsupervised rivalry. Second, peer mentoring programs are semi-structured planned programs with specific guidelines and frequently with a set number of meetings and activities within a predetermined amount of time. Students who enroll in peer mentoring programs tend to be matched mostly according to major, gender, language of preference, and ethnic background, and those students who share the largest number of similarities tend to become peers in the peer mentoring relationship. Little research is available to know what happens between peer mentors and peer mentees who have different characteristics.
Cross-age mentoring can be distinguished from peer mentoring by the fact that the mentor is in a higher grade level and/or is older than the mentee, whereas in peer mentoring students of the same age are paired together based on varying levels of achievement. Karcher (2007) also notes:
and guidance, or both, and they incorporate many of the advantages of other forms of peer mentorship. Because student mentors are closer in age, knowledge, authority and cognitive development
than adult mentors, mentees often feel freer to express ideas, ask questions, and take risks. These similarities also make it easier for mentors to understand personal and academic problems that the mentee may be experiencing, and present solutions in a more understandable and relevant way. Furthermore, unlike same-age peer mentoring, cross-age programs can prevent feelings of inferiority on the part of the mentee when they are mentored or tutored by a student of the same age or status. Thus, mentors who are slightly older than their mentees can take advantage of the higher status provided by their age difference while enjoying increased compatibility
with their students. The specific benefits of cross-age mentoring/tutoring are numerous, and are briefly described here in three main categories: increased academic achievement, improved interpersonal skills, and personal development
.
Cross-age mentorship, and tutoring programs in particular, support the academic achievement and learning process of both the mentor and the mentee. Mentees benefit from increased personalized attention in a one-on-one setting and can work at their own pace. Sessions are customized for the mentee’s individual questions, needs, and learning styles, and mentees gain a greater mastery of the material and concepts while developing creativity
and critical thinking skills. The mentor may also gain a deeper understanding of the material or subject that they are teaching, as this relationship often encourages a deeper dedication to their own studies so that they may more effectively communicate what they’ve learned. The mentor gains a deeper sense of responsibility, dedication, and pride in being able to help a peer, while both students take pride in mutual accomplishments and successes. Ultimately, cross-age mentorship programs may increase retention
and graduation rates, especially among minority students.
In addition to improved learning and transmission of information, the mentorship process allows both students to develop more effective interpersonal communication
skills. Mentees learn how to effectively form and pose questions, seek advice, and practice active listening
and concentration. Similarly, the mentors gain valuable practice in effective teaching strategies. This format fosters increased self-esteem
, empathy
and patience in both participants, potentially creating new friendships and breaking down social barriers for students struggling to adjust to a new academic setting. Often the mentor will serve as an important role-model, and can model academic skills and work habits as well as personal values (e.g. dedication to service, empathy, and internal motivation). This relationship can be pivotal for the success of new or underserved students in academia by providing an opportunity for peers to discuss academic issues, career choices, research ideas, and personal matters.
through the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA). In an effort to decrease truancy
, the need for disciplinary actions and drop-out rates of students, this program paired up “at-risk” middle school students to tutor “at-risk” elementary school students, both primarily of Hispanic
origin with limited English proficiency. In this case, the tutors who participated were not only rewarded by getting paid and receiving course credit, but also by receiving recognition for their service and by improving their own academic and tutoring skills through special tutoring classes. These VYP program benefits, in turn, resulted in a positive impact on school success and lowered the dropout rates of these tutors.
described multiple roles for successful mentors in the work setting. New employees who are paired with a mentor are twice as likely to remain in their job than those who do not receive mentorship.
, cancer
patients, dialysis
patients, diabetics persons with spinal cord injuries, and to reduce HIV
transmission and increase adherence
to treatment in HIV-positive IV drug users. Peer mentoring is also used in training health care workers.
Mentorship
Mentorship refers to a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less knowledgeable person....
that takes place in learning environments such as schools, usually between an older more experienced student and a new student. Peer mentors should not be confused with prefects (students who have been given limited authority over other students). Peer mentoring is a good way of practicing social skills for the mentor
Mentor
In Greek mythology, Mentor was the son of Alcimus or Anchialus. In his old age Mentor was a friend of Odysseus who placed Mentor and Odysseus' foster-brother Eumaeus in charge of his son Telemachus, and of Odysseus' palace, when Odysseus left for the Trojan War.When Athena visited Telemachus she...
and helps the mentee adapt to a new setting. Most peer mentors are picked for their sensibility, confidence
Confidence
Confidence is generally described as a state of being certain either that a hypothesis or prediction is correct or that a chosen course of action is the best or most effective. Self-confidence is having confidence in oneself. Arrogance or hubris in this comparison, is having unmerited...
