Mentoring Young Looked After Children with Educational Support

Open to Social Work students, this mentoring initiative benefits the student, as it affords essential life and career experience in a relevant field thereby enhancing knowledge and experiential learning and improving future learning and career opportunities.

Outline of Activity

This mentoring initiative benefits the young person by providing positive role models that encourage and support young people’s educational aspirations and transition stage from primary to post primary education. It requires the student to be available for at least one hour per week during term for 3 years of the course. Only open to 1st year students. The reasoning behind this is that the longer a mentoring relationship lasts, the greater the benefits. Young people who are mentored for over a year are more likely to have achieved their original goals and to have future plans. Therefore, the greater the likelihood of a positive outcome is. This supports our planned approach of having long term mentors in place.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this activity it will enable students to achieve personal and professional development by:

• Enhancing the career prospects of mentors through knowledge gained and experience.
• Providing extensive interpersonal skills for mentors in guiding children in numeracy and literacy, homework, personal development, citizenship etc through a range of one to one and interactive group initiatives.
• Applying learned skills for looked after children to grow in confidence, nurture their ambitions and abilities and cultivate an awareness of pathways into University.
• Helping the student to recognise and understand the forces encouraging and discouraging a child to develop educationally
• Helping student to reflect on outcomes and apply through placements.

Assessment Details

To be given credit for this activity students must demonstrate critical analysis of their mentoring work through examples of assessment, planning, intervention, monitoring and review.

Level of Commitment

12 hours to include

• Expected to engage 1 hour per week during term.

Contact