E-mentoring - E-friends project

EBC's pioneering E-Mentoring project was funded through Sunderland's award-winning Digitial Challenge initiative.

Around 70 young people took part in EBC's E-mentoring programme and were supported by dozens of business E-Mentors from across the region.  The project ran throughout 2010-2011 and was supported by around 50 E-Mentors from the world of business and commerce.  They were recruited from a wide range of businesses, large and small, private, public and voluntary.

E-Mentors came from the following organisations:

• Language Point
• Nissan Motors (UK) Limited
• Sunderland City Council
• Digital Challenge
• Sunderland Volunteer Centre
• 4Word
• Barclays plc
• About My Area
• Sunderland University
• Frank Haslam Milan
• Sun FM
• M & A Media Services
• Riverside Consulting CiC
• Gentoo
• EBC

Thirty four young people secured a National Open College Network accredited qualification - Introduction to Using ICT and another ten youngsters secured the NCFE accredited qualification, Introduction to Future Career Options. The NCFE qualification was specially designed by EBC to provide bespoke recognition for the work the E-Mentees did during the programme.

The final celebratory event of the programme was held in Durham County Cricket Club and you can read about it here. 

On hand to award certificates to all our E-Mentees was Coun. Dennis Richardson, Mayor of Sunderland.

View the photo albums of our celebratory event.

The Core Aim of the Programme

“To provide disadvantaged and disengaged children with the continuity and engagement to raise aspirations and awareness of opportunities.”

You can find out what happened by reading our E-Mentoring newsletters, using the links shown, or the information below.

Read our first first e-newsletter

Read our second e-newsletter

The young people, including looked after children, all became members of the ‘exclusive’ E-friends club.  The young people were from four schools across the city.

As part of the programme they completed a simple form aimed at finding out a little about them, their interests, hobbies, etc, and what kind of help they might need.

Based on this information the young people - E-Mentees - were matched with a business E-Mentor who provided on-line support, encouragement and guidance through a safe and secure portal.

As quickly as EBC's E-Mentors were CRB checked and had undergone Safeguarding Children training they were matched up with the young people at the heart of this programme.

Face to face as well as on-line

As well using e-communcations in the programme EBC delivered several large scale events to bring together the E-Mentees. These were:

• Enterprise and Skills Day – June 3 2009 - the opportunity to develop enterprise and creativity skills through mini enterprise activities based on all stages of product production – from initial development, purchasing raw materials, production, costing, marketing, selling and making a profit.
• First Class Careers – July 1 2009 - A carousel event which sees young people working with a range of businesses, including those in the third sector, to explore a wide range of careers through getting a taste of typical workplace activities.
• Creativity and Enterprise - December 2009 - A fun packed day of enterprise activities designed to develop team working skills and challenging E-Mentees to create a product at a profit.
• A Final Programme Celebratory Event - You never can tell ..... E-Mentees finally got to meet their E-Mentors and learned that you can never assume you know what someone is like until you meet face-to-face.

Parents and carers were invited to take part at these events to give them an insight into what the young people have been doing. So together parents/carers and the young people had something to share and something to talk about.

First Class Careers Events

In July EBC held two First Class Careers events which gave our E-Mentees the chance to gain an insight into a host of careers they could aim for once they've left school. 

Alongside a host of business supporters they got the chance to get a taste of a host of different jobs - all designed to give them an insight into various careers. 

The First Class Careers events were held in South Hylton Tansy Centre and Barbara Priestman School. Businesses who supported the events included Reynolds Outdoor Centre, Sunderland Volunteer Centre, Planning Aid, M and A Media Services and Sun FM.

Amongst the activities they enjoyed were:

• Designing a new town from scratch
• Creating a poster to encourage people to volunteer
• Editing music for broadcasting on radio
• Map interpretation
• Creating an animated film
• Handling complaints and dealing with customers

We took photographs of all the pupils at work during the  day and some of them are shown here. Use our link to take a look at more of our photos of the event.

Enterprise and Skills Event

Lots of our E-Mentees attended our Enterprise and Skills event in June which took in Houghton Sports Hall.

The day saw our E-Mentees working with business supporters to develop their team building and problem solving skills while having fun taking part in a range of activities.

All the activities gave them a chance to work together to tackle a number of challenges given to them by our business supporters. 

Among the businesses who created the activities for the day were: Sunderland's ATC 111 Squadron, Beamish Museum, Connexions Direct, M and A Media Services, Mott Macdonald, New College Durham and Nexus.

We took photographs of all the pupils at work during the  day and some of them are shown here.  Use our link to take a look at more of our photos of the event.

Enterprise and Creativity Event

E-Mentees converged on Kepier Hall in Houghton to enjoy an action packed day of activities designed to bring out the budding Richard Bransons in them all.

They tackled a range of challenges including EBC's Creative Constructions and Ponder the Puzzle before joining forces to become a mini production team to create a product from scratch - and make a profit.

All the activities were designed to develop the E-Mentees key employability skills including task and time management, problem solving, communication, working independently and thinking creatively. 

You can see what they did by viewing the photo album from the day.

Business persons interested in supporting young people as they prepare for the world of work registered their interest in becoming an E-Mentor by completing an Expression of Interest form.

They needed to commit to sending at least one email each week to their E-Mentee using the special, secure on-line portal.  Full training was given. 

