As our education system grapples with increasing behavioural challenges and student disengagement, perhaps it's time to look beyond traditional teacher training methods. Youth mentors, with their expertise in building authentic relationships with young people, offer valuable insights that could revolutionise how new teachers approach classroom dynamics and student engagement.
Youth mentors possess a unique skill set developed through years of creating safe, trusting relationships with young people outside formal educational settings. They excel at understanding young people's full context - their relationships, environments, and experiences that shape their behaviour and attitudes toward learning. This holistic understanding is often missing in traditional classroom management approaches.
Unlike the hierarchical teacher-student relationship, youth mentors establish what the Youth Mentoring Toolkit calls "integral relationships" - connections built on mutual respect, understanding, and genuine interest in young people's wellbeing and growth. These relationships create spaces where young people feel safe to express themselves, take risks in their learning, and develop their identity.
Co-mentoring between youth mentors and new teachers offers an innovative approach to professional development. Rather than simply teaching classroom management techniques, this partnership allows for deep learning about relationship-building, emotional intelligence, and asset-based approaches to student engagement.
The youth mentor brings expertise in:
The teacher brings:
Together, they can create powerful new approaches to classroom relationship-building that benefit both teachers and students.
A structured co-mentoring programme might begin with the youth mentor and teacher exploring their own perspectives and experiences using tools from youth mentoring practice. This could include mapping their understanding of young people's networks and spaces, examining their assumptions about behaviour and learning, and sharing their approaches to building trust.
Regular reflection sessions would allow the pair to:
The youth mentor might observe classroom interactions and offer insights about student behaviour and engagement from a relationship-building perspective. Meanwhile, the teacher could share their challenges and successes in implementing more youth-centred approaches to classroom management.
Through this co-mentoring relationship, teachers can develop new ways of understanding and responding to student behaviour. Instead of seeing disruption as defiance, they might recognise it as an expression of unmet needs or untapped potential. Rather than focusing on control and compliance, they can learn to create environments where students feel valued and understood.
Youth mentoring wisdom teaches us that young people are more likely to engage when they feel:
Consider a common classroom scenario: a student repeatedly disrupts lessons by calling out and challenging the teacher's authority. Traditional classroom management might focus on sanctions and behaviour modification. However, a youth mentoring approach would seek to understand the student's perspective and underlying needs.
The youth mentor might help the teacher:
Youth mentors often excel at understanding and navigating cultural differences, an increasingly important skill in diverse classrooms. They can help teachers recognise how cultural background influences learning styles, communication patterns, and behaviour, leading to more culturally responsive teaching practices.
Implementing co-mentoring between youth mentors and teachers requires careful consideration of:
However, the potential benefits - improved student engagement, reduced behaviour issues, and more satisfied teachers - make it worth exploring.
As we seek to create more engaging, inclusive, and effective learning environments, the wisdom of youth mentors offers valuable insights for new teachers. Through structured co-mentoring relationships, we can combine the best of both worlds - educational expertise and youth mentoring wisdom - to transform classroom relationships and improve outcomes for all students.
The key lies in recognising that youth mentors' expertise in building integral relationships with young people is not just "nice to have" but essential knowledge for effective teaching in today's complex educational landscape. By bridging the gap between youth work and teaching, we can create more human-centred, relationship-based approaches to education that better serve both teachers and students.
If you are interested in partnering with The Mentoring Lab to conduct a research project exploring co-mentoring in schools, please complete the enquiry form or call 020281588500 or 07412640174.