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Education: Goal is to raise the bar
Long before the role of mentor became inextricably linked with The X Factor, dozens of less starry types were helping to guide Leeds pupils towards success. Debbie Leigh finds out just how beneficial mentoring can be – for both parties...
INSPIRE to aspire – that's the motto of Leeds Mentoring. It aims to raise educational achievement; help young people develop socially and educationally; enhance career prospects and encourage progression to post-16 and higher education.
While it is easy to assume most teenagers could do better with regular little one-to-one attention, the mentoring team have cold, hard facts to demonstrate the impact of the scheme – and the results speak for themselves.
Barry Hilton, team leader for mentoring for Education Leeds, said: "On average there's a five to six grades at GCSE advantage for those students who have had a mentor.
"So, if they were going to get 10Ds then they would get four Ds and six Cs."
He added: "It really does make a hell of a difference."
He puts the scheme's success down to its focused approach.
Mentors don't simply meet with students every once in a while and chat about their likes and dislikes, they are carefully matched to ensure maximum benefits to both people and then they set out very specific goals for each of their regular meetings – usually each week.
Leeds Mentoring uses information about the students and mentors to match them, so two keen Leeds Rhinos fans were paired up and a university student with dyslexia chose to work with a young sufferer because he knew he could offer advice using his own experience.
While students are picked out by staff who think they would benefit from the scheme, they are given a full briefing on what's involved and the commitment needed and it is up to them whether they take part.
Having made that decision, they discuss which issues they want to address – such as time management and work experience – and work with their mentor on ways to tackle them.
Mr Hilton, who has been in the job 14 years, said 95 per cent of pupils mentored in Leeds come from disadvantaged backgrounds, with no history of progression to higher education.
"We target students we know have ability to go on to education post-16 but if they continued in the present vein possibly they wouldn't get there, so mentors really help them."
He added: "Each mentor works with their student on two to three fairly tightly focused targets.
"Each time they meet they put together an action plan to help them meet their goals."
The proof of its success can be seen from students' exam results, carefully monitored by Leeds Mentoring, but it has also won national recognition for its achievements.
It was one of the first in the country to be awarded the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation's "Approved Provider" Standard – a quality benchmark for organisations providing one-to-one, volunteer mentoring.
The award, which Leeds Mentoring has won twice, is supported by the Home Office and Department for Education and Skills and the service has recently been assessed again so could be honoured a third time.
Mr Hilton said: "If we get it, it will be a huge feather in our cap."
Although mentoring pupils seems a fairly new idea, the scheme has been running in the city for 16 years.
Mr Hilton said: "There was lots of big development going on, lots of regeneration and I had the idea, why not try to regenerate people – young people are the future."
Leeds City Council was awarded Single Regeneration Budget cash for a project to target the 12 most deprived inner-city high schools.
"Within those schools were pupils who had potential but because of their background and school they went to and lack of home support they possibly weren't doing as well as they could do."
That first year business mentors were recruited from 20 local companies, who supported 250 young people.
The following year it targeted more secondary schools and now Leeds boasts one of the largest volunteer mentoring programmes in the country.
Each of the city's 39 high schools now has mentors working with their pupils, along with six colleges, and there are now 10 different mentoring models, to meet students' diverse needs.
Some work with business mentors from local firms, others with students from Leeds universities, while others benefit from peer mentoring, working with students a few years above them at school.
Mr Hilton said: "Across the schools and colleges for the last five or six years we've had 4,000-plus students being mentored each year."
For around the past seven years cash for the project – around 200,000 a year – has come from the Government's Aimhigher programme – which aims to make everyone aware of the benefits of higher education, whatever their background.
But the cash stream is set to run out in August 2011.
However, Mr Hilton said he was looking into other possible funding options, including Leeds City Council, which he said was supportive of the scheme.
And he said it was incredibly cost-effective, especially considering its positive impact, costing around 79 per pupil.
As well as improving grades and prospects, it can also help with tackling prejudice and racism, through community cohesion mentoring which pairs mentors from ethnic minorities with white working class youngsters.
They are recognised as pupils who typically underachieve, along with looked after children and young people from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Mr Hilton said the great thing about mentoring is that the benefits are two-way.
It's not just the young people who gain from the experience.
"There's a huge feelgood factor – the mentors get a real buzz out of it."
They are recruited from a range of sources, including the private, public and voluntary sectors, students, colleges and retired people.
But they are not thrown in at the deep end and expected to know what to do.
They are given training and supported throughout the whole process by Leeds Mentoring.
Mr Hilton said there was no such thing as a "perfect mentor" as they all bring their own qualities to the role, although they need good communication skills and to be able to get on with young people.
The service asks for an 18-month commitment but many end up working with their students for longer.
Leeds Mentoring is always looking for more mentors, particularly from ethnic minorities.
To find out more go to www.leedsmentoring. co.uk or ring 0113 214 4080.
A shining light for students to aspire to
DINNEKA Smilie is a shining example for any student in the city.
The former pupil at Notre Dame Sixth Form College in Leeds is studying journalism at the University of Huddersfield and is the first in her family to go to university.
As someone whose childhood didn't run smoothly, that's a huge achievement in itself – but along the way she also received the Aimhigher Leeds award for student of the year, chaired a national conference and even scooped the national Sixth Form/FE Aimhigher Learner Achievement Award. Her mentor was radio presenter Andrew Edwards, who she met monthly.
Dinneka said: "He no doubt helped me substantially with thinking about the right universities to apply for."
She had dreams of a career in the media and Andrew was able to provide her with invaluable work experience.
Having the chance to see BBC Radio Leeds operations first hand helped her decide which area of journalism to work in. She said: "I am glad I was given Andrew as my mentor as I have received a lot of help and experience that I could have simply missed."
Andrew said: "It's been a privilege to work with her."
He added: "I don't think she realises what our time together has meant to me. On paper I've done the mentoring. But the truth – Dinneka Smilie – is that at least 50 per cent of this process has been YOU inspiring me."
Ex-teacher Angela's success with pupil
FORMER teacher Angela Pearson, right, retired five years ago but wanted to continue doing some work in schools so she offered to become a mentor to a looked after child at a Leeds comprehensive.
They formed such a strong bond they worked together for four years, from year eight through to the youngster's GCSEs.
Because of her background the girl cannot be identified, so she is referred to as Emma.
Angela said: "When I first met Emma her self-esteem was very low, she lacked self confidence and she was struggling with spelling and English work.
"She had no behaviour problems and so staff rarely needed to spend extra time with her, we spent the first year working together on basic skills and her self confidence developed when she realised that I believed in her and would give her the support that she needed."
She added: "Emma was involved in a change of carers as she moved into year 11 and I should like to feel that I offered stability at this difficult time."
Angela helped her research career options and subject choices, she also took Emma to the theatre – a new experience for the teen, as well as going swimming, which helped increase her self confidence in new situations.
She said: "Emma has emerged as a confident young adult hopefully ready to take the challenges that life throws at her, safe in the knowledge that I shall be at the end of a telephone line."
She added: "I have gained a terrific insight into the problems that face many students."
Emma said: "Without my mentor's support it would have been difficult to sort out my option choices and to understand what the subjects involved.
"Her support with coursework deadlines and career pathways have made a big difference."
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