MCR Pathways Mentoring Programme

Overview:

The MCR Pathways relationship mentoring programme is based in 11 Highlands and Islands secondary schools. A young person is matched with a volunteer mentor from the local community. The mentor is there to provide support, a listening ear, and share experiences as they help the young person navigate the final years of school.

Our adult mentors come from all walks of life and all ages, becoming a part of the school community where they spend an hour a week with their mentee, during term time, doing a wide range of activities together.

Purpose/Objectives:

Our evidence-based programme shows that through intergenerational mentoring, MCR young people are more likely to reach a positive post-school destination than their non-mentored peers. The intergenerational approach used by the MCR Pathways Highlands and Islands Programme has a hugely positive impact on the lives of hundreds of local teenagers who have not had an easy start in life. Through our programme, an adult mentor who is not part of their usual home or school network, is provided at this crucial phase of social and emotional development, whilst they navigate friendships, exams and making post school choices. Our volunteer mentors provide support and act as a role model, fostering resilience, and enabling our young people to overcome barriers to their wellbeing and educational success.

The participants:

The young people on our relationship mentoring programme range from S2 to S6, so from ages 13 to 18. The young people taking part in the MCR programme are care experienced or living with another vulnerability, including young carers, living in poverty, living with an addiction problem at home, living with domestic violence, living without one supportive adult in their life, living with a bereavement and other wide criteria which can result in a young person experiencing a barrier to their wellbeing and education. The young people we work with often face mental and physical health challenges beyond that of their peers.

Our older volunteer mentors are people from the local community from all walks of life; from retired doctors and electricians to working florists, nurses, firefighters, engineers, self employed musicians and students. We welcome all adults to apply, and have no upper age limit. Our volunteers all receive a PVG check and 3 hours of training, as well as ongoing one to one support as needed during their mentoring journey.

We witness intergenerational reciprocal learning in practice on a daily basis; currently our biggest age gap between mentor and mentee is 64 years!

How many took part:

We currently have 167 mentors and young people meeting in schools in our region.

Benefits for the participants

Benefits for the older adults: Our young people give so much back to their mentors, in terms of understanding the pressures of being a young person today, learning to listen with empathy and take on a different generation's point of view on current affairs and issues. Our mentors regularly report back to their school coordinators and to our termly surveys, about the personal feeling of better mental wellbeing that comes from giving back directly to a young person from their community and how much they enjoy time spent with someone from a different generation. Mentors also report back on how mentoring has helped them at work to be a better line manager, through improved people skills and a better understanding of the next generation workforce coming through.

Benefits for the younger people: MCR young people are more likely to reach a positive post-school destination than their non-mentored peers. This includes moving on to college, university, an apprenticeship, employment or training. Young people report feeling more confident, more resilient to cope with daily stresses and more inclined to stay on at school beyond S4.

Our young people report feeling greater ties to the community, getting to know new people outside their normal social circle and having their eyes opened to the careers and opportunities that could be available as a young adult to them, locally and further afield. It definitely reduces stereotypes and broadens minds and understanding of each other, between the young and the older generations, as well as creating a greater sense of community cohesion for those involved.

Benefits for the wider community:

This intergenerational approach aims to help strengthen each community we work in, many of them rural and remote, facing the unique challenges that come with this geographic; substance misuse, lack of amenities to keep young people engaged resulting in low level crime, poverty, poor transport links, high unemployment and high rate of younger people and leaving the area for a city or central location, risking ‘brain drain.’ There is often a barrier of misconception that needs to be broken down; older generation suspicion and broad brushing of certain youngsters as troublemakers and young people viewing all older generations as out of touch, impossible to relate with and not useful to spend time with.

Our programme brings trusted local adults with a wealth of career backgrounds and life experience, into the school setting, for reciprocal learning experiences each week. Our mentors re-familiarise with an educational setting perhaps for the first time since leaving school themselves, in some cases over 60 years ago! It is an insight into the good work being done by schools, the opportunities available that mentors could be part of for students such as work experience, and also the challenges facing schools today.

Activities:

Our MCR regional team outwith the schools includes three employees - in Partnerships and Recruitment, Mentor Services and a Programme Manager.

In short, mentors and mentees can do what they enjoy together. This may be a board game, walking, playing football, drawing, baking, chatting, helping with homework. They always meet in school, once a week for 50 minutes during term time. Mentors spend one hour per week in a local school, mentoring a young person, during term time. Most mentors will meet their mentee at the start of S3, but sometimes it is before and sometimes it is later. Our mentor and mentees can continue to meet until the young person leaves school, or the relationship ends out of choice for the mentor or mentee.

As an example, in Alness Academy, we have a mentor who is 64 years senior to his mentee. We match our young people with a mentor based on shared interests, hobbies and personality. This pairing is a wonderful example of why the intergenerational approach works so well on our programme. Paul and Jim were matched over their mutual love of trains. Since their initial introduction, they have met 20 times this year and gone on to find much more in common, not least a shared sense of humour and love of talking in general. Over the past year, they have also discovered their differences. Jim has made a huge effort and taken on extra training through MCR Pathways to understand Paul’s background and feel better able to relate to him. They have learnt so much from one another since meeting and from both being quite apprehensive about mentoring to start with, they both report their meetings to now be a highlight of their week!

Another example, John from Inverness Royal Academy, and mentor Andy have had 86 meetings over three years. John taught his mentor to rubik’s cube in under 30 seconds. In turn, Andy encouraged John to start a cubing club at school which turned out to be hugely successful and a real achievement for John’s confidence and enjoyment of school. John says he didn’t think he’d stay on a school beyond S4 before he met his mentor, but he is about to leave S6 with four Highers, a part time job and an apprenticeship in his sights.

Evaluation:

Mentor satisfaction survey. We take the wellbeing and opinions of our volunteers very seriously. At the end of each term, every mentor who has registered with the programme, is given the opportunity to provide feedback and suggestions for improvement. **81% of mentors say they have improved their active listening skills, 87% say they have a better understanding of the younger generation.

At the end of each academic year, an impact report is produced. Our schools team compiles data throughout the year from school records, wellbeing and impact surveys done with young people, and mentor surveys. The following Key Performance Indicators measure the impact of the programme and help towards our funding applications.

Staying on at school. Staying on to S5. *70% of MCR mentored pupils stay on to 5th year, over 39% non-mentored nationally.

Qualifications. Intergenerational mentoring has proven to raise the attainment levels of mentored young people. As a minimum we aim for a Nat4 in literacy and numeracy. *Those achieving at least 3 qualifications at Nat5 was 66.7% relative to the national care experienced level of 43.8%.

Positive post school destination (employment, college, university, apprenticeship) - *82.1% MCR mentored care experienced young people, compared to national number of 69.1% when MCR young people are excluded.

Funding:

We are currently funded by: Scottish Government, Haventus, Highland Council, Western Isles Council

Sustainability:

This project is ongoing, we grow and evolve all the time, taking on new schools and growing our mentor base. Possibly we will expand to mentoring in the community as well as in schools. Our project capacity will be very reliant on continued funding for the academic year 26/27 as we are coming to the end of our current main funding round in July 2026. We are a Fundraising Organisation, Charity status, and seek support from all avenues of funding.

Priorities:

As a national charity, we fit into the North region category of schools.

Scottish national Objectives:

We fit with: Children and Young People, Communities, Education. Poverty.