Key Findings

The key findings from the project included:

• Workplace personnel who might act as mentors to trainees tend to have positions of responsibility, experience, deep knowledge and skills. They tend not to have had specialist training in mentoring. Therefore, to carry out their mentoring role, they need to be resourced well by the workplace and through appropriate professional development.
• Professional development should help mentors to offer practical on-the-ground support and encouragement to trainees in on-job, off-job and distance learning, and to know how and when to refer them on to specialist assistance.
• A range of benefits to the workplace were identified: ensures qualifications are completed; accelerates the development of leadership; supports a learning culture; supports a high-performance culture; improves staff loyalty and retention; builds a real competitive advantage.
• Establishing mentoring in the workplace involves: establishing a mentoring agreement; establishing goals with the learner; establishing frequency of visits / contact; recording learning outcomes; noting issues for further discussion; encouraging workplace ‘buddying’; evaluating regularly.

Key Recommendations

The key recommendations from the project include:

Mentoring attributes | Effective mentoring attributes include: commitment to the role; trustworthiness; respectful, non-judgmental attitude; confidentiality; motivational ability; ability to listen and ask open questions; ability to support trainees through training; ability to induct trainees into the workplace culture.

Mentor support | Mentors may need ongoing support to: establish and maintain relationships, in the workplace and at a distance; become familiar with new course requirements; identify clear language issues in the workplace; guide learners with literacy and/or numeracy issues; identify useful learning tools for learners.

Workplace mentoring support | Workplaces supporting mentoring need to: acknowledge the time needed for mentoring; allow mentors to access professional development; allow opportunities for mentors to network; develop a referral database of specialist support.