Mentoring Urban Talent in The Netherlands

The mentoring program Mentoring Urban Talent was designed, developed, and implemented in the school year 2018-2019. Mentoring Urban Talent is a school-based (i.e., taking place at school) peer-to-peer mentoring program (i.e., individually based mentoring by a student mentor as a role model) aimed at mentoring talented secondary school pupils. The program was developed in cooperation with the Stichting Studentmentoren Rotterdam [Foundation Student Mentors Rotterdam], and in close collaboration with secondary school Marnix Gymnasium in Rotterdam, and the municipality Rotterdam. The secondary school pupils in this project were mentored by students that are enrolled at Erasmus University Rotterdam. A large proportion of the pupils in Rotterdam, especially those living on the South bank of the city, come from low social-economic status (SES) environments and are of migrant background. Many of the children face specific challenges when it comes to strengthening their school career. As a result, these children are less likely to enroll in tertiary education. The aim of Mentoring Urban Talent is improving learning skills and school work, and providing social support and school career guidance. Also, student mentors as a role model can provide information on tertiary education and they can open up their social networks to the pupils. These endeavors intend to strengthen social and cultural capital of these secondary school pupils, especially from low SES backgrounds. This report discusses the implementation of the Mentoring Urban Talent program in one third-year classroom of pupils enrolled in pre-university secondary education in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The design and development of the Mentoring Urban Talent program was, as part of the PACTesl -program (i.e., Partnership Achieving Communities Tackling Early School Leaving), funded by the Erasmus+ program (project number 017-1-NO01-KA201-034200).