, social skills
Social skills
A social skill is any skill facilitating interaction and communication with others. Social rules and relations are created, communicated, and changed in verbal and nonverbal ways. The process of learning such skills is called socialization...
and reliability.
Critics of peer mentoring insist that little is known of the nature of peer mentoring relationships and that there are few consistent studies indicating the outcomes of peer mentoring beyond good feelings among peers and the development of friendships. Peer mentoring led by senior students may discourage diversity
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
and prevent critical analysis of the higher education system.
Peer mentoring program design characteristics
The frequency with which peer mentors and mentees meet varies according to the particular mentoring program. Some pairs may make contact once a month, while others may meet 3-4 times per month or more. It is usually advised that mentors and mentees meet more often in the beginning of the relationship in order to establish a good foundation. Mentors and mentees may maintain contact through email, telephone or in-person meetings. Peer mentoring organizations may also set up social events for those participating in the program. These events provide good opportunities for increased social interaction between mentors and mentees.The compatibility
Interpersonal compatibility
Interpersonal compatibility is a concept that describes the long-term interaction between two or more individuals in terms of the ease and comfort of communication.-Existing concepts:...
of mentor and mentee is a factor that should be taken into consideration when choosing pairs. Mentors and mentees may benefit from having similar backgrounds, interests and life experiences. Age, gender, ethnicity, language preferences, and education may be taken into consideration when pairing mentors with mentees.
The objectives
Goal
A goal is an objective, or a projected computation of affairs, that a person or a system plans or intends to achieve.Goal, GOAL or G.O.A.L may also refer to:Sport...
of a peer mentoring program should be well-defined and measurable. The effectiveness of the program should be monitored to ensure that the objectives are being met. One way to monitor the effectiveness of a program is to administer evaluations to the mentors and mentees.
Mentoring is usually done on a volunteer basis, although some institutions pay mentors and offer other benefits. Mentors often undergo training that will help guide them in the mentoring process. Peer mentors usually benefit from recommendations from the school they mentored in and this can aid admission into a university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
.
Peer mentoring in education
Peer mentoring in education was promoted during the 1960s by educator and theorist Paulo FreirePaulo Freire
Paulo Reglus Neves Freire was a Brazilian educator and influential theorist of critical pedagogy.-Biography:...
:
- "“The fundamental task of the mentor is a liberatory task. It is not to encourage the mentor’s goals and aspirations and dreams to be reproduced in the mentees, the students, but to give rise to the possibility that the students become the owners of their own history. This is how I understand the need that teachers have to transcend their merely instructive task and to assume the ethical posture of a mentor who truly believes in the total autonomy, freedom, and development of those he or she mentors."
Peer mentors appear mainly in secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
s where students moving up from primary schools may need assistance in settling in to the new schedule and lifestyle of secondary school life, however peer mentoring can occur at the grade school level, the undergraduate level, and the graduate school
Graduate school
A graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate degree...
level. The goals of the program may vary according to the level, the educational institution or the discipline.
Peer mentors in secondary schools aid in the transition of younger students from primary school to secondary school. They may assist mentees with their school work and study skills, peer pressure
Peer pressure
Peer pressure refers to the influence exerted by a peer group in encouraging a person to change his or her attitudes, values, or behavior in order to conform to group norms. Social groups affected include membership groups, when the individual is "formally" a member , or a social clique...
(such as pressure to use drugs or have sex), issues with attendance and behavior, and typical family problems. Youth mentors
Youth mentoring
Youth mentoring is the process of matching mentors with young people who need or want a caring, responsible adult in their lives. Adult mentors are usually unrelated to the child or teen and work as volunteers through a community-, school-, or church-based social service program.Although informal...
are persons for children or adolescents to spend time with, often to compensate for absent family members or an inadequate home environment. Mentoring programs for youth can be especially useful for students who are suffering from a lack of social support
Social support
Social support can be defined and measured in many ways. It can loosely be defined as feeling that one is cared for by and has assistance available from other people and that one is part of a supportive social network...
