Mentoring and Befriending Foundation: launched in June, this is a national body for the mentoring and befriending movement.
Schoolboys from ethnic minorities are more likely to underachieve and have lower aspirations than their white classmates. How can mentoring help them aim high and get better results?
My premise is that anyone is as capable as anyone else and can achieve whatever they want. I don’t ever want to hear my boys say they cannot do something,” says Ben Amin.
Physics-teacher-turned-mentor Amin has been working with Pakistani and Yemeni underachieving schoolboys in years 10 and 11 for four years. He is now a mentor under the Department for Education and Skills’ (DfES) mentoring and coaching programme “Aiming High”, which was launched in September (see Coaching at Work, page 7, Special Launch Issue).
“I try to create a bridge between school and home, and challenge the perceptions schoolchildren have of themselves and of how teachers see them. Many of the children believe their race or religion is holding them back and, being a Muslim myself, I can understand these issues,”says Amin.
Amin is currently mentoring 100 underachievers. Two weeks ago, he took almost half this group on an “inspirational day” to Birmingham University.
“The day was brilliant. Many of the children had never seen a university before and suddenly they were being told there was nothing to stop them going to university. The children were amazed and were really buzzing.”
Amin also recalls how a few years ago, he worked with a Pakistani schoolboy who was taking drugs and whom everyone had given up on.
“I contacted his father, who encouraged me to act as a ‘surrogate dad’. Over a two-year period we helped the boy get 10 GCSEs. Sometimes children open up to people outside their circle.”
Academic results indicate that schoolboys from ethnic minorities are more likely to underachieve and have lower aspirations than their white classmates. They are also more prone to dropping out of full-time education. Last year, the GCSE results of schoolboys of Caribbean origin were 20 per cent lower than the national average, with just over a quarter achieving five or more passes.
Under the Aiming High programme, selected underachievers are mentored to raise their aspirations and are given intensive coaching classes to help them keep up with schoolwork.
Schools are encouraged to work closely with local education authorities (LEAs) to develop comprehensive programmes with learning mentors and to identify problem areas.
The scheme follows a successful pilot project last year by the DfES and Excellence in Cities (EiC), which focused on underperforming schools in inner city areas.
Individual mentoring sessions are held to establish specific academic strengths and weaknesses. Mentors also observe lessons and work with teachers to recognise key topics where particular support is needed. They can act as mediators between pupils and teachers to help resolve potential issues and improve pupils’ performance.
Subsequent mentoring sessions include pupil workshops focusing on areas such as team building, self-esteem and anger management. Mentors can encourage pupils to take responsibility for their own actions and their relationships both inside and outside school.
Amin, who works from the Dudley LEA-affiliated Ethnic Minority Achievement Service, sits in on lessons three days a week, helping mentees to focus on learning. He runs sessions on thinking skills, taking responsibility for actions, relationships with authority and, for the older children, on study and revision techniques, decision-making skills, career planning and work experience.
“Many kids simply give up. But they need to be able to put their hands up and own their behaviour, even if the deputy head is flexing his muscles.”
A spokesperson for the DfES says: “The EiC programme has already been successful in raising achievement in schools in urban areas, where most ethnic minority children are concentrated. The programme focused on behaviour, attendance and leadership.”
Although it is early days, the progress so far is encouraging. Evidence indicates that the gap is closing between black, Pakistani, Caribbean and Bangladeshi programmes at GCSE and equivalent levels, but there is still some way to go.
The DfES says: “We are determined to continue our efforts to ensure black boys achieve their potential and are considering what more could be done to build upon improvements.”
Kevin Hunt, chief executive of Circle Squared Europe and creator of small business mentoring scheme MentorsByNet, says that while the programme appears to have got off to a successful start, it might be interesting to consider the university e-mentoring approach employed in the US, which uses recent graduates to mentor and coach undergraduates. “Mentoring is helping these youngsters identify their learning goals and then showing them it is possible to achieve them,” he says. “But it strikes me that the best coaches and mentors for this group of pupils will be those who have been previously successful, who can act as mentors and role models.”
He said that for pupil mentoring programmes to work, “the pupils must be willing to share their thoughts, feelings and thinking. Only then can a mentor start helping them.”