Two pioneering projects, designed to help pupils improve their school performance and raise their educational ambitions, have come to the end of their first year. Undergraduates at Nottingham Trent University, which spearheaded the national pilot projects, have been acting as mentors to teenage pupils and training as teacher associates. Their work has helped ease the pressures in primary and secondary school classrooms, and has been a great success with teachers, pupils and undergraduates alike.
The university’s Progression Partnerships Manager, Sally Mellors, said: “The aim is to raise attainment in the classroom, provide effective role models for pupils and encourage them to consider further or higher education themselves. Teachers report that pupils really enjoy working with the students and grades are improving as a result.” Phil Ball of Bulwell St Mary’s School said: “The children really like them and they have developed strong and supportive relationships.”
The National Mentoring Pilot Project focused on mentoring pupils aged between 13 and 15 in two secondary schools, based in the Bulwell Education Action Zone. Each student worked with a group of up to four pupils – mentees – meeting with them once a week for up to an hour. Pupils were given help with target setting, career-planning and time-management skills, as well as one-to-one support from their mentor. The project aimed to match pupils with undergraduates who had similar interests.
Mentors were given training before the project started, and were then paid at a rate of £25 a week. The second pilot, the Teacher Associate Scheme, trained 51 undergraduates to work as classroom assistants to support learning in five primary and secondary schools in Bulwell. The students assisted teachers in science, modern languages, maths, English and design classes. As classroom assistants they helped prepare teaching materials and worked with groups of children during lessons. They were paid £40 per day.
The scheme hopes to encourage more undergraduates to consider teaching as a career. But even if they have other careers in mind they should all benefit from the experience of mentoring. Sally Mellors said: “The students relish the chance to put something back into schools. Rather than working in a bar or office, they get to earn extra income while making a useful contribution to young people’s education.”
Other projects underway include Primary Literacy Volunteers, Modern Language Assistants, and ‘student hosts’ who will help with revision classes, careers talks, visits to the university, parents’ workshops and other events. The Department of Education and Employment, which introduced the schemes, hopes to extend the initiative to other areas of the country as part of the Government’s attempt to encourage gifted inner city pupils to apply to university.
