BP607 - Peer Mentoring

St Margaret's College is a composite (Years 1-13) single-sex, private girls' school in Christchurch, with a roll of around 740 students. Senior Technology was progressively introduced into the school, as NCEA Technology units became available - Technology Level 1 was introduced in 2002, Level 2 in 2003 and Level 3 in 2004.

After the introduction of Year 11 Technology in 2002, it was clear that some students found the move from Year 10 to 11 a challenging one (at least initially). Students found the Level 1 curriculum demanding – it required a greater depth of learning and understanding, and ongoing documention. In 2005, a Peer Mentoring programme was established to help the new Year 11 class come to grips with the coming year. It was decided to use Year 12 students to mentor Level 1 students and share their knowledge of technology processes and practice, NCEA and the documentation it required.

In 2004, Head of Department (Technology) Claire Wood and colleague Terry Wood adopted a team-teaching approach to the Years 11 and 12 Technology classes, taking joint responsibility for the design, delivery and assessment of both Levels 1 and 2 Technology programmes.

During 2004, Claire and Terry, along with colleague Brian Woods, discussed how best to facilitate the transition between NCEA levels, during their weekly timetabled Beacon Practice meetings. Among the possibilities discussed was the idea of student mentoring.

The school uses mentoring extensively, within its system of tutor groups - vertical groups of 16 students headed by a staff member, who acts as the group's tutor. Within these groups, senior students have some responsibility for junior members in a peer support role.

It was decided to use Year 12 students to mentor Year 11 students and share their knowledge of technology processes and practice, NCEA and the documentation it required. Tt the same time, another initiative to smooth the transition between Year 10 and Year 11 was launched : a Unit Folio Guide Book which provides a detailed framework for working through a Technology unit, from context to completion.

In part, pre-planning involved deciding on the most effective structure for the mentoring groups. It was decided to assemble Year 11 students into groups of three or four and assign two Year 12 students to each group as mentors. Groups were planned to include somebody who was a fairly strong leader and somebody with a good portfolio. The Year 11s were matched up, where possible, in tutor groups with an eye to increasing the likelihood of long-term and informal mentoring. Boarders at St Margaret's were teamed up wherever possible to facilitate mentoring.

Claire then talked to the Year 12 students about their experiences the previous year, asking questions such as: "What sort of things did you want to know?" and "What were the things that caused the frustrations?" She then put together a prompt sheet to help the Year 12 mentors with their first meeting: Mentoring Meeting Prompts.

Student reflection:

"I was surprised to see that not everything worked out as it was intended to be but you still achieve even if it didn't finish as expected."

"Everyone's books are so different; there's not a right one and a wrong one."

Student reflection

"They talked about how they were in exactly the same situation as us and it gets easier; it gives you a bit of hope that you're going to get to a similar stage."

"We felt more confident and really keen. Even if you didn't talk with them for the rest of the year that initial meeting with them was helpful."

Student reflection:

"We felt we were getting behind but they told us not to worry about it, it would come right and that most of the paperwork could be finished once the skirt was done."

"The most important thing is to get on with the job, not to fiddle around with little bits and pieces of the paperwork."

"They told us what to make sure we did [it] right away and what we could leave for a bit and go back to."

The first meeting of the programme was held shortly after the beginning of the school year. Year 12s were taken out of their timetabled classes and brought into a Year 11 class, a period chosen where there was time to run over. Claire and Terry introduced the students to each other, presented an overview of the programme and introduced the mentoring concept, and then initiated discussion about the coming year's Year 11 work and what it entailed. The students then broke up into groups.

At that first mentoring session the Year 12s spoke about the work and expectations at Level 1 and showed their portfolios from the previous year. This was a valuable experience for the Year 11 students as they could see the depth of documentation and information required. It was also an opportunity to see the standard of work which is required to get an Excellence in the achievement standard being assessed.

Claire says many students found it reassuring to see that there are no rigid restrictions on how work should be presented. They noted that the work was very different, both in terms of how it was presented and the order that it was presented in. The main point being that the right things had to be in there somewhere. It was also helpful to see that projects sometimes changed from the initial plan and that this was not necessarily a problem.

