Students in educational spaces have a delicate and complex relationship with their teachers. The student-teacher relationship plays a crucial role in the journey of a student’s academic life. It plays a vital part in shaping a student’s academic life and has the ability to influence other aspects of life as well. Mentors can be teachers, peers or school seniors.
Students can benefit from having a mentor and that can be critical for students’ success. There have been many definitions of mentorship and the process of mentoring. In educational settings, mentoring is a complex and multi-dimensional process of guiding, teaching, influencing and supporting students through their academic life. The relationship of mentorship is based on mutual trust and respect. Mentoring is an established relationship for the purposes of learning and personal or career development.
Mentorship can be of two types:
a. Formal mentorship: it is an organised process that matches students with teachers who can help them work towards a goal or a target. For example, if a student is performing low in a particular subject, they may be matched with a math teacher who can help them work towards achieving better performance in an organised manner. Formal mentorship is typically fair and inclusive as it doesn’t involve any favouritism or bias.
b. Informal mentorship: the mentor-mentee relationship evolves organically. They are teachers that students turn to for advice. This kind of mentorship is established through mutual trust and respect. Usually, it's the teachers that students are friendly with and openly discuss their problems with.
Mentors help students by providing them academic guidance and emotional support. Both types of mentors play a role in the academic success of students. A large body of research shows that students benefit from having an adult in their school building who they can trust: increased attendance, better grades, higher test scores, a sense of belonging and connectedness at school, and belief in one’s self as a learner.
Since a good mentor has the ability to influence students in critical ways, choosing a good mentor can be daunting.
1) Explore your options: Look for people who share the same academic background. For example, if you are a psychology student, having a mentor who has knowledge about the field of psychology can be more beneficial since they would know how the field works. This can be psychology professors, seniors who were previously psychology majors, or seniors who are pursuing a psychology major.
2) Establish contact: Once the possible mentors have been identified, reach out to them in person, e-mail or through social media such as LinkedIn. Send them a semi-formal email or message explaining that you are interested in discussing the topic of interest with them and asking if they have time available. While many people will be happy to help, occasionally a potential mentor will be too busy or simply unwilling to fulfill your request. If this is the case, thank them for their time and reach out to someone else.
3) Discuss: When you do meet them, make sure to respect their time by having specific questions and a clear understanding of your objectives, so they can know how best to help. At the end of the discussion, thank them for their time and ask if they’d be willing to meet again to discuss further.
4) Nurture the relationship: Maintain contact with your mentor and semi-regularly update them on your progress. Make a point of how their advice has helped you in your progress.
5) Respect your mentor's boundaries: Be mindful about respecting their time and their boundaries. It may be wise to talk to them about setting up boundaries by asking them their availability and how you are allowed to contact them.
Mentorship has its benefits beyond academics. Students who perform better in academics, develop liking to their subject of interest, feel encouraged to pursue their interests, feel heard and encouraged to resolve their doubts tend to do well overall. This calls for implementation of formal mentorship programs in educational settings and encouragement of informal mentorships as well. School leaders should consider how mentoring can be installed into the day-to-day schedule without it overwhelming anyone especially teachers who are expected to take more on their plates.
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