Paper for the
international Metropolis Conference
22-26 November 2001 in
Rotterdam
Success breeds success
Moroccan and
Turkish Student Mentor projects in the Netherlands
Dr. Maurice Crul
Institute of Migration and Ethnic Studies (IMES)
University of Amsterdam (UvA)
Rokin 84
1012 KX Amsterdam
Crul@pscw.uva.nl
Success breeds success
Moroccan and Turkish Student
Mentor in the Netherlands
Introduction
Of all the major
migrant groups in the Netherlands, Turkish and Moroccan pupils perform the
least well in school. Compared to their Dutch peers, a disproportionately large
number of Turkish and Moroccan pupils attend the lowest levels of secondary
school after completing primary school. Absenteeism and dropout rates are high,
and problematic behaviour at school dominates the discussion about Moroccan and
Turkish pupils. Researchers in various disciplines present a doomed
generation that has hit a dead end in every single social domain.
Researchers explain the Moroccan and Turkish pupils' poor performance by
referring to the low socio-economic position of their parents or the hard time
parents have helping their children get through Dutch schools given the
language and cultural barrier.
Most of the Moroccan and Turkish parents came from rural areas. The men only
had a rudimentary education, and most of the women had never been to school at
all (Crul 1994). Consequently, first-generation parents often only have limited
knowledge of school systems . a point repeatedly emphasised by the parents and
children I interviewed. This has severely restricted the parents` ability to
help their children. Numerous measures have already been taken to improve their
situation without much success.
Although smaller in
number there is also a Turkish and Moroccan group that is successful in school
(Crul 2000a). These students will be the first with high school qualifications
in their communities. They will be in leading positions within their
communities within a few years. But already now they can play an important
role in their communities. In several projects Turkish and Moroccan students
fulfilled a successful role as mentors for Turkish and Moroccan pupils in
secondary education. They help, advise and guide them intensively during one or
two years. If the term . expert in experience. - a new buzzword in the care
sector - is relevant anywhere, then it is here! Turkish and Moroccan students
are more familiar than anyone else with the obstacles in the Dutch school
system and with the problems children encounter at home. They know the
strategies to become successful in school and know the home-situation of the
children from their own experience. Because of all the problems they themselves
have encountered they know what it is to persist and they know how to handle
difficult circumstances.
In this paper I
will describe several student mentor projects (Crul 2001). I will start by
giving an overview. Research of how mentoring actually works has been scarce so
far. Fresko and Kowalsky state that few studies have examined the content of
tutoring or mentoring (1998). Another underrepresented point is research into
the variety of ways in which the instrument of mentoring is implemented
(Goodlad 1998) In my paper I will focus on both of these somehow neglected
aspects in the research.
Moroccan and
Turkish Student Mentor Projects in The Netherlands. An evaluation.
Over the last five
years a considerable number of student mentor projects have come into existence,
most of them during the last two years. A quick scan of student mentor
projects leads to about twenty-five projects. The initiators of these projects
come from various backgrounds. In the beginning migrant organisations and
migrant student organisations set up mentor projects. Schools set up many of
the recently started student mentor projects. Quite a few have been set up by
schools for higher vocational education (Hbo). Notwithstanding the rapid growth
of the projects there is no national co-ordination nor is there any national
scheme for setting up mentor-projects. The guidance the Turkish and Moroccan
students give to the Turkish and Moroccan pupils is a mix of mentoring and
tutoring. The students aren. t mentors in the way described so far in
evaluation research on the subject matter (see for an overview of the
discussions Goodlad 1995,1998). The students are not adults and they are not
peers to the pupils either. Because of the age difference (five to ten years)
they are closer to the pupils than a teacher or a parent. Student mentoring
provides direct assistance with career and professional development, emotional
and psychological support and role modelling (see also Jacobi 1991). Also
mentioned are the positive effects on the self-concept of the children (see
also the meta-study of Cohen et al 1982).
To achieve an
insight into student mentoring I have selected ten projects for closer
examination. The criteria for my choice being the newness of design or that
they showed the most promise. In an attempt to cover as many different
experiences of student mentoring as possible I have tried for an as wide as
possible variety of projects. This overview does not aim, in the quantitative
sense, at being complete but with the diverse layout and content of the
selected projects this is a reasonably complete survey of the present day
practice of migrant student mentoring in The Netherlands. In the school year
1999-2000 280 migrant students are taking part in the projects, being guided by
130 student mentors. The majority of the couples in the projects are matched
according to ethnic group and gender. In many reports, the importance of a
correct match has been emphasised. In general the project focus themselves upon
either successful Turkish and Moroccan teenagers in their last year of Havo or
Vwo or the average student in the first year of secondary school whom with a
little extra help will be able to achieve a higher study level. There is only
one project that is aimed at the students who are at risk of dropping-out or at
those having other problems. Most of the projects are in their preliminary
phase as they enter their second year. Often is chosen for an expansion of
activities, which involves more student mentors and more schools. From the
evaluations of the mentor projects it is clear that student mentoring is an
effective instrument. That is to say the projects evaluated (Crul and Akdeniz
1997; Groen 2000; Hulst 2000; Meijer and Revling 1998; Paulides 2000; Vaessen
et al 1998; Veugelers 2000) were reported to have positive results on cognitive
as well as on non-cognitive terrain (see also Topping and Hill 1995).
The grades,
motivation and self-confidence of the mentees improved considerable and due to
the guidance the mentee concentrates more than previously on his or her
scholastic performance. In a number of cases the role of mentor can be compared
to that of older brothers and sisters. The aid from older siblings appears to
be the major factor in explaining the success of Turkish and Moroccan students
in their education (see Crul 1999).
