Books. Mentoring Students and Young People

Citation

(2003), "Books. Mentoring Students and Young People", Education + Training, Vol. 45 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2003.00445aad.001

Books. Mentoring Students and Young People

Mentoring Students and Young People

Andrew MillerKogan Page2002ISBN: 0 7494 354 3 7£19.99

Miller's text both confirms and richly illustrates the significant growth in mentoring activity for young people. Although the book focuses on the developments in the UK, the author notes the influence of the USA in particular and the extent to which other countries have subsequently "borrowed" North American policies and practices. The establishment of a National Mentoring Network, part funded by the DfES, and the integration of mentoring initiatives within a range of UK Government policies (New Deal, Modern Apprenticeships, Excellence in Schools), demonstrates the perceived importance of this type of activity within government thinking.

The upsurge of interest in mentoring initiatives for young people, however, potentially brings conceptual confusions. There is a danger that any initiative that departs from the 1 to 30 students in a classroom can have the label of mentoring slapped on it. Mentoring becomes the answer to all the problems which affect young people from attendance to attainment. Miller is aware of this and devotes considerable attention to a discussion of the concepts, purposes, and processes that warrant the term mentoring. In practice of course such niceties are often ignored and the PR value of calling something mentoring when it is simply tutoring or coaching becomes evident in the case studies that Miller effectively integrates throughout the text.

A strength of the book is the systematic effort to discuss research and evaluation evidence in relation to young person mentoring. The findings appear very positive. However, much is anecdotal. It is odd that the well-established and ongoing evaluation by Imperial College through its Pimlico student tutoring programme, for example, appears to be overlooked. The impression left is that the conceptual uncertainties together with the range of goals to which mentoring is put combine to make research evidence on the impact somewhat limited. Miller acknowledges the need for a more rigorous and systematic research agenda but misses the opportunity to influence the shape of this.

The book usefully devotes attention to a number of future issues. Telementoring, for example, in which distance technology is harnessed to develop mentoring relationships, clearly appears to be an area of potential growth. Interesting case studies are presented from the USA – one involving over 1,500 Hewlett Packard employees – and from the UK. Miller argues that telementoring is a key means of improving the supply of employed mentors. This is a strong argument but I cannot help but feel that the quality of any mentoring relationship – however good the technology and the support systems – will suffer in the absence of face-to-face contact.

Mentoring Students and Young People concludes with an important discussion. The tendency for government to fund pilots and provide annual funding may well create considerable interest and enthusiasm for the ideas and principles of young person mentoring but makes it difficult to build sustainable, common programmes, in which mentoring is seen as something for all young people and not just troublesome minorities. Stronger moves are needed towards the establishment of a mentoring culture. As Miller notes:

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  Government can set out a vision for mentoring that is based upon local partnerships of schools, businesses, universities and colleges to bring about economies of scale and a mentoring culture in an area. This will serve to generate social capital both within and between schools and communities.

Overall this is a good resource offering much of value to anyone interested in the learning and development of young people.