Mentoring in the Lifelong Learning Sector

Jonathan Gravells, Susan Wallace

• Publisher: Learning Matters
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN: 9781844451029
• eBook ISBN: 9780857252241
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Adult Education

This text has been revised and updated to take account of the variety of contexts within the Lifelong Learning Sector. It provides a source of guidance, support and training materials for those involved with mentoring within the sector and presents current theory in an accessible way, illustrated with familiar and pertinent examples. The book shows how a system of mentoring can be successfully implemented, monitored and evaluated within a college or other lifelong learning organisation and explores what the experts and theorists have to say about mentoring, to see how well this fits with the reality of day-to-day experience.

1. Definitions

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

This chapter is designed to help you to:

• develop a clear understanding of how and why we use the term ‘mentoring’;
• identify some useful distinctions between the role of mentor and the role of coach, teacher, care taker or counsellor;
• recognise and analyse some key mentoring models and theories of mentoring;
• explore ways in which these can be applied to the realities of mentoring in a Further Education college or similar organisation in the Lifelong Learning sector.

Introduction

Most of us, at one time or another, will have experienced the benefits of mentoring or been a mentor ourselves. Many will have done both. We may not have called it mentoring or even recognised the process. Nevertheless it will, like as not, have happened to us.

Our mentor may have come in the guise of a fondly remembered teacher, an older brother or sister, a helpful boss or more experienced work colleague, an apprentice training instructor, or just a close and trusted friend. The chances are it was not part of an organised scheme or even an intentional process. We probably just fell into it in conversation, recognising at some point that here was a person who was helping us to see through our problems, helping us to grow and develop, feel good about ourselves.

Who was Mentor and what does that have to do with FE?

In this respect, mentoring is nothing new. The prototype of this trusted friend and guardian appears in Homer’s Odyssey. An old friend of Odysseus, called Mentor, agrees to look after his son, Telemachus, whilst the king is away at the Trojan Wars and then battling against the odds to make his way home again. Of course, this being Greek mythology, Mentor is sometimes Athena, the goddess of wisdom, in disguise, providing a field day for commentators fond of the extended analogy. What is the significance of wisdom in mentoring? How much of their true selves should mentors reveal?

Of course, the story of Mentor also raises the question of what we call the person being mentored. Strictly speaking, I suppose it should be ‘telemachuses’, or maybe ‘telemachi’, but for some reason this name has never quite caught on, so we are left with ‘mentee’, which sounds like a new brand of mouthwash. Sadly, no one has been able to come up with anything better, despite an as yet unclaimed reward from the European Mentoring and Coaching Council for doing just that. (If you’re feeling inspired, you’ll find the website address at the end of this chapter.)

We can all come up with examples, real and fictional, of other mentoring relationships: Merlin and Arthur, Obi Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker, Rita and Frank (from Educating Rita), even Nelson Mandela and Naomi Campbell apparently. Oh, and every grizzled older cop with a fresh-faced younger colleague in every buddy detective movie you’ve ever seen.

Distinctions between mentoring, coaching and teaching

So what marks out these relationships as different from being a teacher or a coach or just a friend?

Is it about being older and wiser? But this is generally true of teachers and coaches as well, though not always, particularly in adult education. Equally, whilst it often appears to characterise famous mentors, such as Obi Wan and those others mentioned above, the truth is mentors do not necessarily have to be older and wiser. In fact, one could argue that superior expertise is often less relevant in mentoring than different expertise. (Nelson Mandela probably doesn’t know much about fashion modelling, but has a wisdom and life experience which one can imagine is inspiring to tap into.) Coaches often have a technical grasp of their field, but don’t have to be better performers than those they are coaching (think of coaching top-class athletes). Teachers, on the other hand, are generally expected to be more knowledgeable than their students.

So could the factor which distinguishes mentoring from coaching or teaching be something about the length of the relationship? It is true that mentoring partnerships can last for years, and mentoring is usually a longer term, more gradual process than coaching. But many teaching relationships last a number of years (sometimes to the chagrin of both parties), and occasionally mentoring fulfils its purpose in relatively few meetings.

Perhaps it’s that the mentoring relationship is perceived as less directive, focused more on helping people find their own answers? Again there is an element of truth in this and, as we shall see later, ownership of the agenda should generally be more firmly in the hands of the mentee than is the case with students or coachees. (Yes, there is a reward still open to improve that name too.) However, the practice of Socratic dialogue, helping the learner to unearth and articulate their own knowledge or ideas through skilful questioning, is a technique used as much in teaching as in mentoring; and this or similar non-directive methods can sometimes be used in coaching too.

Of course questioning, in a teaching context, does have its limitations, as you are probably beginning to feel right now. If the factor that distinguishes mentoring from coaching or teaching is neither greater age and/or wisdom, nor length of time involved, nor the use of non-directive guidance and support – then what, for pity’s sake, is it?

It is, of course, something that encompasses all of these things and more.

TASK

Read the following account, given by an Advanced Skills practitioner, of her experience mentoring a newly appointed teacher, and make a note of the various functions she undertakes within that role as mentor.