An analysis of the
ten projects shows a remarkable dichotomy. On one hand there are the projects
initiated by migrant student organisations. They almost all focussed on young
pupils in the first years of secondary education. The students help, advise and
assist their younger fellow countrymen. The core element of the mentor-relation
is that it is an affective relationship in which there is mutual respect and
identification. The students guide their pupils mostly for a period of one
year. In that year a lot of time is spent in a one to one relationship.
Social-emotional guidance and assistance form a major aspect of the support
next to helping to develop study skills and giving study advice. The students
are recruited through their own ethnic organisations. Student mentors and
mentees meet each other on a regular basis outside of school and outside of
school hours.
Schools initiate the contrasting group of projects.
They almost all focussed on migrant pupils attending the last preparatory year
(Vwo, Havo or Mbo) before going to higher
education.
They concern themselves mostly with career choice guidance. They give advice on
the next course of study or a choice of school subjects related to a specific
job career. Especially the children in Middle Vocational Education have to make
an important choice. The next step can be either Higher Vocational Education or
a job in the labour market. The decision a pupil has to take at this moment of
his or her life is crucial to the career one will have. Turkish, Moroccan and
Surinamese students are recruited for the projects through institutes of higher
education. They are linked up with pupils from their own ethnic background and
are preferably studying in the same direction a pupil is aiming for. The
projects are mostly introduced during regular school hours by the teachers of
the pupils or the project leader who is staffed by the institute of higher
education that initiated the project. Meetings between student mentors and
mentees are often held at school during school hours.
The history of
the projects of student-organisations and projects of schools explain for a
good deal the differences between them. If one takes a closer look, the
differences are logical because the people who took the initiative for the
projects are confronted with different problems of Moroccan and Turkish pupils.
Turkish and Moroccan pupils in
the past have asked for help and assistance for difficult school subjects or asked
for information about school from older relatives and friends of the family.
This need for assistance transformed into homework-assistance projects. In
the beginning these projects were even set up at someone. s home address (see
Forum-publication Gouden Schakels 1999). In later years the projects grew in
scale and became more professional.
Currently it is mainly the co-ordinator who is paid but sometimes even
the student-mentors get a small fee for their help. In the last three years
migrant student-organisations have been especially active in setting up
mentor-projects. The projects
were set up from a need within the communities for guidance and support related
to schooling and the projects function therefore within the organisational
structure of the communities. Most mentors in the projects only have limited
contact with the schools the children attend. The guidance that children get in
school is almost always totally separated from the help and support the pupils
receive from their Turkish and Moroccan student mentors.
The projects of the schools have a totally different history. Either
policy-makers within the institutions or deans who specifically concern
themselves with migrant pupils or students usually set up the mentor projects
initiated in higher education. It is their task to prevent dropout of migrant
students in higher education and to promote migrant pupils to enter higher
education. Most deans or policy-makers have been involved with this subject for
years. Because of their involvement with migrant students they more and more
got involved in policy-making in the institutions directed towards migrant
students. They all have a lot of experience in guiding migrant students with
all sorts of questions. Formally or informally they are confidants for migrant
students. Because of this position they have become aware that migrant
students, because of a lack of information in secondary education, often make
wrong career choices. They lack the support Dutch children normally get from
their parents. They were also confronted with problems migrant children had
while entering an almost fully white student environment. Discrimination and
exclusion are day-to-day practices for many migrant students. Confronted with
these sorts of problems it is only logical that the people who took the
initiative put a big emphasise in the mentor projects on career guidance in the
exam-years before entering higher education. They hope to prepare the new
students better than their predecessors. The mentor projects for migrant pupils
coincide with promotion activities already aimed at pupils in secondary
education. In the last year they have to decide what study course to take and
which institution of higher education to attend. Between the different
institutions of higher education there is tough competition in the recruiting
of new students.
The projects run
by the schools and those run by the student organisations are complementary in
many ways. The projects run by schools mostly involve pupils who are already
more or less successful. The main focus of the projects is to prevent dropout
in higher education. The projects of migrant and student organisations are
aimed at increasing the access of migrant pupils to higher education. They
focus on pupils in the first years of secondary education. These are the years
in which the selection takes place for educational streams leading to higher
education. If one fails to pass the selection, higher education can then only
be reached through the long route through vocational education. To be
successful in the early years depends a lot on the practical help and advice one gets (Crul, 2000b). A future
mentoring scheme should aim at both sorts of projects to increase the number of
migrant students in higher education. In the following paragraphs I will
describe both sorts of projects. I will describe how the projects are set up
and what the aim of the projects is. I
will describe more in detail a project run by the student organisation
Cosmicus. Through its description I will show in general how mentoring
works.
Mentor projects aimed at retention of
migrant students in higher education
I will describe
shortly three projects which aim it is to guide migrant pupils in the
preparatory classes leading to higher education. I selected these projects
because the represent the variety of projects set up by school institutions.
The projects all started in the last two years. People working within
institutions for higher education took the initiative for the projects. ECHO
finances almost all the projects in the first year. ECHO is a national
institute which aims to promote higher education for migrant students and to
prevent drop out in higher education. The Ministry of Education funds ECHO. The
opportunity to get financial support has been very important, so it seems, for
setting up projects. Before this possibility existed there were hardly any
projects to speak of. All three projects are developed within the framework of
a follow-up program for higher education. A program where high school students
and students in final exam classes for the Mbo receive information for the Hbo
or university. In the framework of the follow up program teachers from Hbo and
university will come to the schools to give information, and conversely,
students will be invited to accompany Hbo or university students for the day.
