Who is your mentor, and who are you mentoring?

“A mentor is someone who sees more talent and ability within you, than you see in yourself, and helps bring it out of you”, Bob Proctor. I first came in close contact with the concept of mentorship in 2009, through an experienced mentor in the name Angi Malderez who had been hired by the British Council/ Ministry of Education to train a cohort of more than 300 teachers drawn evenly from all the districts who would later on cascade the mentoring programmes in their respective districts across the country. Two local professionals were to be trained so as to oversee the continuity and sustainability of this mentorship programme and I was one of the two professionals selected. Another one was my colleague in the profession, Bony Mujeneza. Anyhow, things never went according to plan and the mentoring in schools was delayed, although arrangements are in high gear this time round to roll it out in schools (may be it could have started) and equip teachers with skills and professional competencies. As already indicated, this was a mentoring programme meant for teachers and somehow I naively thought that it was an exclusive professional concept for the teaching profession. The lead consultant informed us that the key focus for the mentoring programme was professional development, retention and development of a multicultural teaching force. Given my poor background in terms of education and professional scope, little did I know that mentorship is a multidisciplinary and cross-cutting concept used in business and other professions alike! When I looked back in my life I realised that I lacked a mentor and I felt that probably if I had one, I would be a different person altogether! As a result, I picked particular interest in this programme, I took time to search and read more about mentorship programmes and I found out that it is not only for teachers.The more I read about it, the more I learnt its relevance and significance. I learnt that in the professional context mentorship is a professional relationship in which an experienced person assists a colleague in developing specific skills and knowledge that will enhance the less-experienced person’s professional and personal growth. I also learnt that a mentor can be a caring adult who devotes their time to a young person to help them achieve their potential and discover their strengths, to help them define individual goals and find ways to achieve them. In addition, mentoring young people means guiding them to make positive choices, promoting their self-esteem, supporting their academic achievements and introducing them to new ideas and experiences. Whether professional or youth mentorship programmes the mentor’s main role is to teach the mentee about specific issues, coaches them on particular skills, facilitates the mentee’s growth through sharing resources and networks, helps the mentee to move beyond their comfort zone, creates a safe learning environment for taking risks and focuses on the mentee’s holistic growth and development in terms of skills, talent and knowledge. Another major distinguishing characteristic of mentorship is that it’s more relational than functional, so the mentor is not to judge the mentee, but rather to uplift them through building relationship which gives the mentee trust and confidence to confide in their mentor.Without divulging into further details about mentorship, it can be revealed at this point that it’s a cross-cutting concept and its application varies according to the need and context. Each mentoring programme is different and so are the locations and settings within which a mentoring relationship develops. Ideally, every person needs a mentor whether in business, professionals or young people. Businesses need mentoring programmes because it enhances strategic business initiatives, encourages retention, reduces turnover costs, improves productivity, enhances professional development, links employees with valuable knowledge and information to other employees in need of such information and it builds a mutual bond amongst employees, among other benefits. To the teaching profession, mentoring is important because it may help in retaining quality teachers in the profession, build beginning teachers’ skills and performance, boost teachers morale, communications and collegiality, help teachers build positive attitude towards the profession, facilitates smooth transition in putting theory into practice, prevents teaching isolation and helps building self-reflection into the profession. In Rwanda, teacher mentoring programmes are particularly relevant because they will help teachers who are struggling to cope with the new dynamics and policy shift in education. Young people need mentors because the realities of modern life styles which are marked by a loosening of traditional ties and structures traditional institutions such as the family no longer hold the power to predict how to deal with the risks of this new modernity. This, in turn, enables young people to construct their own biographies as they meet the challenges of day-to-day living; in effect they are left on their own to swim or sink in the tides of modern realities. Each of us can be a mentor and can be mentored because in learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.The writer is an educationist, author and Publisher.