Training

SMN & our partners offer a number of standard training courses for mentoring coordinators and for organisations to use to train mentors.

These are detailed below. If you would like any more information on these training courses or have another enquiry in relation to training please contact Sarah: sarah@scottishmentoringnetwork.co.uk

Training for Mentoring Co-ordinators

Professional Certificate in Coordinating Mentoring Projects - SCQF Level 9 

The PCCMP award is for those who coordinate or manage mentoring programmes in an organisation. Its purpose is to develop and enhance candidate’s skills, knowledge and understanding of the requirements and different elements of establishing and coordinating a successful mentoring programme in an organisation.

In order to generate the required evidence for the PCCMP candidates must be currently coordinating or about to start coordinating a mentoring programme in an organisation. Candidates should be able to work at SCQF level 9.

This course is delivered remotely, using Zoom. It is delivered via 2 x two and a half hour sessions, six weeks apart.  The time commitment is approximately two hours per week to generate the evidence required.  From the start of the course we expect the unit 2 evidence to be submitted within 6 months.    

The cost per person is £450

Feedback for this course: 

"I wasn't expecting to make such great connections with other course attendees. The accountability partnership sessions were really valuable."

"Doing the course has been very positive for myself but also for my programme. It has really pushed me to develop the programme and associated documents i.e. handbook and evaluation methods. These in turn are hopefully going to be interesting to our funders and helpful in making a decision about continued support."

Mentoring In Practice Service 

This new service has been developed to enable SMN to offer ‘train the trainer’ opportunities for mentoring co-ordinators.  This service allows mentoring co-coordinators to work with SMN based on their needs, and the level of support can be increased if necessary.   

The service would include 2 x live sessions delivered on zoom:  

Introduction to Mentoring for up to 12 prospective mentors,  

Topics covered: 

  • Introduction to Mentoring: What is Mentoring? /What do Mentors Do? /Stages of Mentoring /Rapport in Mentoring /Mentoring Skills / Goal Setting/Potential Pitfalls/Aims and Objectives of the Project
  • Commitment required
  • Training Plan (timescale to complete the online element)
  • Q&A on the Online Course (Administered by SMN, project coordinator can access the platform to monitor mentors progress) Mentors all work on the online Mentoring Knowledge & Understanding Course and aim to complete the assessment before the set date. 

Follow Up Session (Delivered initially by SMN staff with a member of project staff observing with a view to taking over delivery for the next group) For the same mentors, delivered on Zoom, maximum length 90 mins  

Topics covered: 

  • Questions from online course
  • Any concerns 
  • Familiarisation with the mentoring relationship timeline and templates to record meetings
  • Detailed outline of how the programme will work (when they will be matched, roles and responsibilities, time commitments, contingency plans, contact details, programme policies for communication between matches)

Optional Mentee Session (Delivered initially by SMN staff with a member of project staff observing with a view to taking over delivery for the next group) For up to 12 prospective mentees, delivered on Zoom, maximum length 45 mins.  If required, this could be delivered protecting mentee anonymity on zoom (i.e. no video sharing and anonymous names allocated). Alternatively, if group delivery to mentees, we could conduct a short briefing session with a few mentees on their own and then the staff could replicate this going forward. Another option would be that we write a briefing pack for mentees or record a short briefing video and this could be followed up with a call from the coordinator to check they understand and agree with the role. 

Topics covered: 

  • What is Mentoring?
  • Roles and Responsibilities of Mentors and Mentees?
  • Programme specific information on how it will work
  • How to get the most from a mentoring match
  • Contingency plans

SMN delivers the plan outlined alongside the following development services: 

  • Preparation meeting between SMN staff and project staff around what policies need to be in place and how to conduct the Introduction and Follow Up sessions.
  • Advice and guidance on programme structure
  • Ongoing support for project staff
  • Templates and guidance materials for the mentors and meeting record templates
  • First year’s membership to SMN

Cost:

  • Introduction to Mentoring session (90 mins): £150
  • Follow Up session (90 mins): £150
  • Mentor Knowledge and Understanding Course: £25 per mentor
  • Development services: £700 for members
  • Optional Mentee session (45 mins): £150

Feedback for this service: 

"The course provided me with the guidance and resources to shape our mentoring programme, and encouraged me to take to the time to explore the purpose and objectives of the programme before launching it, which enabled me to have a clearer vision of our aims. Resulting in me creating a plan for the programme that I felt confident delivering and recruiting mentors and mentees to engage with.
I found the guidance and resources very useful, especially in relation to boundaries, goal setting and questioning techniques. It provided very tangible advice/exercises/resources which I felt confident using/sharing with the mentors in my programme."

For further information on the availability of this service, please email amanda@scottishmentoringnetwork.co.uk

Training for Mentors   

Professional Practice Award in Mentoring - SCQF Level 7 

The PPAM award is for mentors, or those about to take on a mentoring role, to develop and enhance their knowledge and understanding of mentoring and to develop practical mentoring skills essential to providing quality mentoring support. In order to generate the required evidence for the PPAM candidates must be currently or about to start mentoring a mentee. Candidates should be able to work at SCQF level 7.  This course is currently being delivered via an online, hybrid model of face to face Zoom delivery and self-paced online learning. 

Please contact our team for the current availability of this course. 

The cost per person is £350

Mentor Knowledge and Understanding Course 

This is an online mentor training course, designed for mentors, to develop their knowledge and understanding about mentoring skills. This course covers the fundamentals of Mentoring and is suitable for anyone who wants to gain an understanding of mentoring and the skills it requires. This course has been developed based on the SMN Good Practice Guidance. It covers 8 learning outcomes that are then tested using the Mentor Training Assessment.  This course could be used as a standalone course for individuals who would like to understand more about mentoring and mentoring skills or by a project to supplement their mentoring training.

Mentoring projects should supplement this course with a session with their mentors outlining the specific policies and procedures that relate to their mentoring programme. 

The course costs £25 per mentor for SMN Members and £50 per mentor for Non Members.  

Feedback for this course: 

"It was far from formulaic - it was engaging, forced me to think and hugely informative."

If you are an individual and would like to register for the course online, click here.  

If you are wishing to register a group of mentors, please complete the booking form and email it to sarah@scottishmentoringnetwork.co.uk