Exploring the value of engagement mentoring as a preventative strategy with at-risk youth

Abstract

Volume 1 comprises five papers, an Introductory Chapter, Papers One and Two which are the main papers in the Volume, a Concluding Chapter and an Appendix Chapter. The Introductory Chapter provides an overview of the overall research enterprise, inclusive of factors influencing the choice of work undertaken and how the research project brief was negotiated with key research partners. Reference is also made to the organisation and general style of in which both of main papers are written. Presenting work within a genre appropriate for the intended target audience is part of the university criteria for Volume 1. Paper One presents an 8000 word Critical Literature Review of the focus area of the research, namely, ‘engagement mentoring for marginalised youth’. The purpose of the Review was to inform the research design of the study that followed. The primary research activity undertaken came to be conceptualised as ‘Development and Research’ (D & R) rather than ‘research per se’. Paper Two presents the D & R project which involved two local children’s service providers devising and developing a community-based engagement mentoring project through Realistic Evaluation (Pawson and Tilley, 1997) for young children identified as ‘at-risk’ of offending behaviour. Work was carried out in the Kingstanding area of Birmingham, which might be described as a socially disadvantaged / economically deprived suburb of the city. The Concluding Chapter suggests how engagement mentoring as an intervention might be further developed. Finally, the Appendix Chapter provides a fuller methodological critique of the empirical study, inclusive of the context in which the research was undertaken