There exists between higher education on the one hand and secondary education
and vocational training on the other hand years of intensive contact. The mentor projects are an extension of the
follow up programs specifically set up for migrant students (see also
Hofmeister 1998).
Student
mentoring project of the School of Higher Education of Amsterdam (HvA)
The
project of the HvA is directed towards assisting Havo students in their exam
year with their choices. The initiator of the project is the staff member
responsible for the Minority Affairs at the HvA. She is also responsible for
the joint Secondary Education-Vocational High School follow-up program.
The
student mentor project is, and will be presented as such, an extension of these
activities. Five schools in Amsterdam, where migrant students are a majority in
the Havo-departments, are where the mentor project began. These are schools
where the staff member involved with the project was already in contact with
connection to the follow-up program. In the current school year seventy student
mentors will be recruited and seven high schools are taking part in the
project. All are migrant schools in Amsterdam with a Havo department. The
Surinam project staff member personally chooses the migrant Hbo students in the
corridors of the HvA.
He is together
with the policy staff member, involved full-time with the project. The students
may choose between payment or study credits for the time they are engaged.
The formula of the project is simple. During the lesson of the student counselor
the students will present a play about study motivation and each student
will individually tell why they became a mentor and what their own experiences
were in higher education. Then groups are formed where pupils may ask
the students questions. At the end of the meeting the pupils may apply to be
assigned a mentor. In this manner pupils can themselves ascertain whether or not
they would like a mentor without intervention from a teacher or coordinator.
In principle the mentor. s task is to guide the student in choosing
a study major. They accompany the pupils on visits to the higher vocational
schools and let them look at textbooks. They are there for them to answer any
possible questions regarding studying, work and student life. On average the
mentor and mentee will meet each other between three and six times in a
half-year time. Contact is thus limited. It is also possible to be guided by
your mentor in your first year of study.
This form of guidance, which would perhaps be more intensive, has just
started this year.
The
migrant students mentor-project at the University of Leiden
The
migrant student mentor project of the Univrsity of Leiden is developed within
the framework of the establishment of The Hague branch in collaboration with
the The Hague municipality. The executor of the project is the University
Continuing Education Program Organization ICLON (Interfaculty Center for
Secondary Teacher Training and Educational Development). ICLON has developed
and coordinated the project and cares for its practice. The program is
integrated in the joint program for Vwo-Wo. The target group of the project is
migrant teenagers (Moroccan, Turkish, Surinam and Antillian) in four high
schools in the fifth and sixth class Vwo in The Hague. The students taking part
in the project are approached in class. Nearly all the approached students
actually take part in the program. Every student is coupled with two student
mentors but will also take part in a mentor group of ten students. In total the
program consists of eight mentors and 40 students. For every contact hour the
mentor will receive an hourly wage of 50 guilders. The mentor functions as an
older brother or sister who from the basis of their own experiences in choosing
majors and studying, will guide, advise and introduce the student to academic
life. The emphasis therefore lies upon choosing the correct guidance. The
choice of working in couples of two mentors is a conscious decision. The idea
being that the student will connect with at least one of the mentors. Above
all, if one of the mentors is unable to continue because of an illness or
because he/she drops out, then the continuation of the mentor-relationship
(with the other mentor) will not be jeopardized. Regarding the mentors
(especially those who are guiding students for the first time) the idea of the
couples is that the mentors can support each other. Because of the group
meetings, where advice and information are given, there is not so much room for
individual guidance. The plan is for a gradual expansion of the program in
which more schools will take part and students from lower classes can be
included too.
The
Promotion Team of the Christian Higher Vocational School Windesheim, Zwolle
The
promotion team from Windesheim is set up in order to improve the image of migrant
students. The students (particularly Turkish but also asylum seeker-students)
have organized
diverse
activities in the vocational schools. In the second year of the project the
promotion team has taken the initiative in setting up a mentor project in
conjunction with the Regional Education Center (ROC) in Zwolle. The vocational
school already has intensive contact with the ROC in conjunction with the joint
program Mbo-Hbo, where information is given on open days
and
days where new students may accompany older ones. The mentor couples will
increasingly consist of a migrant student and a native Dutch student. These
couples should receive several students under their wing. It is thus the
intention to involve migrant students in the project as well. The student
mentors receive either a payment of ten guilders per hour or study credits. The
members of the promotion team have chosen not to partake as mentors in the
project. To this end new students will have to be recruited. The students on
the promotion team will set up the major part of the mentor project. They
themselves have set up the guidelines and specific manner of guidance, and
shall also see to it that all branches of the project are being filled. For
example: the matching of mentors with mentees. The promotion team will learn
practical organizational and didactic skills in setting up the project. The
idea is that migrant students can shape the future framework of their
communities and that they can learn from their experience.
Mentor
projects aimed at increasing the access to higher education
Help with homework
Since most pupils get very little support from their
parents at home, it is important for them to learn to work on assignments
independently. If they do not understand something, they cannot ask their
parents the day before a test to explain it. Before they can work
independently, pupils have to find out what . studying. is all about. Most
children are geared towards completing their assignments. This is what
they have to be able to produce at school the next day as tangible
evidence that they did their homework. Without reading them carefully
beforehand, they immediately begin working on their assignments. The
student-mentors devote attention to study methods or to how students
prepare for a test. They ask questions like: . How do you read a
book? .
What do you need a table of contents for?. They have learnt from
experience that the pupils are not good at answering these questions. This
method requires students to make their own efforts. Often they have to
read a text three times before they are allowed to ask a question about
it. The student-mentors make high demands on the pupils.
. Hard.
subjects like mathematics, physics or economics are the most problematic.