, and who therefore may be susceptible to delinquency
Juvenile delinquency
Juvenile delinquency is participation in illegal behavior by minors who fall under a statutory age limit. Most legal systems prescribe specific procedures for dealing with juveniles, such as juvenile detention centers. There are a multitude of different theories on the causes of crime, most if not...
.
Peer mentors for undergraduates may assist newly admitted students with time management, study skills, organizational skills, curriculum
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
planning, administrative issues, test preparation, term paper preparation, goal setting, and grade monitoring. Additionally, such mentors may provide other forms of social support for the student, such as friendship, networking, and aiding the student's adjustment to college life.
A peer mentor at the graduate school level may assist new students in selecting an advisor, negotiating the advisor/advisee relationship, preparation for major examinations, publishing articles, searching for jobs, and adjusting to the rigors of graduate school life.
Peer mentoring in higher education
Peer mentoring in higher educationHigher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
has enjoyed a good name and is seen favorably by both educational administrators and students. During the last decade, peer mentoring has expanded and is found in most colleges and universities, frequently as a means to outreach, retain, and recruit minority
Minority group
A minority is a sociological group within a demographic. The demographic could be based on many factors from ethnicity, gender, wealth, power, etc. The term extends to numerous situations, and civilizations within history, despite the misnomer of minorities associated with a numerical statistic...
students.
Peer mentoring is used extensively in higher education for several reasons:
- Benefits attributed to classical mentoring (when an older adult mentors a younger person) can translate to peer mentoring relationships, mainly when the peer mentor and the mentee have similar backgrounds;
- The lack of role modelRole modelThe term role model generally means any "person who serves as an example, whose behaviour is emulated by others".The term first appeared in Robert K. Merton's socialization research of medical students...
s or volunteers forces administrators and student leaders to use students as peer mentors of other students—usually first year students, ethnic minorities, and women--in order to guide, support, and instruct junior students; - Because peer mentoring programs require a low budget for administration and/or development, they become a cheap alternative to support students perceived as likely to fail.
Advantages of peer mentoring in education
Peer mentoring may help new students adapt to a new academic environment faster. The relationship between the mentor and mentee gives the mentee a sense of being connected to the larger community where they may otherwise feel lost. Mentors are chosen because they are academically successful and because they possess good communication, social and leadership skills. As a consequence, mentors serve as positive role models for the students, guiding them towards academic and social success. Mentors provide support, advice, encouragement, and even friendship to students. Peer mentoring may improve student retention rates.Mentors also stand to benefit from the mentor/mentee relationship. Mentors develop friendships through their participation in mentoring programs and usually derive satisfaction from helping a younger student, and possibly shaping his or her life in a positive way. Mentors may also be paid, and they may receive other benefits such as prioritized registration, course credit, and references.
In higher education tutorial settings, the benefits of peer mentoring programs also extend to class tutor
Tutor
A tutor is a person employed in the education of others, either individually or in groups. To tutor is to perform the functions of a tutor.-Teaching assistance:...
s. Using grounded theory
Grounded theory
Grounded theory is a systematic methodology in the social sciences involving the generation of theory from data. It is mainly used in qualitative research, but is also applicable to quantitative data....
techniques, Outhred and Chester found that five themes underlie their experiences: role exploration, sharing responsibility, regulation of the peer-tutored groups, harnessing the peer tutors’ role, and community.
Criticisms of peer mentoring
Peer mentoring programs usually target ethnic minorities and women. This approach tends to be conceived out of the "deficiency model" where multi-ethnic students, women and students with disabilities are perceived as being in need of help and unlikely to succeed unless senior students or successful adults help them. One of the main criticisms of peer mentoring is the lack of research to show what peer mentoring relationships are like, how they develop, and what their outcomes are. Also, the nature of being either a mentor or mentee and at the same time a peer make the relationship a dual one where other identities also converge. Another criticism of peer mentoring programs is that they tend to promote assimilationCultural assimilation
Cultural assimilation is a socio-political response to demographic multi-ethnicity that supports or promotes the assimilation of ethnic minorities into the dominant culture. The term assimilation is often used with regard to immigrants and various ethnic groups who have settled in a new land. New...
among ethnic minority students because of the use of student role models who are perceived as successful in social and educational environments characterized by majority students. These role models then become the people that peer mentees strive to imitate or emulate. A more subtle criticism of peer mentoring refers to the lack of supervision and structure of most peer mentoring programs. Most peer mentoring programs that are led by undergraduate students rarely have direct supervision of full-time university staff.
