Support For Industry Placement Mentors
3. What makes mentoring work well?
This section uses internationally-accepted standards for mentoring to explore what makes mentoring work well.
This module covers:
Agreeing a clear purpose for mentoring
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Initial training, updating and supervision for mentors
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Selection and matching to ensure a good fit between student and mentor
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Reviewing and evaluating the mentoring relationship
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Maintaining high ethical standards
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Being efficient with the paperwork
CLEAR PURPOSE
Your organisation should know why it offers industry placements and why students on placement should be supported by a mentor. The intended outcomes and benefits of the placement should be clearly defined and understood. The DfE guidance provides information on all aspects of industry placements.
Learning objectives for each student must be agreed with the student and their college, school or training provider at the start. This will help give you an idea of what a successful placement will look like. It also helps to decide the type of placement (more on this topic in Section 7) and how the mentoring relationship will add value to the student’s experience.
A good way of agreeing a clear purpose is to set SMART objectives. They could be goals for the whole placement (further guidance on this can be found in Section 11) or objectives for specific tasks students are asked to carry out as part of their learning.
Clarify
Here are three tasks that may be required of a student. How could you make the purpose of these tasks clearer, using the SMART model?
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1. Show how you applied problem-solving techniques
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2. Demonstrate that you can communicate with different audiences
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3. Explain the main health and safety risks in your work area
HERE ARE SOME IDEAS
Task 1: Show how you applied problem-solving techniques
Over the next two weeks, analyse a specific process in the production cycle. Explain how the process works, paying close attention to efficiency. Suggest one way to improve efficiency and outline how this could be tested. Keep your report short – 1000 words max.
Task 2: Demonstrate that you can communicate with different audiences
Choose a work task which you feel confident about doing well. Give someone who’s never done it before a briefing about how to do it. Now do the same for another person who has done the task before but could benefit from an update.
Task 3: Explain the main health and safety risks in your work area
From your induction and speaking to colleagues, list the top three risks in your work area. Explain what the risks are, how to mitigate them, who needs to know about them and how you know these people have the information needed to avoid and/or manage the risks.
INITIAL TRAINING, UPDATING AND SUPERVISION
The standards say that ‘Participation in a process to learn the basics of mentoring is a non-negotiable condition of taking part in a mentoring programme’. They also point out that ‘Training and/or learning extends beyond the initial awareness raising event; mentors in particular [should] have opportunity to reflect upon and discuss learning as they experience the relationship’.
This site aims to help you do that.
Mentors should also be supervised if possible, either one-to-one or through a mentor network (which could be external to your organisation - see 'Further reading'). Supervision helps to ensure safe and high-quality practice. It also enables the development of new approaches and learning on how to be a more effective mentor.
Whether you’re brand new to mentoring or already have previous experience, there may be some aspects of the mentoring role that you feel less confident about.
REVIEW
Complete this 10-point checklist to review which aspects of the role have been covered in your initial training and updating, and to identify any aspects in which you need more training or support. If you identify areas for more support you could start by reviewing the sections of this microsite which cover these areas. There is also an opportunity to revisit this list at the end so you can check your progress and anything you'd like to explore further.
| Aspect of the role | Covered | Need more training/support | |
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1 |
The basic purpose of mentoring |
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2 |
The main mentoring functions and behaviours |
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3 |
Differences between mentoring and other relationships, e.g. management/supervision, coaching, counselling |
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4 |
How to reflect on personal experience and build self-awareness as a mentor |
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5 |
How to understand and adapt to students’ behaviour styles |
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6 |
Confidentiality and ethics e.g. dealing with difficult situations and disclosure |
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7 |
Forming and sustaining a mentoring relationship |
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8 |
How other stakeholders (e.g. line managers, supervisors, parents) are informed about the mentoring role |
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9 |
The culture of the work environment in which the placement takes place |
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10 |
Understanding of learning and development, as applicable to students |
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SELECTION AND MATCHING
Mentoring is a relationship based on trust and empathy, so there must be a good fit between the mentor and student. You both need to be on the same page for it to work.
These five questions will help to get a sense of whether there’s a sound basis for rapport and a good relationship:
From the mentor’s perspective:
Do I know enough about the job the student’s doing on placement to be helpful?