The interviews with pupils who are taking these subjects show that they do
not spend enough time on precisely these subjects because they find them
so tedious. They sum up their feelings as follows: . I don. t get it and
I. m no good at it. That's all there is to it. . They resign
themselves to failure, and are convinced in advance that they will never
pass. The student-mentors emphasise that just like for the . soft.
subjects, they have to practice and study a lot. Some of the pupils might
have a special aptitude for these subjects, but most of them just need to
work very hard. At a certain point, things usually fall into place. The
pupils discover what the trick is to complete the assignment, and for the
first time, what the trick is based on. Small victories in these subjects
help motivate the pupils and give them self-confidence.
What did your
mentor do differently from the teachers at school?
Zekeye went deeper into the material than the
teacher. The teacher explained things but Zekeye could discuss it in
greater detail, and therefore I understood it better. She told me that I
should never give up, she gave me a lot of support. When we did homework
together she first explained it to me but I didn. t always understand it
right away. Maybe I did understand it, but I hesitated because I thought:
I. ll do it wrong since I. m just not good in it. Then she would say: .
you must do this assignment,. but I didn. t dare. I said, I can. t. Then
she would get really angry with me and say: . You have to try!. She was
very strict. So, then I would try again and I got it. But even when I
didn. t get it we didn. t give up. We tried again. If there was an
assignment that I didn. t understand, she would say to me: . I won. t
explain it one or two times to you, I will explain it until you
understand..
How is it
going now?
Later, when I tried assignments again, I did the
extra examples and went over the summaries a
couple of times, it became easier for me. Then I
thought, I have to give it more attention.
Did you get
the idea that you could really do it?
At first I couldn. t believe it when I got a good
grade in mathematics. I thought, it. s a mistake, or the teacher was
giving me a break. I thought, I. m bad in this, I can. t do it, I. ll
never get it. But when I devoted more attention to it, it got better and I
began to believe in myself.
Study
motivation and study perspective
There is a
large class of teenagers that do reasonably well in school but are not
motivated to do more than necessary to get by. These pupils are only
concerned with passing the course. If they receive a . satisfactory. for a
subject then that. s good enough. They don. t strive to do better. It
sometimes seems that they are not interested in the fact that with higher
grades they can move on to a higher school level. Without a goal in mind,
people tend not to do the best they can, is the conclusion of a number of
mentors in the interviews. Speaking about study goals and future prospects
is the domain of the teacher mentor at school, but these talks proceed
with much difficulty. The children do understand that high school is more
serious, but they don. t yet think
of the future.
For the most part, thirteen- or fourteen-year-olds have few concrete ideas
about what they want to do later. A student mentor can introduce a
discussion about study goals in a more casual manner and as a result the
heaviness about the subject, which many teenagers are allergic for,
dissipates. A mentor says, . you start talking about soccer and then
before you know it, we. re talking about something else, what you want to
do later and before you realise it you. re talking about this for an hour.
Just like that, without having it planned.. But mentors too notice that it
is not easy to influence the teenagers. They have to be careful not to
sound like a teacher or a parent.
. The first thought many teenagers have is that .
school is not important.. They want to earn a quick buck, as they say.
They have harnessed their opinion. It. s not easy to influence them. This
applies to Erkan as well. I tried to change his conception of school. He
could go to the MAVO, but the HAVO was an option too. So I asked: . Which
level would you like to do?.
He said, I think it. ll be Mavo. He wanted to go to
the Mavo because that. s where all his friends were going. I won. t say: .
Definitely not! You can study at a higher level.. That. s exactly what
they hear from their teacher and their parents. I do try to influence him
in a different way though. I show him what he can do with a Mbo-degree and
what with a Hbo-degree. He simply did not have any examples, but I could
provide these examples for him. In this manner teenagers are able to form
their own opinions.
Most pupils in
the first years of high school do not have, as of yet, a future
perspective of what they are studying for. The pupils consider the
parents. wishes (to become lawyers or doctors) as neither interesting nor
realistic propositions. But there are no other study goals that correspond
to their own interests and prospects either. The moment students find a
study goal, their attitude towards school changes: all at once it is in
their interest to get an B+ in a certain subject, which will enable them
to study at Havo-level instead of Mavo-level, or just get a D for a
subject they need to follow a certain course.
Socio-emotional assistance and guidance
The first thing student-mentors do is helping their
mentee develop study skills. This is what the student-mentors in the
beginning spend most of their time on. The pupils' social and emotional
problems are subtly addressed as well. The student-mentors are not social
workers, but in their stories the pupils make it clear that
socio-emotional support is one of the main things they need. One of the
student-mentors explained that at school there is a dean for academic
advice, a mentor for personal matters, a tutor for practical problems and
a school psychologist for emotional issues. The tasks are allocated to
trained professionals, but many Turkish and Moroccan students have
problems the schools cannot handle well because they do not fit into any
of the slots. The Turkish student-mentors are quicker to recognise these
problems and see the connection between personal issues and difficulties
at school. Changes in a pupil's behaviour are often met with surprise at
school. Student-mentors hear from the teachers that the pupils who attend
the project have become calmer.
The story of Rahime makes clear what other things the
student mentor can be confronted with. Rahime is in the second class of
high school. Her parents are often away in Turkey. Her father has a hernia
from which he suffers even more in the Dutch climate. He prefers Turkey
where he feels much less pain. In addition he also needs to be in Turkey
on a regular basis for business. Because of this Rahime spends long
periods of time staying with her older married brother. Rahime does not
feel at ease with her brother because she does not have her own room and
therefore can. t really do her own thing. Her mentor notices that Rahime
doesn. t feel very happy when she is staying with her older brother. It
also does not take long for her grades to begin to suffer.