Given the fact that students are led by other students who serve as peer mentors, critics say that university staff may free themselves from their responsibility to listen and help first year students classified as peer mentees, the group with the largest attrition rate in higher education. Without extensive training and supervision, the guidance given to peer mentees by senior students who serve as mentors may be unreliable. There is little research on what happens within peer mentoring relationships. Maryann Jacobi, in an extensive meta-analysis of mentoring research, concludes by asking, "Simply put, does mentoring help students succeed in college? If so, how? Both theoretical and empirical answers to these questions are lacking.” Stephanie Budge states:
- "The concept of mentoring has become increasingly popular over the past few decades. Mentoring has been advertised as necessary in order for students and employees to flourish in their environment. However, the lack of research concerning peer mentoring programs in particular is surprising. While there is an abundance of articles on the topic of mentoring in the educational setting, authors must be held to more stringent research standards and more definitional consistency. In addition to higher quality research, the fundamental flaws within peer mentoring programs need to be corrected before these programs can reach their full potential on college campuses."
Peer mentoring in higher education usually focuses on social, academic, and cultural skills that can help students graduate from colleges and universities, and how the educational system works (e.g. how to apply for financial aid, how to register for classes, how to write papers, how to choose a major, etc.). But the knowledge students receive usually comes from senior students who serve as peer mentors and this presents a limitation.
Although peer mentoring programs are appealing to most people and seem easy to implement and develop, there is little research to suggest that peer mentoring gives the same results as classical mentoring.
Peer mentoring vs. classical mentoring
Morton-Cooper and Palmer distinguish between classical mentoring (also known as primary mentoring) and contract or facilitated mentoring. Classical mentoring is characterized as an informal, often spontaneous enabling relationship between an older mentor and a younger mentee, based on a shared wish to work together, usually for a long period, without financial compensation for the mentor.Peer mentoring differs from classical mentoring in two aspects. First, in peer mentoring mentors and mentees are close in age, experience, educational level, and they may also overlap in their personal identities, which are usually the criteria for matching, but this may leave junior students vulnerable to peer pressure and unsupervised rivalry. Second, peer mentoring programs are semi-structured planned programs with specific guidelines and frequently with a set number of meetings and activities within a predetermined amount of time. Students who enroll in peer mentoring programs tend to be matched mostly according to major, gender, language of preference, and ethnic background, and those students who share the largest number of similarities tend to become peers in the peer mentoring relationship. Little research is available to know what happens between peer mentors and peer mentees who have different characteristics.
Cross-age peer mentoring
The Handbook of Youth Mentoring provides the following definition of cross-age peer mentoring:- "Peer mentoring involves an interpersonal relationship between two youths of different ages that reflects a greater degree of hierarchical power imbalance than is typical of a friendship and in which the goal is for the older youth to promote one or more aspects of the younger youth's development. Peer mentoring refers to a sustained (long-term), usually formalized (i.e. program-based), developmental relationship. The relationship is "developmental" in that the older peer's goal is to help guide the younger mentee's development in domains such as interpersonal skills, self-esteem and conventional connectedness and attitudes (e.g. future motivation, hopefulness)."
Cross-age mentoring can be distinguished from peer mentoring by the fact that the mentor is in a higher grade level and/or is older than the mentee, whereas in peer mentoring students of the same age are paired together based on varying levels of achievement. Karcher (2007) also notes:
- "Cross-age peer mentoring programs utilize structure, meet for more than ten meetings, do not focus primarily on deficit or problem reduction, and require an age span of at least two years."
