Online Mentorship

Empowering young people with the skills and confidence they need to become employable

WHAT IS THE ONLINE MENTORING PROGRAMME?

OUR ONLINE MENTORSHIP PROGRAMME EMPOWERS YOUNG PEOPLE BY PROVIDING THEM WITH:
an understanding of the school to work transition
the tools to improve their self-esteem and self-awareness
identification of their own strengths and weaknesses
how to develop a strategy to fill gaps in their own skills and experience
an understanding of what employers look for when choosing their new employee
resource ideas and locations to support lifelong learning and self-improvement

What impact does Peace Child make?

Peace Child has been working with young people for nearly 40 years.  Like all of Peace Child’s programme, the online mentorship programme has been developed in close collaboration with young people.  This makes it highly tailored to meet their needs.  It is based on a face-to-face model that Peace Child has delivered for over 15 years.  The impact for the young people has been dramatic:

  • 83.3% said the project helped them understand what they are capable of
  • 90% of students said the project helped them learn how to set goals for themselves
  • 100% of students said it helped them understand how to come across in interviews
  • 95% of students said the project helped them to be more confident when presenting

Feedback from the programme

Peace Child has also received excellent feedback from students, teachers and parents. Here is a selection of some of the feedback regarding the impact of the training:

“The resources are written in a really accessible and warm way that the
students respond to. Many students said that the resources sounded ‘true’
and like they were written by people who understood their anxieties with
practical solutions to their problems.”
Teacher

“This has really helped me gain confidence in speaking in front of
people and has helped me develop my skills in teamwork and communicating
with other people. I really enjoyed today’s sessions and yesterday because I’ve learnt a lot”
Student

Why is the mentorship programme needed?

The Coronavirus pandemic is bringing with it the worst economic downturn in history. Marginalised young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, already face significant challenges in securing work when they leave full time education. These young people risk entering a dangerous cycle of low-self esteem, long-term unemployment and poverty. Peace Child acts before young people become trapped in this cycle.

How does the online mentorship work?

Peace Child’s bespoke 6-week mentoring course is tailored to empower young people to fulfil their potential. Participants are put into groups of 5 or 6 and receive focused online support from a mentor for one hour a week, either within the school day or as an extra-curricular activity during the evening or weekends.

The mentors are highly trained and all of them are DBS checked and vetted by Peace Child. Peace Child has excellent and robust child safeguarding processes in place to ensure the safety of everyone who takes part in the online mentoring scheme. If you would like to know more about the Peace Child online mentorship programme, please contact Rosey Simonds at rosey@peacechild.org.

How this programme evolved: Giving young people confidence going into the job market

Work the Change started as an employability training programme for young people in the UK designed as an in classroom workshop to ease the school-to-work transition. Helping young people understand what employers are looking for and how they can assess their own skills and experiences. The programme itself is CV-worthy, honing communication, presentation and teamwork skills and requiring proactivity and professionalism.

  • Knowing Yourself

    Through self-assessment, this section asks students to identify their hobbies and interests and look at how they can build life skills to improve confidence and self-esteem.

  • What Employers Want

    By identifying the qualifications needed to pursue their dream career, this section challenges students to think about and develop non-academic skills that employers are looking for during the recruitment process.

  • My Preparation

    This section asks students what they can do now to develop their CV and take control of their own progress, in preparation for the job market.

  • Navigating the Workplace

    Through team activities students learn about the importance of working with others, planning, initiative and problem solving.