I was a bit worried at first about taking Malcolm on as a mentee. When they asked me to do it I thought, ‘Wait a minute. He’s older than me. He’s coming in at the same level as me. He might be new to this place, but he’s been at this sort of work years longer than I have. How’s he going to feel about being mentored by me?’ But it’s been fine – better than fine. In fact, it’s been really good and I’ve learned a lot. What did it involve? Well, the first thing, really, was to make sure he knew his way around the place, that he had his intranet password, that he knew who everybody was – all that sort of thing. He hadn’t taught any 14–16 year-olds before, so, as well as inviting him to watch me, I sat in on his classes a few times and made some suggestions afterwards about things he might try to keep them interested – things that work for me. And the nice thing was that when we had our regular weekly meetings we got to talk about our subject area as well – social policy stuff – because it turns out we’re both interested in that area; and we’ve passed on email contacts to each other and conference details and stuff like that. But the most rewarding aspect of this mentoring experience – for me – has been the fact that Malcolm has made use of our regular meetings to talk through aspects of his work here that have been particularly difficult for him. It’s not that I’ve been handing out advice all the time or anything like that; it’s been more about listening, and maybe asking questions from time to time hopefully to help him clarify things for himself. And Malcolm says he’s found that really useful. And it’s nice to feel you’ve been useful, isn’t it?

DISCUSSION

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In reading that through you’ve probably noted down at least four functions that Malcolm’s mentor is serving; or – to put it another way – four distinct aspects to the mentoring role. They may be summarised as:

• coaching – sat in on his classes a few times and made some suggestions afterwards;
• care taking – make sure he knew his way around the place;
• networking – passed on email contacts to each other and conference details and stuff like that;
• counselling – listening, and maybe asking questions from time to time hopefully to help him clarify things for himself.

You may also have noticed that the mentor herself feels that she, too, is gaining professionally from the relationship with the mentee; and we shall be exploring this particular issue in detail later.

Mentoring models

Now, though, let’s draw a diagram to help us analyse the relationship between the kinds of help and support which Malcolm’s mentor is providing:

Some ways in which mentors give support
(Adapted from Clutterbuck, 1985)

How does this diagram work? Helping relationships can vary in how directive they are (how much the helper tries to influence the outcome) and whether they are intended to challenge the person, in terms of learning and development, or support them at a more emotional level. Coaching generally has a clear developmental agenda, and seeks to achieve certain agreed aims and objectives; so do teaching, instruction and assessment. Helping someone with their emotional needs, without any preconceived idea of the desired outcome, most of us would recognise as counselling. In an educational setting, it is more like the pastoral care provided by a school or college. A more directive form of psychological and emotional support may involve the helper offering advice or acting as a role model, taking a younger, less experienced colleague under their wing. This caring role is what many people might regard as a common form of mentoring. Finally, we have a less directive form of developmental help than coaching, here called facilitating, but which could equally be called networking. As the terms suggest, this could include putting people in touch with others from whom they could learn, but also helping them to generate and weigh up options and arguments, without suggesting any preferred outcome, like a good chairperson would. If we add these functions to the list we drew above it will now look like this:

• coaching – sat in on his classes a few times and made some suggestions afterwards – directive; extends professional expertise;
• care taking – make sure he knew his way around the place – directive and supportive;
• facilitating – passed on email contacts to each other and conference details and stuff like that – non-directive; extends professional expertise;
• counselling – listening, and maybe asking questions from time to time hopefully to help him clarify things for himself – non-directive and supportive.

As this model and the list that follows show, part of the difficulty in defining mentoring is that it may be seen as encompassing a variety of other roles, perhaps employed at different stages of the relationship, as appropriate. How directive is the help required and whether it is more about emotional support or intellectual challenge will have a big impact upon the role which the mentor is called upon to play. For example, if Malcolm had been experiencing difficulties settling into his new job and was lacking in confidence, his mentor would very probably have placed more emphasis on her supportive roles of counsellor and care taker. If, on the other hand, he had been entirely new to teaching or had needed updating in his subject area, his mentor would provide the most effective help by placing emphasis on her role as coach and facilitator, extending Malcolm’s classroom skills and helping him access current sources of information.

Now let’s have a look at a model which unpacks this even further. It has been developed by Klasen and Clutterbuck (2002). (If you would like to read more about this for yourself, you’ll find the full reference at the end of this chapter.)

TASK

Look carefully at the diagram which follows. You will see that within each of the broad roles which we have just identified, there is a continuum of styles and techniques which may be effective.

1. Think of the most recent situation in which you were a mentor or a mentee, and identify where this experience would fit in each of the four quadrants of the chart on page 14. (If you have no prior experience of mentoring or being mentored, use the example described by Malcolm’s mentor.)
2. What added dimension do we find in this diagram which may help us to analyse the mentor’s role?

Four basic styles of helping
(Klasen and Clutterbuck, 2002)

DISCUSSION

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To answer the fir...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1 Definitions
• 2 How to be a good mentor and mentee
• 3 Mentoring skills 1
• 4 Mentoring skills 2
• 5 Coaching and feedback
• 6 Mentoring yourself: the reflective mentor
• 7 Effective mentor = effective teacher?
• 8 Mentoring schemes – institutional issues
• Index