Do I understand what they’re hoping to achieve and buy into it?
Do we work in the same place, or near enough, so there’s no travel barrier - or can we easily connect online?
Will I have enough time to be in regular contact with them?
Are we likely to be compatible?
From the student’s perspective:
Does this person know enough about the job I’ll be doing on my placement to help me?
Do they understand my goals for the placement?
Do they work in the same place as me, or near enough, or have we established how we'll keep in contact online?
Will they have enough time to support me?
Will I get on with them ok?
Consider
How could you learn enough about the student you may be mentoring to find out if there’s a good match?
HERE ARE SOME IDEAS
Getting to know the student
- Ask for information from the college, school or other provider in advance about the student you may be mentoring
- Meet up and interact with the student before you sign up to be their mentor, informally or as part of any interview process your organisation may be conducting
- Find out what the student is looking for from you
Starting the mentoring relationship
- Look for natural chemistry between you
- Discuss openly any challenges you think might arise
- See how close you get to agreeing expectations during this initial meeting
- Trust your instincts
REVIEW AND EVALUATION
It’s important to review the mentoring relationship while the placement is live. Talking about how things are going from time to time could identify possible improvements. A more formal review process would be needed if the relationship isn’t working well or should need to be stopped for any reason.
Evaluating it at the end is a good way for the student to assess what they have learned on the placement. You could learn things as well, about yourself as a mentor and about the mentoring process more generally.
Consider
What does success look like? Think of three or four questions to review how successful the mentoring relationship is during the placement and evaluate it at the end.
HERE ARE SOME IDEAS
During
What progress is the student making towards their goal?
How well are their objectives being met so far?
What feedback are they giving me about the value of the relationship?
What feedback am I getting from their line manager/supervisor?
At the end
How well has the student achieved their goal?
How many of their objectives were met?
How valuable was the relationship to the student?
What does their line manager/supervisor think about the student’s learning and performance?
ETHICAL STANDARDS
These standards are based on behaviours and may be summarised in a code of conduct. They offer a framework of good practice which should be incorporated into your mentoring programme.
They cover:
Confidentiality – the responsibility to maintain and respect the confidentiality of information imparted during the relationship, especially anything that’s sensitive or personal
Boundary management – personal bias shouldn’t influence the professional behaviour of a mentor, who must always maintain a partnership with the student
Objectivity – bias, preconceived ideas, initial impressions, opinions and stereotypes can all adversely affect the mentor’s approach
Competence – mentors shouldn’t stray beyond their competence and experience e.g. towards counselling, which requires special training
Focus and distraction – mentors need a level of self-management to pay full attention, be present for, and focused on, the student
Hierarchy of interests – putting the student’s interests first, and making sure they don’t clash with the interests of the organisation or interfere with the aims of the industry placement
Equality of opportunity – being aware of individual students’ needs and enabling them to play a full part in the mentoring relationship
I have autism myself and I feel a bit embarrassed to talk to people about that although I know I can. It feels a little bit personal to me rather than something specifically to do with the job as well. So I think it could be nice to be able to just say “Well, you know, I do struggle with this little specific area,” and just have somebody to talk to and listen and be able to guide you
Student teacher on a mentoring programme
EFFICIENT ADMINISTRATION
As a mentor, you want to focus on the relationship with students and not get tied down in paperwork. But there’s inevitably a certain amount of administration. The key to efficiency is having the right forms to fill in, appreciating their value and knowing when to complete them.
It helps to have standard documentation for:
- Planning a mentoring session
- Recording the key points
- Logging the actions to be taken as a result
I think it would be a good idea to prepare a set of goals/aims for the mentoring and/or a proposed agenda for the meeting. For me, that really helped us to keep on track, and to prioritise the discussion
Healthcare employee on a mentoring programme
SUMMARY
During this section you have covered the following topics:
Agreeing a clear purpose for mentoring
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Initial training, updating and supervision for mentors
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Selection and matching to ensure a good fit between student and mentor
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Reviewing and evaluating the mentoring relationship
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Maintaining high ethical standards
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Being efficient with the paperwork
FURTHER READING
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (2014). Standards for Mentoring Programmes and Schemes
Coaching networks include:
The Coaching and Mentoring Network
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The European Mentoring and Coaching Council
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PushFar
T-level employer support package: