Learning is part of being alive, as natural as breathing and just as necessary. You and everyone else on earth knows how to do it. Helping someone else to learn is a bit harder though. To do that properly you need some understanding of learning at different stages and in different situations, and as a mentor it’s useful to have a few techniques at your fingertips.
Learning at different stages in life
—
Learning and studying
—
Learning goals
—
How to support learning
—
Giving feedback
People learn from the moment they are born. Even sooner actually – babies in utero start to learn their native language and recognise it more readily than other languages once they are born.
The pace of learning rapidly increases during infancy as young children take in stimuli, process experiences and adapt their behaviours as a consequence. As they do, they continue to develop, grow and meet life’s demands.
And it never stops. The rate of learning may slow down, but that’s because children need to learn fast to make sense of the environment and develop their brains at the same time. As they grow up, people get better at integrating new knowledge because they already have the neurological and cognitive structures on which to anchor it. They don’t need to learn as fast, and in fact they shouldn’t always try: slow learning (like slow cooking) is better for tough problems (or tough meat).
College-age students (roughly between 14 and 19 years) are in a special category. They experience specific changes in their brains which affect learning as well as behaviour. Body clocks shift and time itself appears a bit unstable – a phenomenon known as ‘shifting time-zones’. They take more risks because the brain’s reward system is higher during risk-taking than it is later on. They also place greater emphasis on social rewards.
Things like nutrition, exercise, self-care and group identity are just as important for students at this stage as formal learning. Keeping them and their brains active is a vital part of developing and strengthening the neural pathways vital for long-term learning.
The standard definition of learning is ‘the acquisition of knowledge or skills through study, experience, or being taught’ (Oxford English Dictionary). There is plenty of evidence that learning methods which encourage group working, learning from experience and thinking for themselves are especially good for college-age students.
The diagram to the right shows a well-known approach to learning and study.
By acting within a given situation, students experience something they can think and talk about. They reflect on how it went and how it could have been better – perhaps they change (‘reframe’) their ideas. They use concepts and models to understand what happened and why. Then they work out what to do differently, test things out and modify their ideas again.
The cycle works well for learning at work, including learning on industry placements. As a mentor, you should be able to help and encourage students at all stages of the cycle.
For example, you can:
Industry placements give students a chance to learn practical and technical skills and knowledge in a real working environment.
Students should come to their placements with learning goals which they aim to achieve during the placement. These goals are based on the course of study they are on, such as a T-level. They should be agreed with the training college, school or other provider before the placement starts. You or someone else in your organisation may be involved in setting the placement goals as well. The DfE guidance contains sample objectives for each of the occupations a T-level student may be working towards.
Goals can be related to essential skills, for example:
‘Build confidence to contribute to group decision making’
‘Develop research skills to find solutions to complex problems’
They can be relevant to a job role or occupation, for example:
‘Work with the Digital Support team to provide service to users in person, over the phone or online, who are experiencing problems or need access to new services with their computers or software to maintain the organisation’s productivity.’ (Digital Support Services)
‘Support the Legal team by assisting with day-to-day operational, research and administration tasks to maintain legal service delivery’ (Legal)
Or they can be specific to a placement task or project, for example:
‘Under supervision, use appropriate technology to model and evaluate electrical/electronic design features, issues, performance and potential’ (Engineering, Design and Development)
‘Apply skills in recording the results of monitoring and measurement using relevant documentation/IT systems’ (Health)
As a mentor, you play a vital role in helping the student to meet their learning goals.
How would you set about reviewing the progress students are making towards goals in these three categories – broad goals, goals linked to the job or occupation, specific goals related to a task or project?
Think about:
How often you would review progress?
—
What you would focus on?
People learn best when they are motivated by needs, interests or goals. This is a good area for mentors to work on. By helping students understand how particular tasks or projects fit into their goals, you’re likely to increase their motivation to learn.
You can also help to make the conditions right for learning:
Feedback is a way for students to know how well they are doing. It also helps them to assimilate new knowledge, improve skills and learn from mistakes. There are broader benefits as well, such as giving students a benchmark for what’s expected and building their sense of themselves as active learners in a team environment
You’ll almost certainly be involved in giving feedback to students based on your observations of their work, behaviour, attitude and progress. It’s an important part of the mentor’s role.
It’s relatively easy to give positive feedback. After all, it’s not usually hard to find the right words to tell a student when they’ve done something well or congratulate them on their progress. Positive feedback, which can include an element of correction, helps students to perform better and become more confident. But it has to be earned – telling someone they’ve done well when they haven’t is counter-productive.
Giving negative feedback may be trickier. It’s human nature to put off difficult conversations or to try and soften the blow. But if problems aren’t tackled quickly you could find yourself dealing with a much bigger problem later on.
Here’s a way of giving feedback which empowers student to learn for themselves, rather than telling them what they should do. It’s called the SAID approach. It’s a good technique for mentors to use because it helps the student to focus on learning what the situation can tell them.
Situation
Invite the student to talk to you about a specific situation – they could choose it, or you could. Ask open questions to explore what happened. Ask probing questions to unearth any hidden information that may help to understand the situation fully. Keep an open mind.
Acknowledgement
Once you’ve discussed the situation, you may want to add some information or clarify a point or two. Either way, it’s important to acknowledge what has been said and that you agree a view of the situation.
Impact
Ask the student to talk about the overall impact on them. Then focus on specific aspects. The more they analyse what happened and how they (and others) reacted, the more they’ll learn from it.
Do differently
Now examine what could have been done differently. Talk about the way forward. Avoid the blame game.
Imagine there has been a slightly confrontational situation between a student and their supervisor. Think of a few open questions you could ask to understand the situation, then think of some questions to unearth hidden information.
Learning at different stages in life
—
Learning and studying
—
Learning goals
—
How to support learning
—
Giving feedback
Blakemore, S-J (2018). Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain
—
Skills Builder Framework for Essential Skills
T-level employer support package:
Helping students learn
—
Managing young people who are new to the workplace
You will need to create a login to work through the resources on this site. This will allow you to pick up your progress right from where you left off, and to keep track of your actions. Your details will be stored securely in accordance with our privacy policy.
By creating a log in you will be able to pick up your progress right from where you left off. All you need to enter is your email address (for password retrievement) and a chosen password. We promise to never pass on any of your details.
You can reset your password by entering your email address below, you will receive an email containing instructions on what to do next.
To reset your password, please enter a new password below.
