Student mentoring: Promoting high achievement and low attrition in education and training

This report considers how mentoring and mentor-like schemes can be developed by educational providers for the benefit of student learning. There is a growing body of evidence from both organisers and participants of mentoring programs that links mentoring activity with positive student outcomes. A series of case examples have been drawn from a mixture of local experience, formal reports and World Wide Web material to provide instances where mentoring programs have been used to advantage in educational settings.

The report emphasises the social context and motivational dimensions of the learning process. Through a review of the literature and a reflective analysis of the case examples, the report attempts to contribute to a better understanding of the following hypotheses:

• Mentoring models are appropriate to the needs of students within the current educational environment.
• Mentoring models can be successfully applied to the education sector.
• The introduction of a mentoring framework in an educational institution will enhance students' performance outcomes and reduce attrition.

The current interest in mentoring schemes almost certainly stems from a belief that students, through a rich variety of personal and educational experiences, learn best through observing, doing, commenting and questioning, rather than simply listening. There is much support in the literature for the view that mentoring can be successfully used in the education and training sector to reduce student attrition and improve student outcomes. By enlisting experienced personnel to provide acculturation to academic life through both formal and informal mentoring programs, institutions can improve the campus climate and ensure a high-quality academic experience for their students.

Mentoring philosophy emphasises that for training to be effective it must be approached from a caring and challenging perspective. Learners are encouraged to use the frameworks, processes, strategies and models provided in a multidimensional way. Through mentoring, organisations can enrich their environments so that learners can develop and become more effective.

This new model of education calls for changing roles among students, teachers and colleges of learning. Technology is a key transforming element, offering unlimited new ways of learning and providing new ways for those involved to interact.

The study has highlighted a design for a better learning environment that focusses on the social and individual contexts of learning. It has reinforced notions that:

• Mentoring is about relationships (both structural and personal—a rich environment will have both), and so is learning.
• For formal mentoring to be successful, informal mentoring must be integrated into the social fabric of the organisation at all levels.
• Successful mentoring requires an investment in time and resources, as well as a focus on an improved social and learning environment.
• Successful mentoring focusses on the growth of the individual within the learning environment.
• Students appear to perceive a need for formalised mentoring programs, and stand to benefit in various ways from their introduction. There is evidence that suggests that students participating in mentoring programs achieve better and study longer.