MENTORA

The MENTORA programme strives to ensure that young people at risk of leaving school early decide to continue studying beyond the compulsory secondary school level until they graduate from post-compulsory education.

Different players (city councils, educational centres, organisations) promote the programme locally with the pupils who wish to participate and with volunteers selected from among local adults who have the required training and the support of professional teams of experts for the performance of their functions. These mentors supplement the work of the educators, teachers and other educational agents who interact with the boys and girls who take part in the programme. In this way, the whole community helps to promote the educational continuity of the pupils. The accompaniment of a mentor may be the decisive factor between remaining in the educational system or dropping out and closing the door to many opportunities.

How does it work?

A young person is selected and agrees to take part in the MENTORA programme for at least one school year (it may be the 3rd or 4th year of compulsory secondary education or else the first year of post-compulsory schooling, entailing either upper secondary education or intermediate vocational training). Ideally, the pupils’ mentoring relationship will last for two school years, at least until their educational transition between compulsory secondary education and post-compulsory education has been ensured.

A local promotion team is in charge of coordinating all the players involved (secondary schools, organisations, municipal services, families, etc.) and of following up the mentoring couples. Fundació Bofill provides the necessary tools and monitors the local teams to help to ensure that they can carry out the whole programme cycle.

Volunteers receive training and they are provided with the necessary resources and tools. Likewise, they receive regular professional supervision to ensure that they successfully carry out their mentoring sessions with the boy or girl assigned to them.

For a minimum of 6 months the mentoring couples of each municipality meet regularly for one or two hours a week in a public space or facility. Their objective is to carry out activities and to hold talks that will allow the young persons to make suitable decisions with a view to continuing their studies. These talks may deal with the available options after compulsory secondary education; the young persons’ own skills; study methods and strategies for organising themselves and concentrating; the resources at their disposal and other matters. The activities and talks are held in a relaxed informal atmosphere, allowing both persons to feel at ease and to enjoy themselves.

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