All recruited E-Mentors were required to complete a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check which was being managed by EBC.

If you want to find out more you can also contact us direct. Click here to find the details of the project officer, Sarah Butler, Business Development Manager, EBC ( 0191) 516 6411 or email: info@ebcltd.org.uk

Official Launch

The official launch of the programme took place on February 25 in the Quayside Exchange in Sunderland when the young people met up with some of EBC's business supporters - including some of our recruited E-Mentors - to take part inan interactive programme of activities during a Switch Onto ICT event.

Click here to see our photo album.

The event was designed to show young people the value of good ICT skills in the workplace. 

Young people worked with businesses on activities which showed the practical application in the workplace of ICT taught in the classroom.

Other events in the programme saw parents and carers joining the young people to share learning through fun activities, gaining an insight into what the young people have been doing – so together parents/carers and the young people had something to share and something to talk about.

To make sure young people got additional face-to-face contact with positive role models from the world of business the launch event was one of several which took place which saw E-Mentees converging on a large venue and working with recruited business supporters (some of them E-Mentors, some additional businesses recruited) on a range of hands on activities designed to develop their key employability skills and understanding of the world of work, including potential career choices, career paths.

EBC's E-Mentoring model

EBC’s E-Mentoring model offered a mix of activities and approaches for both the E-Mentees and E-Mentors involved in the programme.  This was to ensure:

• On-going communications was maintained to minimise the risk of self-exclusion by E-Mentees.
• Support was provided to both E-Mentees and E-Mentors throughout the programme to safeguard their retention.
• A variety of activities were offered to maintain interest and involvement.
• A minimising of the feeling s of ‘exclusion’ or ‘isolation’ that could have developed if pure e-communications was used.
• The opportunity to meet others involved with the programme and to share experiences with them.
• Provision of opportunities for parents/carers to ‘learn alongside’ the young people taking part in the programme.

Approaches included:

• Face-to-face work – induction training, ongoing E-Mentee sessions and at largescale events
• Group communications – between E-Mentees and E-Mentors (and a wider audience) and vice versa
• Virtual communities – for both pupils and E-Mentors
• Large scale events – for both E-Mentees and their parents/carers (supported by recruited businesses)
• Individual on-line mentoring – between E-Mentors and E-Mentees (managed by EBC)

Safeguarding our young people

Because the E-Mentoring project was so new and demonstrated a completely new way of supporting young people EBC had to ensure all possible safeguards were in place - particularly important because the E-Mentees involved in the project were using the internet. 

EBC worked closely with both the local authority and Sunderland Children's Trust to make sure all necessary safeguards were in place.  They asked EBC to ensure all E-Mentors undertook Safeguarding Children Training along with going through an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) disclosure check.

You can download a copy of the Safeguarding the Welfare of Children notes issued during the training sessions by clicking here

You can find out more about Safeguarding Children by logging onto a dedicated website: www.safeguardingchildren.org.uk

Support for CRB Checks - a message to our E-Mentors

To reduce demands on your time EBC arranged for staff from Sunderland Volunteer Centre to help E-Mentors complete their enhanced CRB Disclosure forms.  To undergo CRB checking they needed to provide originals of the following documents:

They had to provide ONE document from Group 1 PLUS TWO documents from Group 2, all showing their name and current address:

GROUP 1 - ONE DOCUMENT FROM THE FOLLOWING LIST

GROUP 2 - TWO DOCUMENTS FROM THE FOLLOWING LIST

If you have any questions please contact Sarah Bulter, Programme Officer, EBC ( 0191) 516 6411 or email: info@ebcltd.org.uk

Mentors and Mentees - E-communications

Both E-Mentees and E-Mentors received training on how to use specialist e-mentoring software and E-Mentors and E-Mentees communicated with each other by email – with all activity monitored by EBC through the software. 

E-Mentors were asked to send at least one email each week to their E-Mentee and EBC supported pupils in maintaining their interest by running special ‘email sessions’ in their schools on a regular basis.  This added to the sense of comradeship and friendship for the young people and avoided them become isolated and ‘locked in isolation with a computer screen’.

Sharing Experiences

E-Mentees were also encouraged to contribute to electronic newsletters which were circulated to both fellow E-Mentees and to E-Mentors (as well as other partners).  This gave them the chance to use ICT and to share their ideas and experiences with others on the scheme. ‘Stories’ were anonymised as necessary. 

Similarly E-Mentors were asked to share their ideas and experiences in the electronic newsletters – with the aim of sharing ideas, etc, with other Mentors.

While the E-Mentees and E-Mentors were communicating, EBC gathered information and evidence which was used to secure an appropriate qualification i.e.

Introduction to using ICT Systems (OCN) or Introduction to Future Career Options (NCFE).  

Read our first first e-newsletter

Read our second e-newsletter

For more details contact: 

Sarah Butler,  Business Development Manager, EBC - 0191 516 6411 or info@ebcltd.org.uk

Unit 22, North East BIC, Wearfield, Sunderland Enterprise Park (East), Sunderland, SR5 2TA, Tyne and Wear. Phone: (0191) 516 6411  Fax: (0191) 516 6412.
Email: info@ebcltd.org.uk  Alternative email: educationbusiness@hotmail.com