Every Child Needs a Mentor

Herman Stewart has a background in music recording and had once hoped to be a professional footballer. However, he found his path and is now one of the leading mentors in England. He believes that we all have seeds of greatness within us and that mentoring helps them germinate: the mentor's hindsight can be the mentee's foresight. A particularly important theme is boundaries: the mentor is positioned between staff and students, which can create some awkward situations, so it is particularly important to be clear at the outset. There are case histories from some of his mentees, and he also describes the process of raising the bar for the school football team. It is also a significant part of his argument that access to mentoring should be widened and that those who are being mentored should not be stigmatised and automatically thought to be badly behaved. There are exercises and summaries throughout the book, and Herman explains his philosophy in terms of empowerment, motivation and enablement to help the mentee achieve their potential. This puts real substance into the proposition that Every Child Matters, and is surely a positive investment in the future. Every young person should have the opportunity of connecting with their passions and possibilities, and to realise the importance of education as a step along the way. An inspirational and empowering read.