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ERIC Number: EJ1460639
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Mar
Pages: 8
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1354-4187
EISSN: EISSN-1468-3156
Available Date: 2025-01-09
How to Mentor but Not to Helicopter Students in Inclusive Higher Education
Verena Hawelka1; Maria Kreilinger1; Christina Penn1; Eva Steindl1
British Journal of Learning Disabilities, v53 n1 p203-210 2025
Background: BLuE -- 'Bildung, Lebenskompetenz und Empowerment' ['Education, Life Skills and Empowerment'] -- is an inclusive university programme with a peer-mentoring system, where students of the primary education programme assist students with attributed cognitive or mental disabilities as tutors. Deutsch et al. (2024) showed that it is a challenge to achieve a balance between providing adequate support and avoiding well-meant but exaggerated support. This balance requires on-going negotiations. Methods: The participatory research project contained two sequences of semi-structured focus groups with BLuE students and tutors. Results: Various points of tension, all concerning negotiation of responsibility, were identified. Tutors individually seem to manage responsibility for the BLuE student's study without openly discussing it, often making decisions internally. BLuE students make decisions for themselves in accordance with tutors' preferences but without reference to recognised problems. Conclusions: Tutors play a crucial role in fostering self-responsibility and autonomy in BLuE students. Rather than feeling solely responsible for ensuring course requirements are met, tutors and BLuE students should engage in open discussions about how to share responsibility for the student's studies and the process of gaining greater independence.
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2191/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Salzburg University of Education Stefan Zweig, Salzburg, Austria