Though my school experience was mostly positive, it wasn’t smooth-sailing. I enjoyed learning, my teachers were good and I ended up doing well, eventually attending Cambridge. However, this pathway to university was not particularly easy. When applying to university, it felt like I was being coached to say the right things, not to think the right way. At university, my newfound freedom from the constraints of a classroom education mostly was the freedom to eat junk food during a 48-hour essay crisis, the result of poor time management and an inability to learn independently.
My work with Insight Education has shown that a smoother pathway to tertiary education is possible. We offer mentoring programmes, providing a holistic education to our students. But what exactly is mentoring, and what are its benefits?
What is mentoring?
Mentoring is not tutoring. I had good experiences with tutoring, but its focus was quite rigid – it was a route to achieve set goals in my exams and master the syllabus for a specific subject. Skills and development were left on the wayside.
Mentoring, on the other hand, is more about relationships. A mentor is not just a teacher but someone to trust and speak to openly. Mentors are like elder siblings, dishing out advice, acting as a role model, sharing the tips that worked for them and providing a personal route to students’ progress.
This rounded approach to learning is what sets Insight Education apart. Our programmes are not designed as a one-size-fits-all curriculum. Instead, we offer personalised services to our students, understanding their strengths and weaknesses. And we don’t provide just one mentor – instead, our students have two.
The Academic Mentor
Each student has an academic mentor who encourages independent learning. As trained and DBS checked recent graduates and some current students (many of whom were previously on our programmes themselves), they offer unparalleled insight into processes and courses. They encourage students to think laterally and beyond the classroom.
It’s easy to see why this is useful. Top schools and elite universities want students who are able to think outside the box. Rather than hoping a student stumbles upon these skills during the course of their education, our programmes encourage this sort of thinking from the start. We provide frameworks such as REAL and TIPS that help students order their thoughts, enabling them to think both critically and creatively.
The Personal Development Mentor
The personal development mentor teaches skills that are useful both in education and in the “real world”. These include understanding how to set smart goals, manage time effectively and balance workload with hobbies. They actively encourage students to pursue extracurriculars, suggest options and help students find solutions to their own problems.
As I found out, even students at elite institutions get overwhelmed. Juggling commitments is difficult even with the best time management in the world and setting overly ambitious goals creates unwanted stress. Possessing the skills taught by a personal development mentor would have made my life much easier.
Our mentoring programmes are designed to create students well-prepared for the world beyond the classroom. We seek to unlock the full potential of students, allowing them to succeed in their applications and in life.
By Thomas Cleere (Insight Education)
If you are interested in our services, you can contact us through our website, fan page (Facebook & Instagram), or call us directly. Our programme advisors will be happy to answer your questions.
Book a free consultation: https://www.pathsmade.com/bookfeeconsultation
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