Peer mentoring

What is peer mentoring?
Why does peer mentoring work?
How does peer mentoring work?

What is peer mentoring?

Peer mentoring is a type of mentoring between people who are in the same learning environment such as a school or workplace. You do not have to be much older than your mentee – you only need to be able to help them and share your experiences with them. You can even mentor someone who is in the same class as you or someone you work with who does the same job that you do.

Why does peer mentoring work?

Young people are more likely to listen to other young people than to listen to adults. So if you are a young person, especially teenagers, you might prefer being mentored by someone who is your age rather than being mentored by an adult because you really care about what other young people think and say. In the workplace peer mentoring is also important because you may find it easier to learn from your workmates and build up skills that you may not have.

How does peer mentoring work?

Peer mentoring can be in the form of a one-on-one relationship or it can be in the form of a peer mentoring group. In schools, peer mentoring can be organised around the issues that young people face, for example drug and alcohol abuse or HIV/Aids.

How to organise a peer mentoring group

Keep your group small
Use a list of questions
Watch the time
Write notes
Create action and inspiration points
Invite a guest mentor

Keep your group small

About 5 to 7 people is a good number so that everyone has a chance to speak for about 10 minutes. In each meeting, all the group members should get time to share their issues, problems, difficulties and successes. A member can also use their time to share a new idea with the group or to deal with a special problem.

Use a list of questions

Having a question guide is good because it will help your meeting to stay focused so that you can have a great discussion. The following are some good questions that can be used in a school/youth or work environment:

• In what ways have you developed recently that no one else knows about?
• In what ways or areas do you feel you have made progress in the last month?
• Is there an area in which would you like to improve?
• What has been the most useful thing you have done in the last month?
• What can you do tomorrow to get nearer to achieving your goal?
• Is there something you have done recently that you are very proud of?
• What work or project did you find exciting recently?
• Are there things you should have done but you did not?
• Is there someone in your life right now who you admire? What is it about their life that inspires you?
• What aspects of your life are you working on?
• Are you satisfied with your life?
• Are you excited about your life/work? Why or why not?
• When was the last time you felt disappointed/annoyed/depressed about what you were doing?

Watch the time

Make sure that every time you meet, a different group member manages the meeting so that every member gets a chance to lead. The manager’s main job is to watch the time and make sure everyone gets an equal chance to speak.

Write notes

Another member (or two) should also be responsible for taking notes so that easily see your progress as a group.

Create action and inspiration points

After the discussion, using the notes that were written, spend a short time going over the things that every member needs to work on before the next session and also things that they have learnt.

Invite a guest mentor

For your next session you might want to find someone who can come and sit in your group and also offer their advice and opinion.