Judith MacCallum

The research report Youth Mentoring Relationships: Understanding how to prevent breakdown (online version) was produced by a research team from four Perth universities: Dr Judith MacCallum, Murdoch University; Dr Susan Beltman, Curtin University; Dr Anne Coffey, The University of Notre Dame Australia; and Dr Trudi Cooper, Edith Cowan University (with Jayne Jarvis). This research contributes to a better understanding of some of the key strategies to reduce breakdown of mentor-mentee relationships and to lesson the adverse effect of unavoidable relationship breakdown.

The aim of this project was to further develop an Early Childhood Teacher Workforce Development Strategy for the remote North West of Western Australia (WA). Funding from this Commonwealth Seeding Grant formed Stage Two of this strategy, Stage One having commenced in Semester One 2009 through funding from the Australian Government and the WA Department of Education and Training to support the COAG Universal Access to Early Childhood Education agenda. The success of the project to date is a tribute to the close collaboration between Murdoch University‘s School of Education, the Australian Government‘s Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) and the WA Department of Education and Training. The project is located in the remote Pilbara and Kimberley regions of Western Australia, which face enormous challenges in achieving both UNESCO‘s Millenium goals of Education for All and the more recent Australian 'Closing the Gap' campaign initiatives (Price and Jackson-Barrett, 2009). To this end, both the Commonwealth and State governments have sought ways to improve the educational opportunities for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students living in these regions. In particular, there has been a focus on improving access to high quality Early Childhood Education (ECE) for all children. The need for highly qualified Early Childhood teachers, prepared and fully equipped to work in remote and rural locations is critical to the success of this strategy. This urgent need is exacerbated in WA by a predicted 2.2% growth rate in student numbers over the next ten years (Personal Communication, DET WA, 9/11/9). The Global Financial Crisis has seen lower numbers of teachers resign or retire than usual. However there is still a predicted severe shortage of teachers in WA over the next ten years. A central focus of this project has been to provide opportunities for Aboriginal Islander Education Officers (AIEOs), Teacher Assistants1 (TAs) and Child Care Workers (CCWs) who already live and work in the region to become teachers in and for their communities. These potential teachers already have a strong understanding of and attachment to the context in which they will teach. For many, it is their home where they were born. For others, it has been a life style choice to move there. Whatever their circumstances, all of these potential teachers are connected by 'country' and community in their own unique way, which in our opinion adds value to the importance of this project. This detailed report presents recommendations for future workforce development based on the preliminary findings from this six-month study, as presented in chapter 13.

Mentoring is many things but at its heart lies an affi rmation of human relationships and the capacity to enable those involved (the young people and their mentors) to learn and to grow. At the same time mentoring is no soft option. Quality mentoring programs require hard work and tough decisions. They require fi rm undertakings from all involved. They operate with purpose and deliver real outcomes from raising self-esteem, healthier behaviours, and improved school attendance through to better informed career choices and a more secure place in education or the workforce. Like any relationship, the development of a mentoring relationship takes time and commitment. The strong, personal relationships that are of most value should not be left to chance. It is essential that structured mentoring programs are developed and implemented using consistent standards. The first set of Australian Benchmarks for Effective and Responsible Mentoring Programs were developed in June 2000 when mentoring was a reasonably new strategy in Australia. This new set of benchmarks is based on the earlier benchmarks but takes account of experience and research in Australia over the last seven years. They have been collaboratively refi ned and elaborated by a representative group of Australian practitioners and researchers. These benchmarks are a set of minimum standards that all mentoring programs are encouraged to follow. The Youth Mentoring Network, through the sharing of resources, professional development and collegial networking, encourages all mentoring programs to achieve these standards. The benchmarks will continue to evolve with our collective knowledge and experience. They are offered by the Youth Mentoring Network as a further contribution to the development of a collaborative youth mentoring community in Australia.

Initiatives designed to support young people’s engagement, participation and civic involvement with community have grown in popularity in Australia over the past decade. This is coincident with an increased emphasis on communitarian aspirations such as building community, promoting civics and encouraging social capital (Bessant, 1997; Botsman & Latham, 2001; Brennan, 1998; Harris, 1999). In this new policy environment, young people’s social problems, issues and needs are largely seen as a reflection of their declining levels of inclusion in civic life, a loss in community, a failure on the part of local associations to encourage social cohesion at the local level and a growing distance between the generations. According to those advancing this style of social policy, something has gone awfully wrong with the social fabric, community participation is dropping and different generations are becoming cut off from each other. The answer is often seen to be in interventions that develop social capital, build community capacity, encourage partnerships, support community enterprise, and strengthen democratic and civic participation. Precisely what this means, or how it might be achieved in youth practice settings, is not clear. Intergenerational practice has emerged as one general approach that may help put substance to aspirations for bringing young people into closer contact with others in their community. Although as yet not a significant part of the Australian policy landscape, the field of intergenerational practice has gained considerable support in the United States and is growing rapidly in Europe.

This project is a national evaluation of the Indigenous Mentoring Pilots Program. The project has a number of facets, including the development of an Evaluation Kit to assist individual projects in the evaluation of the program at specific sites, assessment of the impact of the program as a whole, examination of individual projects, and preparation of recommendations of models for mentoring indigenous students.

This project is a national evaluation of the Indigenous Mentoring Pilots Program. The project has a number of facets, including the development of an Evaluation Kit to assist individual projects in the evaluation of the program at specific sites, assessment of the impact of the program as a whole, examination of individual projects, and preparation of recommendations of models for mentoring indigenous students.