Advantages
In general, cross-age mentoring programs can involve a tutoring or teaching component, personal mentorshipMentorship
Mentorship refers to a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less knowledgeable person....
and guidance, or both, and they incorporate many of the advantages of other forms of peer mentorship. Because student mentors are closer in age, knowledge, authority and cognitive development
Cognitive development
Cognitive development is a field of study in neuroscience and psychology focusing on a child's development in terms of information processing, conceptual resources, perceptual skill, language learning, and other aspects of brain development and cognitive psychology compared to an adult's point of...
than adult mentors, mentees often feel freer to express ideas, ask questions, and take risks. These similarities also make it easier for mentors to understand personal and academic problems that the mentee may be experiencing, and present solutions in a more understandable and relevant way. Furthermore, unlike same-age peer mentoring, cross-age programs can prevent feelings of inferiority on the part of the mentee when they are mentored or tutored by a student of the same age or status. Thus, mentors who are slightly older than their mentees can take advantage of the higher status provided by their age difference while enjoying increased compatibility
Compatibility
Compatibility may refer to:* Astrological compatibility* Compatibilism – a philosophical position* Compatibility * Compatibility * Compatibility * Electromagnetic compatibility* Interpersonal compatibility-Computing:...
with their students. The specific benefits of cross-age mentoring/tutoring are numerous, and are briefly described here in three main categories: increased academic achievement, improved interpersonal skills, and personal development
Personal development
Personal development includes activities that improve awareness and identity, develop talents and potential, build human capital and facilitates employability, enhance quality of life and contribute to the realization of dreams and aspirations...
.
Cross-age mentorship, and tutoring programs in particular, support the academic achievement and learning process of both the mentor and the mentee. Mentees benefit from increased personalized attention in a one-on-one setting and can work at their own pace. Sessions are customized for the mentee’s individual questions, needs, and learning styles, and mentees gain a greater mastery of the material and concepts while developing creativity
Creativity
Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby a person creates something new that has some kind of value. What counts as "new" may be in reference to the individual creator, or to the society or domain within which the novelty occurs...
and critical thinking skills. The mentor may also gain a deeper understanding of the material or subject that they are teaching, as this relationship often encourages a deeper dedication to their own studies so that they may more effectively communicate what they’ve learned. The mentor gains a deeper sense of responsibility, dedication, and pride in being able to help a peer, while both students take pride in mutual accomplishments and successes. Ultimately, cross-age mentorship programs may increase retention
Retention
Retention may refer to:* Retention, in learning, the ability to retain facts and figures in memory ** Selective retention* Cultural retention* Customer retention...
and graduation rates, especially among minority students.
In addition to improved learning and transmission of information, the mentorship process allows both students to develop more effective interpersonal communication
Interpersonal communication
Interpersonal communication is usually defined by communication scholars in numerous ways, usually describing participants who are dependent upon one another. It...
skills. Mentees learn how to effectively form and pose questions, seek advice, and practice active listening
Active listening
Active listening is a communication technique that requires the listener to understand, interpret, and evaluate what they hear. The ability to listen actively can improve personal relationships through reducing conflicts, strengthening cooperation, and fostering understanding.When interacting,...
and concentration. Similarly, the mentors gain valuable practice in effective teaching strategies. This format fosters increased self-esteem
Self-esteem
Self-esteem is a term in psychology to reflect a person's overall evaluation or appraisal of his or her own worth. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs and emotions such as triumph, despair, pride and shame: some would distinguish how 'the self-concept is what we think about the self; self-esteem, the...
, empathy
Empathy
Empathy is the capacity to recognize and, to some extent, share feelings that are being experienced by another sapient or semi-sapient being. Someone may need to have a certain amount of empathy before they are able to feel compassion. The English word was coined in 1909 by E.B...
and patience in both participants, potentially creating new friendships and breaking down social barriers for students struggling to adjust to a new academic setting. Often the mentor will serve as an important role-model, and can model academic skills and work habits as well as personal values (e.g. dedication to service, empathy, and internal motivation). This relationship can be pivotal for the success of new or underserved students in academia by providing an opportunity for peers to discuss academic issues, career choices, research ideas, and personal matters.
