PERSPECTIVE
Teachers play a significant role in shaping young minds and their influence extends far beyond academics. Through effective mentorship, teachers can become trusted guides, empowering students to face the challenges and utilize the opportunities of their formative years. This write up explores the array of benefits of teacher mentorship and how they can cultivate these meaningful relationships without affecting the daily school setting.
Mentorship provides students with a strong source of support and encouragement. Unlike a traditional parent-child or teacher-student dynamics, mentorship fosters a space for open communication and shared experiences. A mentor acts as a confidante, offering a listening ear and unbiased support on academic pursuits, personal struggles, and future aspirations. This one-on-one attention can be particularly valuable for students who may not have strong support systems at home or feel like they don’t quite fit in with their peers because of their lower competencies- both academics and social.
Effects of Effective Mentorship
The benefits of teacher mentorship are practically realized by the students at individual level. Experiences and studies have shown that students with sincere, competent and knowledgeable mentors exhibit the following achievements for sure:
- Improved academic performance: Mentors can help students develop effective study habits; stay organized, and overcome academic challenges at any stage in any class. They get appropriate hand holding opportunities to grow in a joyous atmosphere.
- Enhanced social skills: Mentorship fosters positive social interactions and helps students understand peer relationships and classroom dynamics. It surely transforms them into integrated personalities equipped with a certain set of unique life skills.
- Increased self-esteem and confidence: A supportive mentor can provide students with a sense of belonging and the belief in their ability to succeed without second opinion. This can be true to those students exceptionally lagging behind in studies in comparison to their peers. Strong mentorship can change their fate and make their life purposeful.
- Stronger goal-setting and decision-making skills: Mentors with a strong worldview can guide students in exploring their interests, setting realistic goals, and making responsible choices in all domains of their life. This is for those students who are already excellent in their studies but are emotionally and socially underdeveloped. Here, they are truly in need of a highly mature and experienced guide to set them on line to reach their potential destination. In the absence of mentorship, even brilliance can go down the site.
- Mentorship changes the school climate: Mentorship also contributes to a more positive school climate. Students who feel supported are more likely to be engaged in learning and respectful towards teachers and peers. This fosters a collaborative and nurturing environment that benefits the entire school community. Those students who are weak in their studies with lowest competencies can feel elated under the organized and dedicated mentorship programme. This is the way out to fill the gap between their chronological and mental age which is, otherwise, seemingly incompatible. When such an environment is created in any school, even hopeless hope for the best.
How Teachers Can Become Mentors
Mentorship programme is fundamentally more than the normal teaching. It demands time, tough efforts and truthfulness, apart from steadfastness and high-end resilience. The real power of mentoring lies in fostering genuine connections like that of a parent-child.
Here is how teachers can cultivate a mentorship mindset in the same way they do it for their own kiths and kins:
- Availability and Openness: Dedicate time outside of class for students to approach you with questions or concerns. Yes, with inabilities too. Let your students know you are there for them for and beyond academics.
- Active Listening: When students confide in you, practice active and patient listening and show genuine interest in their issues and struggles. Study them with their background to chalk out an effective strategy to make their days easier and happier which will be a true service to humanity.
- Personalized Support: Tailor your guidance to each student’s unique needs and aspirations. Come down to their level of understanding and abilities and raise them up step by step without haste and harshness. This in no way is impossible for a resourceful teacher.
- Celebrate Achievements: Recognize and celebrate students’ successes, both big and small, to boost their confidence. Tell them you need a little effort to achieve what others in the same class can do. A teacher’s affectionate patting with a flat hand can take a student to the skies.
- Empowerment, not Control: The goal is to guide students towards bringing them on track so that they are able to pursue their path with independence. Don’t control their behavior like a guard. They will leave you haplessly if you don’t give space to their thinking and decision-making as they are weak in academics not necessarily in other aspects of life. Handle their emotions and sentiments with utmost care to move forward.
NEP-2020 and Mentorship
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 focuses on teacher mentorship, but there isn’t a direct mention of a large-scale student mentorship programme as I am trying to convey in this write up. However, the focus on improved teacher training and development through the National Mission for Mentoring (NMM) can indirectly benefit students. NEP 2020 acknowledges the importance of mentorship programme. The policy mentions establishing the NMM for school teachers. This programme aims to create a pool of highly experienced professionals who can provide guidance and support to teachers, ultimately improving their effectiveness in and around the classroom. Such a community of teachers can’t stay silent when they observe the students lacking competencies; they adopt them to translate the dreams of their innocent, less affluent but hard working parents into reality.
NMM has been launched in pilot mode in July 2022 in 30 selected Central Schools across India. The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) is responsible for developing and overseeing the NMM programme. The programme will provide both short-term and long-term professional support to teachers. Mentors will be experienced teachers who are willing to share their knowledge and expertise with new teachers who in turn would prove effective mentors for their students in schools. The NCTE is working on developing a “Bluebook on Mentoring” which will provide more information and enthusiasm about the programme in the coming days.
Conclusion
Teacher mentorship is a powerful tool that can unlock a student’s potential and shape their future. By fostering trust, open communication, and personalized support, teachers can become invaluable mentors, empowering students to become well-rounded, confident individuals prepared to thrive in an ever-changing world. The students enrolled in government set up schools in particular need such generous programmes by the teachers who are meant for teaching to its truest sense. They actually shall have to take the additional responsibilities ignored by their co-professionals at some crucial points of time.
(The author is a regular columnist of Rising Kashmir and can be reached at [email protected])