When we talked about this she confirmed with a
whisper. She admitted that she doesn. t like it that her parents had been
away and would go again soon again. She said: . Who. s more important? Me
or the business?. I told her that one was not connected with the other,
that everybody goes his own way at a certain point. If things have to be
done, then they have to be done, which doesn. t mean that they don. t love
you. Then she admitted that she was holding things in, that she couldn. t
talk about things. She said: . Ëven if I do so, there will always be
things I really can. t talk about.. I suggested that she start a diary in
which to pour her heart out when she was sad, so that after writing in her
diary she could concentrate on her schoolwork again. Afterwards we can
talk about what is bothering you and see if we can do something about. She
liked the idea..
When Rahime. s parents returned her mentor also
discretely mentioned this subject with her mother. But most important is
that she has given Rahime something tangible to make difficult situations
manageable. The mentors know from their own experiences how important it
is to have someone to talk to about problems and to ask advice from.
Because there are things that teenagers cannot speak about with their
parents, an estrangement between parents and children might develop which
at a later time is hard to bridge.
Next to their parents, the relationship with friends
is most important for teenagers at this age. Association with friends is
often the most important factor in failing grades. Their friends in class
often distract them and even outside of school friends play an important
role in spending free time that competes with their schoolwork. Peer
pressure from friends at this age is a strong influence for teenagers.
They are insecure about their own desires and are easily influenced by
their friends. The mentor recognises the importance for the pupil/mentee
of belonging to a group of his own age but simultaneously makes it clear
that you should not let yourself be led by what your friends do. Mentors
try to give them some backbone. Because the mentors are relatively the
same age as the pupils compared to the parents, they are able to talk
about other things as well. While they sympathise with the teenagers they
see at the same time where they go wrong. Their parents often don. t go
further than forbidding them to go around with certain friends. Comments
from Berat. s father and her teacher mentor illustrate just this point.
The teacher mentor considers her friends the most important cause of her
bad grades in the beginning of her first year. Her friends are girls, so
he says, that pay little attention to their studies and who regularly cut
class. During the parent/teacher meeting the teacher mentor discusses this
with the father. The father: . The teacher says that she goes around with
her friends and that they have absolutely no interest in school. If I
didn. t interfere she would have had to leave school due to her poor
grades.. Indeed the other girls did leave school. Her father now forbids
her to hang around with these friends. The student mentor also claims her
friends distract her. But she also says that friends are very important in
new surroundings. If you only forbid a thirteen-year-old to hang around
with her friends without giving alternatives then she will feel lost.
. I
say: . Try to be honest with yourself and don. t do what others expect
from you. If you know what you want and you exude that self-confidence,
they will treat you with more respect and you. ll feel that you belong..
I. m not saying that it is bad to have friends or you have to concentrate
on your homework more. I don. t speak in this manner. You have to have
more confidence, also in friendship. Why do people hang out with you?
Probably because you. re nice, you don. t have to worry about that, but
that doesn. t mean you don. t have to do your schoolwork. You have to do
the things you. re fond of, that is what you should be working for. And
that is how you get confidence. Once in while she wrote down what I said..
Conclusion of the Mentorrelatioship. Independent
mentee.
Often it is not a simple matter for the mentor to
withdraw from the dependence-relationship that has been built up.
Nevertheless the mentor must be aware that eventually the pupil has to do
it by himself. For it is not in the interest of the pupil to remain
dependent on the help and support given by the mentor. It is important
that the mentor gives a good explanation as to why he demands this from
his students.
. For my first report I received 5.9. For my last
test the grade was 7.8 and this I did by myself, without help from Zekeye.
At first she came to me once a week, but later she showed me that I must
stand on my own two feet. She told me that I might not always phone her.
She didn. t mean this in any wrong way, just that I must try to do it by
myself. In the beginning I achieved only a 5 for two tests, but later I
began to get reasonable good grades..
The mentor keeps track of the pupils whether or not
they apply the skills taught to them. In fact the mentor only needs to ask
once in a while how they. re doing and encourage them to carry on.
He is always alert as to whether the pupil is
maintaining himself through difficult situations or is falling behind.
When a pupil is falling behind, how is his reaction? Does he give up or
does he bring into practice what has been taught?
. She got a F for a test even though she studied
really hard. However now she says that she probably didn. t study the
right way and she is looking for a way to solve this. That is great to
see,
how she is able to separate this from her personal
qualities and how determined she is not to give up..
The supervision clearly has a thematic construction.
Practical difficulties concerning schoolwork are dealt with first. For
this purpose an intensive study-guidance is given in which . learning to
study. plays a central role. The guidance leads to higher performance,
which increases the trust in the mentor. Due to the intensive contact
between mentor and mentee mutual trust is slowly being built. This
relationship built on trust also allows the possibilities for
socio-emotional guidance to be given to the mentee. The mentee tries to
make the mentee more independent and resilient. Finally the mentor has to
let the mentee (through trying, failing and trying again) bring into
practice what has been taught. The mentor together with the mentee
evaluates how successful this is. In the Cosmicus-project more than half
of the couples have completed this . model-course..
The main reason why other couples did not finish this
course was the late start of the coupling mentor-mentee. In other cases
the mentor could not find the right approach with the mentee.
Preparatory phase problems
The Cosmicus mentor project is the first project
where an attempt has been made, in conjunction with the school to set up a
guidance course. The school will attend to the selection and recruitment
of pupils and Cosmicus will take care of the recruitment and supervision
of mentors. This form of cooperation leads to a number of preparatory
phase problems. Below, I shall sketch
The problems we have encountered and the solutions we
have come up with.
