As part of the Secondary Scholarship and Mentorship Program, REF Serbia continues with conducting trainings for mentors with the aim to reduce the dropout rate, improve academic achievements and the overall number of Roma secondary school graduates. Training for mentors from Central Serbia was held this week, and trainings for mentors from Vojvodina and South Serbia will be organized during September.
– Mentors are professors, pedagogues, psychologists employed in secondary schools attended by scholarship recipients and who are appointed by the school principal to work with those scholars. The aimof working with this group of secondary school students is to reduce the dropout rate, which was successfully done because the dropout rate was reduced from 7 to 2.4 percent. The transition from primary to secondary education is difficult for all, especially for those students coming from minority and vulnerable groups – explains Zorana Tomić, Secondary Scholarship and Mentorship Program Coordinator.
Professors become mentors after completing trainings for mentors called Mentorship support for Roma secondary school students in successful completion of school. Trainings for mentors consist of three modules, accredited by the Institute for Improvement of Education – the first module is called Introduction to the role of mentor, the second module The mentoring practice with student and the third module The Role of Mentors in Strengthening Life Skills and Competencies Essential for the Employment of Scholars. All three modules are available in the “Manual for Mentors”, which is currently being prepared by REF Serbia.
The trainings aim to provide continuous and comprehensive support to mentors, as well as to strengthen their competencies for providing appropriate forms of support to Roma students attending secondary schools. At the end of each of these trainings, mentors gain certain experiences, skills and tools for work.
– The needs that I recognize in students are mainly related to teaching support. It is often a lack of knowledge with which they enroll secondary school. In that case, I include them in additional classes, create a work plan together with them and work on selecting appropriate learning strategies. Also, I encourage their motivation for studying, because lack of self-confidence is often the reason for their poor success. It is necessary to spread pedagogical optimism and help them realize their full potential – said Branka Oreščanin, pedagogue and a mentor at the Secondary school of Beauty Care in Belgrade.
Support provided by mentors to Roma students includes individual and/or group work with students, monitoring their progress and regular attendance, communication with parents but also involving students in extracurricular activities and providing support in overcoming any challenges they encounter.
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