(Session) ‘Am I meant to mentor too?’ Mentoring and the PDT role

Isabel Dosser (School of Nursing, Midwifery & Social Care) and Janis MacCallum (School of Life, Sport & Social Sciences)

The Edinburgh Napier University Mentoring and Coaching Award (ENMCA) is underpinned by SEDA values, the ethos of which is understanding how people learn, work reflectively and develop. For staff who have completed this award it is common to include some of these principles within the role of the personal development tutor.

By adopting this philosophy it is hoped that staff and students will feel valued and enriched in their experience and continue to learn from each other. The debate around how the current understanding of mentoring within staff who have a role in the personal development of students will be discussed using round table groups. This will centre on common mentoring tools and may also touch on some of the following; boundaries, power-balance, confidentiality, reflection, action planning, and limitations of the role. This opportunity allows staff to explore their understanding of the PDT role and how mentoring tools and practice might fit into this role.

We will spend two minutes introducing the main concepts of mentoring as it is seen at ENU, followed by 10-15 minutes group discussion of some mentoring tools and/or acknowledgment of the following as they relate to the PDT role; boundaries, power-balance, confidentiality, reflection, action planning, and limitations. Discussions will then be summarised in the last few minutes of the session, and staff will be provided with some straightforward models of mentoring and references to take away.

Theoretical underpinning
Blackwell, R. MacLean, M. (1996) Formal Pupil or Informal Peer? In Facets of Mentoring in higher education 1. Fullerton, H. (ed) SEDA paper 94:23-31.

Caruso (1992). Mentoring and the Business Environment: Asset of Liability? UK: Dartmouth Pub Co.

Clutterbuck, D. (2003) Developing Mentoring Competencies. Clutterbuck Associates.

Clutterbuck, D. (2004) Everyone needs a mentor: fostering talent in your organisation. 4th Edn. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Chapter 2 (Models and methods of mentoring).

Collins, A. (1979). Notes on some typologies of managerial development and the role of mentor in the process of adaptation of the individual to the organisation. Personnel Review 8(4):10-14.

Conway, C. (1995). Mentoring Managers in Organizations. Equal Opportunities International Journal, 14(3-4) 10-35

Equal Opportunities Review (1995), Equal Opportunities Review, Vol. 60 No. March/April,

Hay, J. (1995), Transformational Mentoring: Creating Developmental Alliances for Changing Organisational Cultures, McGraw-Hill, Maidenhead.

Megginson, D., Clutterbuck, D. (1995), Mentoring in Action, Kogan Page, London,

Parsloe, E. (1992) Coaching, Mentoring and Assessing: A practical guide to developing competence. London: Kogan Page 14

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