The mentors and the project coordinators declare the
coupling between mentor and mentee as one of the biggest problems of the
project. It often takes a very long time before a school recommends a
pupil for the project. The month September is naturally a very busy month
for schools as everything must be started up and running. And this project
is only one of the many school activities that have to be started. The
project was only able to achieve an average of five pupils per
participating school. In order not to be dependent on one school Cosmicus
chose to work with three schools per city instead of only one school per
city. If one of the schools would be unable to supply enough pupils then
the whole project would fail. Due to the restricted number of pupils,
according to a contact person at school, we just missed our target. In addition
to that none of the contact persons at the schools was allocated extra
time for this project. The project subsidies did not provide for this.
Also, Cosmicus sometimes experiences difficulty in providing a suitable
mentor at the right time. The mentees must be coupled to their mentors and
sometimes the appropriate mentor is not available. Furthermore, the
project coordinator works part-time on the project and is therefore not
always available for the school. Both parties are in agreement that the
preliminary phase of the project is ripe for improvement. According to the
school contact person from Utrecht the problem has to do with the fact
that the project is still in its preliminary phase.
. The students are busy and in their free time they
are mentors. The schools are busy as well. I myself find it very important
and enjoyable, but it comes on top of the study workload.
But school can also choose to allocate a few free
hours for the project.
If you as a school with a large group of minority
pupils find this important, then time should be reserved for it. In
education giving resources for one project, automatically reduces
resources for another project..
A school contact person suggested that at the
beginning of the project a meeting between all the mentors and potential
mentees should be convened at school and that couples should be formed
right there and then.
The second point is that there is hardly any contact
between the Turkish student mentor and the teacher mentor. There is little
interchange between them regarding the pupil in the project. According to
a contact person at school, mentors should at least attend parent/teacher
meetings. He also pointed out that the school itself did not ask for
this.
. Ït would be sensible if the student would go along
with the parents to the parent/teacher meeting, then you get a
tri-mensional story. But at this school we never implemented
this, which is a pity. It would also give support to the parents. If there
is a school translator, then you still only hear the school. s side of the
story. A mentor provides an ally on the side of the pupil, the mentor
knows the pupil, he has been to his house.
What I would prefer is that the teacher mentor is up
to date with the latest results of Cosmicus mentor before he participates
in any teacher discussions or report meetings. This hardly happened.
Of course it also depends on the efforts and the
involvement of the teacher and naturally demands extra time from the
student too. In conclusion both the school and Cosmicus
experience difficulties in exchanging information..
Both parties involved in the project feel that the
contact has to be more extensive. The most important suggestion is to
agree to meet every six weeks in order to exchange information. The
student mentors want this as well, but make a point that the project is
not a real job for them; that it often comes on top of their studies and
work. The payment for the project must express the desired
professionalisation. A mentor explains how he has to fit in the mentor
project within his other responsibilities:
. At a given moment I thought, I have to set
priorities. I have a job on Saturday and sometimes on Friday evening.
During the day I am in the lab. If I. ve been in the lab the whole day
then in the late afternoon I am not at my best, I am not really sociable.
Late in the evening is not a good time to mentor a fourteen-year-old and I
need time to study as well. Therefore afternoons are the only possibility
to mentor if I at least want to keep my Sundays free. If I would receive a
salary for the project, then I could give up one of my other jobs and
devote more time to the mentor project..
One of the contact persons at schools feels that
Cosmicus should actually receive a place at school. It makes sense to him
that the project coordinator is present at school on scheduled hours.
This way he is easily available for pupils and
teachers. He says this would be an important step.
The experiences from the mentor projects in Utrecht
and Amsterdam in particular plead for a further professionalisation of the
mentor projects. Both for the imbedding of mentoring within the school
organization as for a further professionalisation of Cosmicus, which as an
organization is responsible for the execution of the mentor project. Both
parties feel that mentoring as a tool works, but from the vantagepoint of
organization a lot is left to be desired. Thus, according to a contact
person:
'I think it is good that it is there and that it is
set up focused on the same target group of migrant teenagers, but I miss
the structure with which it would have more impact. It contains many
aspects of which I say: That is very good. It has now be implemented but
not all of the possibilities have been utilized.'
Student-Mentoring. A challenge for the future.
The mentor
projects I discussed offer a good starting position for developing a
mentor program on a larger scale for the Netherlands. So far only a
limited number of Turkish and Moroccan pupils profit from mentor schemes.
The challenge is to develop a system of student-mentoring which is able to
reach all Turkish and Moroccan pupils who need support and guidance with
the aim to increase the number of migrant pupils going to higher
education. The research on the Cosmicus project more or less pointed out
the major obstacles encountered in a mentor project. In this concluding
paragraph I will work out a number of preconditions to develop the
instrument of mentoring in the Netherlands further.
The
development of mentor methodology
Many mentors
state that in the beginning of the project they were not sure what to do
with the mentee nor how to go about it. They didn. t know which role they
were to fill. Is the mentor a role model, an advisor, a tutor, or a social
worker? The student mentors are not as yet sufficiently informed and
prepared. A clear methodology is lacking. Mentoring is seen as an
extremely individual form of guidance in which spontaneity and informal
character are important parts of the process. The diversity in the mentor
relationship is accordingly very large. In fact, it is so large that
sometimes it is claimed that mentoring cannot be contained within
methodology. Reality however shows that despite the diversity there is a
certain kind of structure to be discovered in the mentor relationship. In
almost all mentor relationships, certain themes become apparent and the
development of the mentor relationship almost always follows the same
pattern.
Insight into
the development of the mentor relationship offers perspective mentors some
structure since the guidance does have a clear thematic structure.
Practical study problems are dealt with first. Due to this, results
improve, confidence of the mentee increases and so does his trust in his
mentor. With better results the conversation will lead to study aims and
study perspective.
