MODELS OF MENTORING FOR INCLUSION AND EMPLOYMENT

Europe 2020 objectives Employment, Education, Social Inclusion, Innovation Smart growth - research/innovation creating new products/services that generate growth and jobs and help address social challenges Inclusive growth – increased employment, reduced school drop-out rate, improved skills and education, improved integration

Positive effects of mentoring Positive effects on intermediate outcomes, such as mental health improvements in mentee attitude and behaviour improvements in interpersonal relationships and integration into the community some reductions in recidivism some improvements in academic achievement and integration into education and training.

The MOMIE Project sought to fill in some gaps….. There is little research on mentoring relationships between adults. There is no clear definition of peer mentoring. This make analysis of peer mentoring difficult. The positive results from studies on mentoring and peer mentoring are often inconsistent there is also little evidence on the specific impact of peer mentoring on vulnerable and marginalised groups.

What are the key variables in the mentor/mentee relationship Matching – based on characteristics (e.g. gender, race, religion or ethnicity) or shared experience (e.g. offending, health) Relationship type and quality – an effective bond between mentor and mentee and the ability of the mentor to empathise with the mentee Duration- length of relationship, greater frequency of contact Supervision – supervision of mentors (e.g. support and steering groups to help achieve goals) Structured Activities – including academic and social activities along with joint decision making about activities

Mentoring different groups Different social environments UK Veterans ex-offenders Portugal Social benefit customers Hungary Recently released prisoners Roma young people How can mentoring help ? Different cultures/ backgrounds Different demographics (age, gender, ethnicity)

Train the Trainer Event 2 trainers 5 peer mentors trained5 non-peer mentors trained 25 mentees 5 mentees per mentor y hours of contact z type of contact 6 months of mentoring 25 mentees 5 mentees per mentor y hours of contact z type of contact 6 months of mentoring Outcomes measured Do not complete mentoring Complete mentoring The amount (y) and type (z) of contact should be matched as closely as possible for those mentored by peers and those mentored by non-peers

Innovative, cost effective programme Common, transferrable training Structured method of programme delivery Framework for supporting mentors Network of trained mentors (51 mentors trained: 24 peer, 27 non-peer) Method of measuring outcomes consistently Tackling smart growth

Mentees developed life skills to support movement towards the labour market Improved employment opportunities and employment outcomes Improved school results and investment in learning for young mentees Relationships developed between excluded groups and the wider community Tackling inclusive growth

Challenges  Impact of the economic climate (job losses, pay cuts): increased demand on time and resources for project organisers and mentors  Lack of senior buy in: difficulties embedding programmes, slow referrals, drawn out set-up, decreased motivation  Evaluating mentoring : testing multiple variables, time and ability to complete materials, impact on mentor-mentee relationship

 Peer mentoring and non peer mentoring embedded into practice of two organisations - Portugal and Hungary  Input into development of a National mentoring scheme - UK Success against the odds

Project Deliverables  Literature review – adding to evidence base on mentoring and peer mentoring  Mentoring programme design protocol – Portugal  Distance travelled evaluation tool – designed specifically for the project

Still more to be done...  Project supports the concept of mentoring as a successful and transferrable model  Mentoring can be embedded and upscaled  BUT... More thought needs to be put into how mentoring programmes are structured  More research needed to ensure mentoring models are applied correctly to different communities  Mentoring tested against control groups to ensure rigour of research findings