Mentoring is not for you!: mentee voices on managing their mentoring experience

Learning mentoring programmes can be effective tools for increasing social, personal and educational development for young people. This article explores the views of girl mentees who experienced difficulty managing their mentoring programme within their school. Mentoring can be employed in different ways with different pupils to help the overall academic reputation of the school as well as helping individuals work through social and academic issues. The overarching finding from this research is that mentoring programmes can benefit relatively high achieving girls as well as those who may be defined as a ‘problem’ for the school. Schools that bring in outside agencies to assist those pupils considered in need of some extra support need to clearly communicate the mentor’s role and purpose to all members of school staff to ensure that effective mentoring can take place and sit comfortably within the school’s social inclusion policy.