Students' learning outcomes from being a mentor in the Nightingale Mentoring Programme for Adult Refugees in Norway

Abstract

PurposeThis study aimed to identify and describe how mentoring influences the mentor, by operationalising and specifying learning outcomes involved in mentoring.Design/methodology/approachThis study used an action research approach, by uniting theory and practice to explore new ways of learning and evolve the field of practice in education. Thematic analysis was used to identify and organise patterns or themes that emerged from the data.FindingsThe results showed that mentoring changed the mentors' perspectives towards improved understanding, more flexibility and approval of other cultures. It seems that mentoring expanded the mentors' search for values, wishes and resources, including an awareness that our values, wishes and needs are more similar than different. Mentoring also seems to have improved the ability to reformulate, be flexible, strive to optimise user engagement and engage with people as they are, based on their own prerequisites.Research limitations/implicationsThe low number of participants means the results cannot be generalised, and voluntary participation may have led to more motivated involvement and positive results.Practical implicationsThis study shows that mentoring has had an impact on students' development of intercultural competence and cultural sensitivity through regular meetings with individuals from a different cultural background. Mentoring seems to have revealed insights into underlying prejudices and changed perspectives towards better understanding, thus increased acceptance of other cultures.Originality/valueSearch for similar studies shows a lack of research that operationalises and specifies the learning outcomes that mentors gain from being a mentor.