Role of a Mentor in Barriers to Learning

Role of a Mentor in Barriers to LearningCritically analyse and handle the role of the teach in managing a disciple who is not achieving competence in some of their utilisation outcomes and is not demonstrating an appropriate knowledge base.Within this naming I result endeavour to explain the role of the wise man and disciple highlight the antithetical barriers to discipline, critically analyse different theoretical practices to enable encyclopaedism and be able to theoretically underpin the strategies that I hope to put into practice as a mentor should I encounter a business with a scholar being unable to underpin their knowledge with practice, Duffy and Hardicre (2007), suggests that mentors find that one of the most challenging aspects of the mentoring role, is when savants atomic number 18 not achieving the expected level of per defecateance. This attempt is not concentrating of how to fail a scholarly person from the nursing course, but to discuss why a schoolchi ld whitethorn be having difficulty in present the mentor that they are competent with some of their practice outcomes and the student being unable to show the mentor that they can relate their theoretical knowledge to the practice. The mentor is pivotal in being one of the first to usually recognise struggling students, and need to assess, broadcast, and evaluate how these obstacles can be removed, overcome, compensated for, or managed. This should be, documented, the cultivate of an action plan devised by the student and the mentor perhaps with advice from sign-off mentors on the ward, or if infallible outside sources such(prenominal) as the disability adviser, or the educational link lecturer for the office. Arguably the three main areas that can impede a student ability to learn are the mentor, the student and the arrangement environment.The placement it self has may have some fixed constraints in terms of environment, room size, as well as some dynamic concerns such as in formation opportunities, work load, time restraints, noise, temperature.The term mentor is derived from a character in an ancient Greek play, The Odyssey. Back in 1978 Levinson et al described the core components of the mentor not only as an exemplar and counsellor but also as a teacher, sponsor, finder of skills, developer of intellect and host, (cited in Oliver and Endersby 1999). The NMC (2006) described a mentor as an individual who has reachd the knowledge, skills and competence necessitate to meet the defined outcome in stage 2 of the developmental framework to set up reading and sound judgment in practice, cited RCN toolkit (2007), therefore the mentor has the shared enhanced knowledge base and key skills which is pivotal in supporting the student in achieving competence in the required skills of a nursing, this is reflected in the amount of classroom opening, and ward based cultivation being a 50% split, of the students time for the three years pre-registration. Poli cy documents such as Standards to Support Learning and Assessment in Practice (NMC, 2008a) show the capabilities that a professional needs to demonstrate and the criteria that a professional should work to strain the status of mentor. Lloyd Jones et al (2001) have suggested three core reasons for providing ward based learning for student harbours areThe acquisition of skills and knowledgeApplication of theory to practiceProfessional identify formulation and enculturisationMentorship therefore has came to mean, Haggard et al, cited Nick et al (2012), a one to one reciprocal family relationship between more see and knowledgeable faculty member and a less come acrossd one. According to Cahill (1996), cited in Morton-cooper and Palmer (2000), the student mentor relationship moves through three different phases during the duration of a placement these areInitiation phaseWorking phaseTermination phaseOne of the numerous things to consider during this essay volition be the assessmen t process and how this needs to be fair and consistent for the student and allow them to develop individually to achieve a level of competence in the skills required to become a professional nurse.Before a student even starts on a ward the mentor should prepare for the students arrival reviewing the wards congenial pack, ensuring that it is up to date and that the information held within it continues to be valid and relevant. The welcome pack should include the placement ethos, aims, learning outcomes content, and how these are to be assessed. In sum the welcome pack identifies all the processes that turn back place whilst the student is undertaking the placement and support mechanisms available to the student. This should allow the student to undertake any pre placement reading, and demonstrates to all students that the placement takes educating students seriously from the beginning. The mentor should also prepare their shift pattern to accommodate the student. Mayall et al (20 08) undertook a study exploring the get words of student nurses and practice mentors and find that 10% of student nurses felt that during some of their placements they had never been allocated a mentor, and of those who had been allocated a named mentor, 24% felt that they would have liked to spend more time with them. whence ensuring that the preparation work for the placement is in place, assists the student to form a positive opinion for the learning environment, and relationship with the mentor, from the beginning improving the chances for lack of power to be loted early.During the first interview that the mentor has with the student, in the first week of placement, the mentor should review the progress of the student from any previous placements and experience that they have drawed. The mentor also has an opportunity to review the feedback given to the student from the previous mentor. The mentor can review the skills book to find competencies not achieved in previous pla cements, and highlight learning opportunities within the placement that the student may be lacking at this stage of their study that the student can gain during the placement. This could simply be due to the previous placement not being able to provide a learning opportunity due to case load, time, and grapheme of placement, or this could have been because of the previous mentors attitude. Darling (1986), cited in Walsh (2010), described four types of toxic mentors that can negatively