How mentoring made a difference

Mentors will encourage pupils to pursue a university course

The University of Westminster runs a mentoring scheme for pupils at local schools.

It is similar to a �21m national initiative being launched by the government to get more schoolchildren to continue into higher education.

Westminster's scheme includes children with learning difficulties, matching pupils with undergraduates who have overcome similar problems.

The university's education liaison manager Katherine Hewlett said: "The idea is to give pupils something to aim for and coping strategies to help them learn better.

"The scheme has had a very positive impact - parents have seen an increase in pupils' motivation and teachers have seen improved attendance and grades."

The other scheme is a generic mentoring programme where 62 students are trained to work with young people in London schools.

They complete about 25 one-hour sessions with pupils.

"A lot of these young people have never talked to a higher education student before and they might not have ever had anyone in their family go on to university or higher education," said Ms Hewlett.

I felt it was important to help children who are experiencing the problem I had and help them to see that they too can achieve higher education Holly Clarke, student mentor

The student "ambassadors" - as they are known - have to go through a recruitment process to make sure they are the right candidates for the role.

They are also paid �7 an hour for their efforts.

The university tries hard to match students to pupils to make these partnerships work.

Ms Hewlett said: "We want pupils to be able to relate to a student otherwise they may feel alienated and think, 'What relevance does this have to me?'"

This could involve choosing a student from a similar social or ethnic background to a pupil.

Giving something back

Holly Clarke has been a University of Westminster mentor for the last six months.

She was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of eight, which caused her many problems at school.

She said: "It made me feel disconnected with learning environments.

"But I was able to turn this around and am now about to graduate.

"I felt it was important to help children who are experiencing the problem I had and help them to see that they too can achieve higher education."

She describes the children she has worked with as "often despondent and badly behaved" but they seemed to overcome this through constant engagement with the projects they worked on.

'Not written off'

"I feel they identified with the mentors as we had been in their situation. This helped them to see that university was an option for them," said Holly.

She continued: "We worked through how the children view education and the differences between school and university.

"At the start they had no idea how they would be able to get to university and they joked that their only career options were working in McDonald's or dealing drugs.

"By the end they were considering what course they wanted to do and at which university.

"I feel that by speaking frankly with the kids and explaining that we'd been in their situation - so know that it is possible - we were able to really get through to the kids. We had many of the children ask us why they weren't being told this in school and thank us for not writing them off as bad kids.

"For me this was a way of giving to children what I would have loved to have been told at school at that vital age. I've found the work is always rewarding and I'm glad I've had the chance to be a part of it."

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