Students' Mentoring Relationships in Social Work Education

Abstract

Does mentoring help students stay in school? Do students seek out mentors in the higher educational system? 127 graduate and undergraduate students from selected social work education programs were surveyed. An 80-item questionnaire was used to determine if and how graduate and undergraduate social work students were engaged in mentoring relationships. The types of activities mentors perform with students were examined. Of those graduate and undergraduate students, 52% of students reported having mentors. Of the remaining non-mentored students, nearly 40% were interested in having mentors. Significant differences were found in the types of mentoring activities Black and White mentors performed with their mentees. Faculty interested in mentoring students, students interested in receiving mentorship and academic administrators who are contemplating establishing mentoring programs may have interest in this study.

Keywords

• mentoring
• university mentoring
• social work education
• educational wastage