affect a students ability to achieve competence these areAvoidersBlockersDestroyersDumpersThe student has a responsibility set out by the guidance on professional ingest for nursing and midwifery students to take responsibility for their own learning, working safely for the people they care for, under the supervision and support of a qualified nurse NMC (2010). This duty should allow the student to openly communicate with the mentor highlighting any deficit in their practice or their under pinning th eory which needs to be concentrated on in order to become competent, these learning needs could be communication difficulties and educational requirements such as should a student has English as a second language, dyslexia, dyscalculia or hearing issues can be a huge barrier as it can cut to misinterpretation of core theories, or feedback from the mentor. This ideally should be discussed at the initial interview besides the student may not feel confident within the relationship to reveal minor issues at this time but the mentor may have an instinctive feeling from the evidence provided by the student from their previous placement which could restrict the students capability for achieving competency in their theory or practice.The mentor should have prepared for the initial interview and take control of the continuous assessment of the students practical learning and be able to link this to underpinning theory, by creating a placement plan for the student to review. The student and the mentor should both contribute to a learning contract to which they both sign up to what the student and the mentor expect to pragmatically achieve by the end of the placement. Indicating how this is to happen and any learning needs of the student, and when the practical and theoretical evidence should be formatively reviewed and assessed. Once the foundations of the placement expectations have been concur so the formative part of the students placement during which the mentor should be formulating an opinion of the students competency practically and theoretically, based upon evidence either witnessed learning, discussions, spoke feedback forms etc.During the initial phase of the placement the mentor has a duty to foster a professional relationship with the student. It is important that when the student is in the ward with their mentor that they feel a sense of belongingness as recognised by Levett-Jones Lathlean (2007) as this can enhance a students potential for learning and influenced their futurity career decisions. The relationship can there for move from the initiation phase to the working phase, Cahill, (1996).During the working phase feedback is an important factor for both the student and the mentor. The mentor may get feedback from colleagues, spoke placements, previous placements or the student which will assist them in forming an opinion of the students competency to the required level of study. The student, themselves, needs to receive frequent, clear constructive feedback, on their progress, from their mentor. It is one of the NMC requirements that the mentor provides feedback to a student as often as it is needed to fleet performance (NMC 2008). Accurate feedback will encourage students to reflect on their learning and provides an opportunity to identify how they can improve their performance (Elcock and Sharples 2011). This should take place extraneous from diligents or other colleagues, and ideally this should be given as soon a fter a positive or a negative incident. The feedback should be non judgemental and form the basis of a discussion. This should be given when both the student and the mentor is calm and should be specific on the strengths and weaknesses. Duffy (2013) gives five principles for providing constructive feedbackSet realistic goalsGage student expectations of feedbackGather information on student practiceAct immediatelyBe specificThe feedback sandwich where the mentor gives praise, review followed by praise, that the student has brought to an incident is an effective feedback theory which can assist with giving criticism of a students failings, while still motivating them, however this needs to be done effectively. Belludi (2008) illustrates how a mentor can use this technique incorrectly,giving too much weight to the praise compared to the criticismby the praise being trivial and having no functionBy overusing the sandwich feedback style to a distributor point where the student recognis es that the mentor uses this all the time and waits for the criticism whenever the mentor gives praise.The feedback sessions should allow the student to reflect on the incident and allow the student to ask questions. The feedback should highlight any further learning required and solutions to address these shortfalls in knowledge. This could be backed up in writing up of the feedback as a discussion or planned subsequent leaning requirements to develop themselves, this compose feedback will provide evidence for the students competence and development during the placements assessment.The mid-point interview is the formative interview. Up to this point the students relationship with the mentor has hopefully developed, as long as the mentor has not been a toxic mentor, Darling (1986), to the point where, previously, undeclared learning needs of the student may be revealed. The formative interview allows the student and the mentor to assess the progress so far and formatively assess th e students competency and attitude. This is the point at which deficits in learning should be formatively addressed. Duffy (2003) recognised that Failing to tell students that they have not reached the required standards does not protect the interests of the public or professions and puts the patients who will be under their care at risk. The mentor may have doubts as to the students practice or theory demonstrated but is changeable how to deal with this, the mentor may need to liaise with another mentor, or a sign-off mentor for their opinion as they may have more, or different experience in mentoring and be able to advise the students mentor as to a strategy to introduce to encourage competency. The student should puzzle with them the evidence of their competence gathered throughout the placement. The mentor needs to highlight to the student where they are lacking competence and an action plan should be scripted up describing how the issues are to be addressed. If the mentor