Socio-emotional guidance is often important at a
later stage when the basis of mutual trust is present. The project
co-ordinator can offer support in different stages of the mentoring
project. In the first place it is important to give the mentors tips and
advise about the teaching of learning skills, for example by paying
attention to learning to learn and planning of homework. These learning
skills are well documented in study planners, and other study help books.
During an intervision meeting of mentors it will be possible to pay more
attention to the subject and a mutual exchange of experiences can take
place. During the stage in which social/emotional guidance becomes
increasingly important we can give more attention to personal issues
relevant to the study. Many of the social/emotional problems are directly
related to the life phase of the pupils. The mentor can, by reading the
description of the development of the mentor relationships, have something
to go on. He will know before, for example, that it takes time to build up
mutual trust.
The results of
the mentor relationship can be significantly increased when the mentor
himself receives support in giving guidance.
Professionalization of the organisation around
mentoring
The
effectiveness of mentoring as an instrument can be increased, as the
organisation becomes more professional. To this end, as apparent from the
Cosmicus mentoring project, the organisational structure of the project
has to be better geared to that of the school. There has to be more
consultation between Turkish or Moroccan project co-ordinators and the
contact person of the school about recruitment and selection of mentees.
The teacher mentor and the student mentor too must consult each other much
more in order to exchange information. In every case it is about
investment of extra time. Expansion is in my idea the key to the solution
of the organisational problems that now exist within the small-scale
projects. For the schools this kind of expansion will mean that this form
of guidance will become so large that it will become a regular part of the
pupil guidance at school. This will justify the school's contact person to
give a fixed number of hours per week for the project. For the
school it only makes sense to set up a good guidance structure when enough
pupils participate. Extending the number of couples will also make it
possible to increase the working hours of the project co-ordinator. This increase
in working hours would make it easier to contact the project co-ordinator
and it will create an opportunity for him to shape and organise the
project more specifically.
By increasing
the number of couples, it will also vindicate the project co-ordinator a
place in school. If the project co-ordinator were to be present in school
at regular hours the communication between him and the school. s contact
person would improve greatly.
The
recruitment and selection of mentees is another important point of
consideration within the project. Here too, expansion would bring
improvement. Expanding the project would create a much larger pool of
mentors and mentees from which to match couples.
Because school
is at the beginning of the school year, always in a state of
organisational overextention, the selection of potential mentees should
take place at the end of the school year.
The general
meeting in the first month of the new school year can then be used to
introduce mentors and couple them to the selected mentees. This way the
project can start right away.
Recruiting
student mentors
To have
mentoring available for many more Turkish and Moroccan pupils a
significant increase in available mentors is required.
The
willingness to become a mentor is however a major bottleneck in the
process of expansion. At the School of Higher Education in Deventer where
some 300 migrant students are registered, it took an intensive campaign,
which finally resulted in the recruitment of the required 12 student
mentors. The position of the student mentor within the present day
projects is as yet far from attractive. They are in almost every project
the so-called suppositious child. From interviews with mentors and by
visiting student meetings it is apparent that the absence of a realistic
financial compensation the main obstacle is in recruiting mentors.
We could,
following the example of the Perach-project in Israel, reward the
participating student mentor by absolving him of some part of either his
school fees or study costs. The second possibility is the integration of
the mentor. s activity within his own study program. It is therefore
important that the project is recognised as either a trainee-ship or as a
didactic skill training. In both cases study credits can be given from
within the educational institute.
Mentoring can
deliver an important contribution to the pupils moving up to higher
education and it can reduce the number of dropouts from higher education.
A substantial increase in the contribution that mentoring can make to the
situation within the field of education can only be realised when there
are enough available migrant students to become mentors. There is still no
reliable data as to exactly how many Turkish and Moroccan students attend
higher education.
The most
recent figures can be distilled from the latest report form SCP, 'Ethnic
minorities' (Tesser et al. 1999). On the basis of converting percentages
into quantifiable numbers, I came to more than 7500 Turkish and Moroccan
students.*
Due to the
fact that each year more students enrol, we may assume that each year
there will be a considerable increase in the total. There exists thus a
reasonable potential source of Moroccan and Turkish mentors. A major part
of the Turkish and Moroccan pupils in need of a mentor can in principle
receive one. The Turkish and Moroccan students represent an almost
untouched form of capital that could be set in on a large scale for the
educational chances policy.
Success breeds
success! With this, mentor projects follow a long tradition of groups
emancipating independently. With the projects, these groups break through
the vicious circle of deprivation and falling behind by acting on the
basis of success.
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Supplement to Practical Experiences; Good
practice
In the ten
projects discussed here, 130 student mentors, in the 1999-2000 school year
counselled about 280 migrant pupils. The instrument of mentoring in The
Netherlands is still in the development phase, which explains the great
diversity in the way projects are organised.
This diversity
is an excellent source for the development of good
practices.
Below, the
most important forms of good practices will be reviewed point by
point.
·
Approaching the pupils
Problem .
Most of the projects are directed at migrant pupils
which might result in the danger of
these pupils
being stigmatised as problem-pupils
Good practice
. The manner, in which the project is presented, proves
decisive. Therefore most project co-ordinators choose to present the
project as an extra chance for motivated pupils to advance to a higher
level. In some high school and vocational schools the vast majority of the
pupils is migrant. At the same time it is not necessary to put extra
emphasis on the migrant character of the project. If the majority of the
mentors is migrant as well, the desired coupling happens by itself without
the impression that the project is directed specifically towards migrant
teenagers.
·
The recruiting of pupils
Problem .