After the initial formal meeting, contact continued through the year as the Year 11s saw their mentors around the school, in the boarding house, in tutor groups, and at other activities. Some took advantage of these informal opportunities to chat about their work. Some of the students are boarders, which meant they could go to their mentors at night during prep time to discuss their work. Some Year 12 students visited the Year 11 class if they had a study period.

Having been through the same experience themselves, the Year 12s were empathetic and could be encouraging when the Year 11 students worried about particular aspects of their work or about falling behind. Using their experience, mentors could recommend what parts of the programme to work on at particular times.

In the first timetabled meeting Terry began collecting data from the students about the programme. Using a questionnaire, which had a range of questions common to both parties and separate ones for the Year 11s and 12s, he quizzed the students about the programme with a view to fine-tuning it if need be. Their responses were graphed - see Mentoring Questionnaire and Results from Questionnaire.

Student reflection: "I think it will be fun showing them what we've done, our experiences and what they'll be going into."

Student response to the mentoring programme has been favourable. Rather than struggling with the increased workload and higher expectations of Year 11 and NCEA, students started the year with a clear idea of what could be done and the knowledge that it was achievable.

Year 11 students found discussions with their mentors and viewing their mentor's portfolios particularly valuable.

The Year 12 students said that the students they mentored were exactly like they had been at that stage. It was easy to talk to them, and this increased their confidence and enthusiasm for the project. The mentored students are positive about taking up the opportunity of coming back in Year 12 as peer mentors and showing their portfolios to the new students.

Claire says it was pleasing to see how the Year 12 students took on responsibility for mentoring.

The programme will be repeated next year. Student feedback suggests more frequent formal meetings would be beneficial. Year 12 students noted that sometimes the younger students can be nervous about approaching an older one, although some do, and that if there were additional meetings this would make relationships easier. The mentoring process may be enhanced through use of the school's intranet and system of class "conference folders."

As part of an initiative to make Technology teaching a seamless progression from junior to senior levels in the school, Year 13 students may be used to introduce the subject to junior students.

In July 2008, two years after publication of this case study, we ask Claire how the peer mentoring scheme is holding up.

Claire says that the mentoring scheme is well embedded and has become a regular feature of the teaching year. Technology at the school is going from strength to strength, with the number of students opting into or continuing with Technology growing steadily over the two years. The department is still widely recognised as a leader in the field and continues to attract visitors from around the country. Claire remains in her position as HoD. She attended the 2007 Pupils' Attitudes Towards Technology (PATT) Conference in Glasgow.

The mentoring scheme's modus operandi continues pretty much as outlined in the original case study. Any changes that have occurred are a result of the growing number of girls opting for Technology at senior levels. When it began, the scheme involved a class of Year 11 students meeting with a class of Year 12 students for one period in the middle of the first term. Because there are now two Year 11 Technology classes and only one Year 12 class, Claire has involved her Year 13 students to make up the numbers.

The introduction of the new Technology Curriculum hasn't impacted greatly on the mentoring scheme. Instead Technology staff have been pleased to recognise that the scheme already addressed many of the issues and key competencies formally identified by the 2007 curriculum, specifically the question of 'relationships with others' and the 'values of others'.

In terms of Values education, the scheme addresses several key competencies including thinking and self-management. It encourages ongoing decision-making and reflective practice informed by practice of others, together with analysis of existing solutions. Mentored students benefit from regular feedback and constructive criticism, while mentors learn how to relate to others and participate and contribute to meetings.

Claire intends to continue running the scheme – it is relatively easy to organise and doesn't impinge greatly on teaching time. Student feedback has been positive. However, in 2008 a new Year 11 Media and Communications programme was introduced, and some girls found it of limited value because their Year 12 mentors had not done the same programme. Others in the class found they could transfer the learning on offer to suit their own context and set of circumstances.

Other departments have looked at the scheme and it may be applied to other programmes, such as Graphics. A simplified version of the scheme has been adopted to a limited extent in the Primary School.