Ensuring quality in online career mentoring

This article explores the issue of quality in online career mentoring. It builds on a previous evaluation of Brightside, an online mentoring system in the UK which is primarily aimed at supporting young people's transitions to further learning. The article notes that participants in Brightside's mentoring programmes reported satisfaction with their experiences, with many stating that it helped them to make decisions and to positively change their learning and career behaviours. However, the article argues that there are challenges in ensuring quality and consistency connected to both the voluntary nature of mentoring and the online mode. The article proposes a 10-point quality framework to support quality assurance, initial training and professional development for online mentors

The social and emotional dimensions of schooling : a case study in challenging the ‘barriers to learning’

The educational landscape in England and Wales is shaped by demands made on head teachers, teachers and pupils to perform within a ‘field of judgement’ dominated by clearly defined outcomes of academic success (Ball 2003). This puts schools from challenging socio-economic contexts where there are potentially ‘barriers to learning’ at a considerable disadvantage. This paper draws on case study data from an English secondary school in an area of considerable deprivation. The empirical focus revolves around school participants’ perceptions and understandings of the social and emotional dimensions of schooling. The emphasis on the relational and emotional work undertaken by teaching staff underpins the case study school’s approach to challenging the barriers to learning. A number of themes and concerns are reported in this paper including relational work in school which extends into the community, the school as a sprawling network of communication and the heighted role of the emotions at a number of levels in school. In drawing on interview data from teachers, school managers, pupils and parents we are developing a model of schooling that approximates to Fielding’s (2006) conception of a ‘people oriented learning community’