In a number of projects the recruitment of (suitable)
pupils is problematic: either there are not enough pupils for the project,
or the recruiting process is too complicated, so it takes a long time
before mentors and mentees can be coupled together.
Good practice
. A quick . matching method. is to organise a meeting
for mentors and mentees. The experience shows that this generates a lot of
enthusiasm. At such a meeting mentors and mentees can be immediately
coupled, eventually with the help of a list of suggestions previously
drawn up by the project co-ordinator.
·
Fitting the project within the school
organisation
Problem .
Fitting the project within the school organisation is
a time consuming occupation.
Co-operation
is necessary on the different levels of the school organisation. This
brings forth inevitable communication problems, especially if the
initiative comes from outside the school.
Good practice
. Where a collaboration already exists, for example
within the framework of the joint program vo-ho, the whole process of
fitting in proceeds in a much suppler manner. The mentor project can then
fit into an existing structure and often the same people are involved in
the set up. The implementation of a project by an external professional
organisation facilitates the fitting in process. When social organisations
are starting up projects for the first time it is advisable to have a
covenant in which the efforts and commitments of both parties are written
down. In practise a covenant has proved to be a good instrument to solve
problems.
Providing a
place at school for the project co-ordinator can also reduce communication
problems.
·
Training student mentors
Problem .
The student mentors usually get training in
conversation techniques and counselling.
However,
training in mentoring techniques is still lacking.
Good practice
. In the Cosmicus mentor project new mentors receive an
introduction training in the form of role-playing. In other projects
student mentors can exchange practical experiences during intervisionary
meetings.
·
The student mentor-school relationship
Problem .
In many projects there is little feedback between
student mentor and school. At the beginning of the project there is too
little information provided by the school concerning the pupil and during
the mentor period there is often only little contact between student and
teacher mentors.
Good practice
. In the Cosmicus-mentor project it has been agreed
that for the following project year, the student and teacher mentor will
meet each other every six weeks. If the counselling takes place at school
and counselling within the school is present as well, then the transfer of
information can occur during the contact hours of the mentor project.
·
Contact between project co-ordinator and student
mentor
Problem .
After some time the co-ordinator has no more insight
into the functioning of the mentor-mentee couples.
Good practice
. In one of the projects the mentor was asked to keep a
logbook of the most important activities undertaken so far. Besides
bottlenecks in the progress of the study, the approach chosen to solve
them has to be written down in the logbook as well.
After a while
it should be possible to judge whether interventions have had any effect.
In this way the co-ordinator can give advise for an alternative approach
and can himself accumulate knowledge that can be passed on to other
mentors.
·
The student mentor: approach
Problem .
The student mentor has to counsel someone; often for
the first time in his or life. Some have a natural talent for this, but
most have a less easy time of it. Sometimes too, contact with the mentee
does not go well and in the worst case the relationship is prematurely
broken.
Good practice
. When one-on-one counselling is not the aim, the
solution is to work in small groups with two or more mentors counselling
several pupils. This design is directed more towards the homework class.
When the emphasis is on social/emotional counselling then one-on-one
counselling is desirable. In that case experts who previously have been
mentors before the project, or other mentors can pass on their experiences
during the time between intervisionary meetings.
·
The student mentor: subject orientated support
Problem .
Mentees often have problems with learning to learn
and teaching mentees to plan in advance.
Good practice
. The co-ordinator instructs mentors not to concentrate
on the content of the subjects, but rather on the manner in which it is
learned: how do you learn, how do you do your homework and what do you do
when you have an exam the following week? Literature specialised in this
area must be made available for mentors.
·
The student mentor; social/emotional counselling
Problem .
It is possible that during counselling the mentor can
be confronted with psychological problems. The mentee usually considers
the mentor as a . confidant. which can be a heavy burden for the mentor.
Since the mentor most probably does not have a background as social
worker, he is not trained to deal with these situations.
Good practice
. When a mentee has serious psychological problems,
social workers and other professionals must be consulted. A care team at
school can offer support as well. In addition to this the mentor must also
be able to refer to other institutions.
·
Migrant or native Dutch student mentors
Problem .
The number of migrant students is limited, which not
only makes the matching of couples more difficult, but also the expansion
of the concept of mentoring.
Good practice
. Native Dutch students can also, from the vantagepoint
of study counselling, often offer effective support. An example of this
would be the preparatory training programs from Cosmicus Utrecht for the final
exams at high schools and the Cito-exams in elementary schools.
A solution can
also be found in putting together mentor couples, consisting of a native
Dutch and a migrant student, who together counsel several pupils.
·
Continuity and expansion of the project
Problem .
It happens more and more that the continuity after
the project year is guaranteed as institutions align themselves with a
mentor project.
Unfortunately this is not the case for all the projects. Whether or
not a project, in it. s first year, is extended depends on the
enthusiasm
the project
generates with the sponsors.
Good practice
. In the meantime a long term planning is made for most
projects, which also includes the expansion of the projects. In this
connection the personnel organisation also receives more continuity and
more thoughts are geared towards evaluation and future research
considering the effectiveness of the project.
·
Efficiency of the student mentor: learning
experience
Problem .
The projects are in general mostly aimed at the
mentee, the mentor is in the background. The counselling does indeed give
the mentors some experience in tutoring, but because of the lack of a
curriculum is not recognised as a qualified experience nor is it guided as
such.
Good practice
. none
·
Efficiency of the student mentor: material
Problem .
Student mentoring is at this moment often paid in the
form of a reimbursement of expenses by which mentoring is still lumped
together as volunteer work. A future professionalisation of mentoring is
only possible when the input is paid accordingly.
Good practice
. In a few projects mentors now either receive a
substantial payment or receive study credits.