Monitoring and evaluation
Cross-age mentoring programs require careful consideration of the goals, objectives and the available human, physical and financial resources in order to ultimately assess the progress made by the participants and the overall usefulness of the program. Frequent assessment is important as it gives valuable insight into how well the cross-age mentoring curriculum is organized and implemented, and provides positive reinforcement for both the mentor and mentee. Mentors should be pre-screened according to their academic proficiency and attitudes to ensure that they will be able to meet the needs of a mentee. Moreover, mentors will also benefit from ongoing training, supervision and psychological support by teachers, administrators, parents and other members of the community.An example: The Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program
One great example of an established cross-age mentoring program is the Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program (VYP), which originated in San Antonio, TexasSan Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
through the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA). In an effort to decrease truancy
Truancy
Truancy is any intentional unauthorized absence from compulsory schooling. The term typically describes absences caused by students of their own free will, and usually does not refer to legitimate "excused" absences, such as ones related to medical conditions...
, the need for disciplinary actions and drop-out rates of students, this program paired up “at-risk” middle school students to tutor “at-risk” elementary school students, both primarily of Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
origin with limited English proficiency. In this case, the tutors who participated were not only rewarded by getting paid and receiving course credit, but also by receiving recognition for their service and by improving their own academic and tutoring skills through special tutoring classes. These VYP program benefits, in turn, resulted in a positive impact on school success and lowered the dropout rates of these tutors.
Peer mentoring in the workplace
Peer mentoring can offer employees a valuable source of support and information in the workplace. Peer mentoring offers a low cost way to train new employees or to upgrade the skills of less experienced workers. Mentees may feel more comfortable learning from a peer than in a hierarchical setting. Mentors as well as mentees may also benefit from the bonds they form with colleagues. In 1978 Edgar ScheinEdgar Schein
Edgar Henry Schein , a former professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, has made a notable mark on the field of organizational development in many areas, including career development, group process consultation, and organizational culture. He is generally credited with inventing the term...
described multiple roles for successful mentors in the work setting. New employees who are paired with a mentor are twice as likely to remain in their job than those who do not receive mentorship.
Peer mentoring in health care
Peer mentoring has been shown to increase resistance to stress-related anxiety and depression in patients affected by chronic illness. Mentors help patients prepare for medical and surgical procedures and adhere to treatment regimes. Peer mentoring has been implemented in programs to support survivors of traumatic brain injuryTraumatic brain injury
Traumatic brain injury , also known as intracranial injury, occurs when an external force traumatically injures the brain. TBI can be classified based on severity, mechanism , or other features...
, cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
patients, dialysis
Dialysis
In medicine, dialysis is a process for removing waste and excess water from the blood, and is primarily used to provide an artificial replacement for lost kidney function in people with renal failure...
patients, diabetics persons with spinal cord injuries, and to reduce HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
transmission and increase adherence
Compliance (medicine)
In medicine, compliance describes the degree to which a patient correctly follows medical advice...
to treatment in HIV-positive IV drug users. Peer mentoring is also used in training health care workers.
Other applications
Peer mentoring has also been used to prevent gang violence in schoolchildren and teens, to improve the quality of child care among economically disadvantaged first-time mothers, and to improve performance in military recruits.Further reading
- Washington Reading Corps. Peer and Cross-Age Tutoring. Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Washington Reading Corps Toolkit Module 6, 37 pages.
External links
- Mentorship: A Selected Bibliography
- "Peer Mentoring Resource Booklet," Glenn Omatsu, University of California at Northridge, 2004.
- Annotated Bibliography of Peer Helping at Universities.
- Annotated Bibliography of Peer Mentor Relationships
- "Make a Friend--Be a Peer Mentor," U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
- Start a Peer Mentoring Program at Your School
- Gensemer P. "Effectiveness of Cross-Age and Peer Mentoring Programs." (Monograph) 2000.
- Dr. Michael Karcher, "Cross-age Peer Mentoring"
- Monica Shea Correll, "Peer Mentoring: An Intrusive Approach," Montana State University-Billings (Monograph) 2005.
See also
- MentorshipMentorshipMentorship refers to a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less knowledgeable person....
- Peer supportPeer supportPeer support occurs when people provide knowledge, experience, emotional, social or practical help to each other. It commonly refers to an initiative consisting of trained supporters, and can take a number of forms such as peer mentoring, listening, or counseling...
- Peer-taught classesPeer-taught classesPeer-taught classes are high school or college classes which are taught by students under the supervision of a staff member....
- Youth mentoringYouth mentoringYouth mentoring is the process of matching mentors with young people who need or want a caring, responsible adult in their lives. Adult mentors are usually unrelated to the child or teen and work as volunteers through a community-, school-, or church-based social service program.Although informal...