Experiences of youth in natural mentoring relationships: Qualitative exploratory study

Project Information

ENCOUNTER

Grant agreement ID: 101027291

DOI

10.3030/101027291

Project closed

EC signature date 27 April 2021

Start date 27 September 2021

End date 26 September 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 144 980,64

EU contribution

€ 144 980,64

Coordinated by

UNIVERZITA KARLOVA
Czechia

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ENCOUNTER (Experiences of youth in natural mentoring relationships: Qualitative exploratory study)

Reporting period: 2021-09-27 to 2023-09-26

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Natural mentoring relationships (NMRs) can positively impact a child's cognitive and socio-emotional development. NMRs contribute to intergenerational dialogue and social cohesion in EU societies, a current Council of Europe's Youth policy priority. However, knowledge of NMRs' dynamics and benefits experienced by young adolescents (ages 12-15) in the EU is limited. In addition, there are no mentoring programmes available for the general population of youths (12-15 years) in the EU, targeting e.g. training in mentoring skills for all young people. The EU-funded ENCOUNTER project will examine young adolescents' experiences in the EU. The research team will specifically compare the dynamics and features of NMRs, including a comparison between genders, in the Czech Republic. ENCOUNTER project will also review and conceptualise a theoretical framework on natural mentoring phenomena in a child-centred perspective as articulated by the UN CRC.

The ENCOUNTER project is designed as a ground-breaking innovative project on natural mentoring with its child-centred approach and research design addressing the gaps in current literature and discussion in the field, in line with the current EU's policies on youths and UN SDG 2030. It develops partnerships with the Department of Children's Studies, School of Education, National University of Ireland, Galway and Mentoring Europe, two distinguished partners of the project, to support its aims, objectives, and social impact. The partnership with Children's studies includes co-supervision of Prof. Michal Molcho in the project and conceptualisation and integration of the rights-based approach of children's studies in natural mentoring research. The partnership with Mentoring Europe includes communication and dissemination of the ENCOUNTER results among youth mentoring practitioners and academics across EU countries.

Three main objectives:

• RO1: To examine the characteristics, dynamics, and perceived benefits of the natural mentoring relationships experienced by young adolescents in an EU context.

• RO2: To conceptualise the theoretical, interdisciplinary youth-centred framework on natural mentoring phenomena by reviewing the relevant youth development theories across disciplines and research literature on NMRs.

• RO3: To contrast the functions, characteristics, and dynamics of NMRs among gender; and the features of NMRs experienced by young adolescents in the CZ and an international context.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The project aimed to explore the natural mentoring relationships in a youth-centred perspective in the Czech context with an innovative participatory research methodology. As a result, the project ENCOUNTER notably succeeded to:
1. Develop a participatory research tool on the project's theme to conduct research investigation with youth, replicable in future research projects and exploitable in the youth mentoring practice.
2. Involve 533 young people (between 11 and 16 years) in 8 secondary schools in the Czech Republic in the participatory exploration of their natural mentors whom they identified, distinguished from other adults, and described in their characteristics and significance for the young person;
3. Involve fifty young people in actively exploring their experiences with the identified natural mentors in the narrative interviews.
4. Validate the results in seminars and discussions with the youths, education professionals and youth mentoring community of practice in both the Czech and international contexts.
5. Facilitate several educational seminars/webinars for the community of practice in the education and youth mentoring field
6. Communicated its aims and objectives in the EU Parliament during the Advocacy and Networking event organised by Mentoring Europe; and various communication outlets, including two academic conference, research papers, websites, media interviews and Blog profile
7. Educated BA and MA students in its themes and methods via supervision on BA and MA final research projects and delivery of the BA module Mentoring for Children and Youth at the HOST institution
8. Introduced the field of Childhood studies in the Czech context by organising the Children & Youth Perspectives conference in cooperation with the HOST institution and via networking with the leading internationalg experts in the field
9. Advised on the current youth policy in the Czech Republic with the youth mentoring theme recognised as the educational tool of social inclusion and the MSCA researcher as an expert in the field - in cooperation with the National Pedagogical Institute and Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport in the Czech Republic.
10. Networked with experts and practitioners in the Czech, Slovak and EU and international contexts.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The results of the research analysis of the MSCA ENCOUNTER project address and inform the state-of-the-art and beyond in:

1. Details on youth's perceptions of their natural mentors, details on identified natural mentors' characteristics, and comparison of perceived characteristics in identified natural mentors and other adults in the social networks of youths.
2. Identified types of the natural mentoring relationships described by youths and their perceptions of the natural mentoring benefits and related functions in their lives.

These results derived from a youth-centred perspective are potentially significant for academics and researchers in the field as these address the field's current gaps, discussions, and debates. The results of the MSCA ENCOUNTER project also inform the community of practice in youth mentoring, youth work, education and related professions where youth-adult relationships are part of the daily encounters, particularly with the youth-centred perspective on what is significant, meaningful, influential, and supportive in adults they regularly encounter in different settings compared to adults perceived as indifferent.

The results also address the EU policy on New Youth Guarantee 2030, priorities in the social cohesion and sustainable developmental goals in the social level on Equal Education, Health and Well-being and Equal access to resources.
On the societal level, the developed participatory tools and results of the MSCA ENCOUNTER project can be further exploited in development of the new youth-centred mentoring intervention, in line with the latest youth work approaches, theory of the New Sociology of Childhood and results of the project, discussed with the research participants and the community of practice on their relevance for the field. Futhermore, the developed tools and results of the MSCA ENCOUNTER project will be translated in the ToolBox for the practitioners in the current community of practice

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