has not already highlighted concerns that they have with the students competency with the academic establishment then there may be an opportunity to invite them to attend this meeting. The students academic advisor, or the link lecturer, may assist in the formulation of the action plan and be supportive of both the student and the mentor. This input by the academic establishment is essential at an early stage should the student continue to not demonstrate competency either practically or theoretically and go on to fail the summative part of the placement. The action plan, however, should identify clearly learning outcomes detailing how these can be achieved during the placement, list the evidence required for achievement and indicate by when the evidence is required to be provided. This needs to be agreed by both the mentor and the student.The final part of the placement, the termination phase, concludes with the final interview this is summatively assessed and if a student has not bee n showing competency previously may also be attended by the link lecturer or another academic member, and should review the whole development of the student during the placement. Evaluating the evidence that the student has provided and all being well the student, with the mentor, should have responded positively to the feedback provided during the placement and address any the action plan put in place at the mid-interview. significance that by this point the student should be able to demonstrate competency both practically and theoretically having evidence to underpin this.The attitude of the student, during the time of the placement, to riveting knowledge is affected by many factors. The background experience that the student has experienced such as, prior work experience or learning experience from a mentor, be that positive or negative. Personal life matters i.e. house moving, child care. Financial stress can impact the students receptiveness to learning. Academic pressures b ased on the student can distract the student from gaining an outcome in the ward based placement. As eluded to earlier a student also needs to feel a sense of belonging within the placement team, when students are secure in the knowledge that the nursing staff are supportive of their learning needs and committed to their professional development they can focus on learning rather than being preoccupied with interpersonal relationships, (Levett-Jones and Lathlean 2007). school-age child nurses have had their learning styles categorised into different types by various authors, a commonly used classification of learning styles is Flemmings VAK model which he later spread out on to VARK. These acronyms stand forVisual -students give better results in pictures, graphs, diagramsAuditory- students learn better with listening to lectures, or discussing learning opportunitiesReading and writing-learn better with word learning i.e. Reading journals, reportsKinesthetic/tactile learners learn b est through demonstrations, practice experience.This highlights the need for being able to adapt the teaching style of the mentor to that of the student, and should be taken into account during the placement when learning, participating or reviewing learning opportunities, or by the mentor while developing a lesson plan. Honey and Munford 1986 cited in chocolate-brown and Plant 2013 suggested that a student can be classified into more than one of the following four stylesActivists -these students need to experience situations and can become disheartened should they not be allowed the opportunity to undertake skillsPragmatists-these students like to have a go but need to see how the learning opportunity fits into the final outcome.Reflectors-these students will welcome the opportunity to observe and reflect on a given learning outcome prior to undertaking it but may require rise to practically undertaking a learning opportunity.Theorists-these students want to explore and understa nd learning opportunities probing questions to uncover reasons and concepts and do very well with structures pathways and systematic onward motion to nursing but can find it difficult to transcend that knowledge in light of swift changing learning opportunitiesGetting the mentoring style wrong when teaching the student, will have a negative effect on the students ability to achieve competence in a learning opportunity. If a visual pragmatists learner is given a verbal lecture about a learning objective and not shown how the opportunity fits into the wider care of the patient care, then the student may have a lower understanding of the learning opportunities, and objectives asked of them at that time and would need longer time and further investment by the mentor with a different approach being used to become competent.The role of a mentor is diverse, in their responsibilities, and requires the professional to be self aware of all the factors that can impede the student manage the ir expectations, and gain competence in a given area. The mentor needs to follow the assessment process to provide consistent assessments which will indicate areas of learning and allow the student to engage. As well as expanding a relationship with a student, the mentor needs to be able to consider many factors that inhibit learning, recognising that each student, is an individual with their own learning styles and needs. The mentor needs to feedback to the student regularly, motivating them to improve upon their current accomplishments. It should not be forgotten by the mentor that there are various resources available, with improving competency in practice and/or theory, to support both the mentor and the student through what could be a stressful experience in the form of literature, e-learning, other mentors or link lecturers. All the written documentation, skills book, learning contract, student handbook, placement plan, feedback forms, discussion sheets, lesson plans should pr ovide an accurate record of the students development and enhancement as a student, throughout the placement. not addressing a short fall in a students learning, early could make it difficult to evaluate the practical or theological practice of students summatively and not following a clear assessment process means that the student could appeal any decisions made at the final meeting. Students often pull out placements despite there being serious concerns from mentors. Gainsbury (2010).