The Concept of Teacher as Mentor

Abstract

As a former youth worker, I led youth groups that focused on mentoring junior high and secondary school students. My practice centred on recruiting and training adult mentors from a wide variety of backgrounds to mentor students on a weekly basis, both in small groups and one-on-one sessions. Though much of the youth mentoring literature focuses on at-risk students, the mentors that were part of our programs noticed that even students who were not at-risk, which were the majority of our students, still grappled with major life issues, from deep relational difficulties with parents or siblings, feelings of failure and insecurity at school, and pessimism about their post-secondary school opportunities.