The contribution of mentorship to personal and institutional development at the Westville Campus of the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT : The current study is based on the premise that higher education is essentially alienatingfor most first generation, first year and academically under-prepared university studentsin higher education. The study further maintains that the experience of alienation can beovercome by implementing a form of peer mentoring system that simultaneously seeks toaddress personal, social and academic needs. This thesis has five chapters. Chapter Oneoutlined the problem statement in relation to the nature of student experience of highereducation and the impact of peer facilitated mentoring on student development, withspecific reference to the first year, first generation and academically under-preparedstudent. An overview of related literature in the area of student experience of highereducation and the potential role of peer facilitated mentoring in higher educationindicates that peer mentoring serves to give context, meaning, purpose and direction tostudents, especially to those that are marginalized.Chapter Two provided an extensive account of peer facilitated mentoring in highereducation. The chapter began with a critical analysis of the national plan on therestructuring of higher education in South Africa with reference to socio-economicchallenges, its impact on the restructuring of higher education and the subsequent effectsof such change on student personal, social and academic development. Against thisbackground, the subjective,lived and personal experience of the student as framed in thediscourse of higher education a being an alienated experience was then presented. Theconcept of higher education as being an alienated experience for first year, firstgeneration student in a developing ociety was explained within the theoreticalframework espoused by Mann (2000). The theoretical framework on alienation placesemphasis on the socio-cultural context, the primacy of discourse, the student as outsider(knowledge, power and insight), the teaching and learning process, the loss of ownershipof the learning process and alienation as a strategy for self-preservation. A case is madethat student experience of higher education can be one of alienation and that peerfacilitated mentoring, as an intervening strategy, can serve to alleviate some of thesenegative experience.The process of peer facilitated mentoring is viewed as a democratic and collaborativeresponse to challenges in teaching and learning in higher education. Mentoring is beingwidely used in higher education, globally, as a means to address student needs andinstitutional goals. Peer facilitated mentoring is being gradually introduced into SouthAfrican higher education, especially at the first year level. The entire gamut of the firstyear experience of higher education was explored with a conclusion on some of theprinciples that must inform the first year experience. Inherent in these principles is thecommon element of co-operative and collaborative learning that must underpin theprocess of mentoring. In this regard the co-operative model was presented as the basisupon which mentoring must unfold. Upon this model, the macro and micro model ofmentoring were viewed as providing both the conceptual and operational frameworkwithin which a peer-mentoring programme could be implemented. A detailed discussionis then presented on the following elements: the processes and phases of mentoring, theselection and recruitment of mentors, the selection and recruitment of mentees, thematching of mentors to mentees, benefits of the programmes and the possible weaknessesand drawbacks of the programme. The chapter concluded with a discμssion on the.significance of evaluating the programme and the manner in which such evaluationscould occur.Chapter Three provided an in-depth account of the research design as regards theevaluation of the programme. Mentors, mentees and faculty co-ordinators formed part ofthe evaluation proces . Questionnaires were implemented to both mentees and facultyco-ordinator . Focus group interviews were conducted with mentors. The samplingframe, selection of question , analysis of feedback, interpretation of results, the validityand reliability of results were explained and motivated for in the discussion.Chapter Four pre-ented an in-depth analyses and interpretation of the feedback receivedfrom mentees, mentors and faculty co-ordinators. The analyses included bothquantitative and qualitative analyses and thematic interpretations. The analysesgenerated a range of issue that shed light on the level to which the hypothesis could bevalidated and the conclusions that could be drawn. The conclusions drawn from the current study are that the first year experience of highereducation is neither alienating nor engaging for the first year student and that studentexperience falls somewhere in the continuum between alienation and engagement. Thelevel of alienating or engaging experiences depends on the nature and context operationalat particular moments. At best the first year experience can be said to be a partiallybroken fragmented experience and that peer facilitated mentoring has the potential to playa mediating and powerful role in ensuring that the needs of both the student and theinstitution are met. Recommendations made include: ensuring that institutional policyreflects the out-of-class learning experiences, placing the programme within the mainacademic programme, continuously assessing the needs of first year students,continuously re-establishing the aims, objectives and goals of the programme, developinga specific curriculum for mentoring, taking care to select and train mentors and ensuringthat there is supervision, monitoring and assessment of the programme.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University