1: What is Coaching and Mentoring? Available to Purchase

Youth work draws on a variety of strategies and methods to engage with and support young people. These have varied greatly over the years, often beating to the drum of various government agendas, times where there have been significant resources funnelled into youth work and other seasons where there have been virtually none. Traditionally, youth workers train in the areas of creating and delivering projects which draw on group work skills and interventions; they have developed various one-to-one approaches such as advisory or advocacy roles. One of the longest-standing interventions used by youth workers has been mentoring. There have been many references to mentor roles over the centuries, but perhaps one of the earliest formal mentoring programmes to be established, and still survives today, is Big Brother, Big Sister, founded in the USA in 1904. Many subsequent mentoring programmes have since been developed in the UK. However, in more recent years, there has been a surge of coaching programmes specifically aimed at young people. This chapter will give an overview of coaching and mentoring, how they have developed over the years and where and how they are different or similar, from a global, European and UK perspective. It will also propose a definition of coaching and mentoring within the context of youth work and youth studies. We will also look at using a blended approach, integrating coaching and mentoring approaches which are young person-led and dependent on the young person’s specific context and issues. This chapter will enhance your confidence to effectively support young people by equipping you with coaching and mentoring knowledge that can best support young people’s needs.