Definition
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A mentoring relationship is where one
wiser and more experienced person assists another person to grow
and to learn. It is not a new management technique. Since humans
have lived in social groups we have learnt our norms, values and
behaviours by the example and coaching of others.
It is arguably the most effective way to teach the desired way to
do things and pass on a culture.
Wareing, I., Guidelines on Mentoring for Women.
1994, Woolloomooloo: NSW Ministry for the Status and Advancement
of Women. p 48.
Moore and Salimbene (1981) define the
mentoring relationship as an intense, lasting and professionally
centered relationship between two individuals in which the more
experienced and powerful individual, the mentor, guides, advises,
and assists in any number of ways the career of the less experienced,
often younger, upwardly mobile protégé. Given this definition, it
is not surprising that mentoring is not a common experience. The
relationship requires a long-term reciprocal commitment of energy
and time. It requires two people who come together at a mutually
opportune time and who respect and enjoy one another enough to spend
significant amounts of time together. (Johnsrud, 1990, p. 58)
Johnsrud, L.K. (1990) Mentor Relationships: Those
That Help and Those That Hinder, in Moore, K.M. & Twombly, S.
B. (Eds) Administrative Careers and the Marketplace, New Directions
for Higher Education no. 72, Winter 1990. Pp. 57-66.
Mentoring networks can be established between students, for example
between second year and first year students to help the first year
student settle in to their new environment and discipline.
Mentoring relationships can also be set up in order to support students
in the development of a particular professional role, for example
when they are on placements, doing projects, or on a service based
learning assignment etc.
Student-student mentoring relationships
are intended to assist less experienced students to adjust to university
life through regular contact with and support from more experienced
students. While these relationships may emerge informally on the
basis of friendship or family ties, formal mentoring programmes
established by a third party enable students from a range of backgrounds
to benefit from the process.
Successful student-student mentoring programmes have been established
in the School of Agriculture (at UWA) and also as part of the Women
in Science and Engineering Programme at UWA, predominantly for first-year
students. The booklet Friends in the Workplace: A mentoring scheme
for UWA Students, produced by the Careers Service and also available
from the Teaching and Learning Centre, is an excellent guide to
establishing a formal mentoring programme for students.
Issues of Teaching and Learning, Vol 3, No. 3,
April 1997, The University of Western Australia. http://www.csd.uwa.edu.au/newsletter/
issue0397/mentoring.html
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