Indigenous Mentorship – Information for schools

The CPA Canada Mentorship Program for Indigenous Students helps schools accomplish increased student retention, performance and graduation rates, and enhance their connection with CPA firms and other employers in their community.

The Mentorship Program will provide:

• mentors with expertise in business and accounting who have strong personal and professional credentials; mentors and students will participate in group activities three to eight times a year and may have additional check-ins where deemed appropriate by the school
• support in managing mentors
• materials to get started

Questions? Please email us.

SCHOOL'S RESPONSIBILITIES

• appoint your school champion
• your school must appoint a school champion for the program, usually the principal or vice-principal
• the school champion appoints a teacher lead and helps recruit
• assign your teacher lead
• the teacher lead may be a guidance counsellor, vice-principal, principal, student success teacher or classroom teacher
• the teacher lead provides support and supervision of the mentorship program and shares responsibility with the mentorship team lead for program success
• as the liaison between the school, mentors and students, teacher leads are responsible for engaging with parents, encouraging and supporting student participation and providing guidance to mentors
• Indigenous liaison teachers can also play a critical role, working with teacher leads

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE TEACHER LEAD

Setup

• identify students to participate – ask teachers to recommend students with high potential for success in post-secondary studies
• communicate the objectives of mentoring to parents and students
• obtain permission to participate from parents and students
• work with the participating CPA Canada mentorship team coordinator on acquiring mentors
• assign a mentor to each student, addressing specific matters that might affect the success of their working relationship, such as transportation issues
• ensure your school board’s policies for communication, contact and social media use between mentors and students, are provided, acknowledged and followed

Support

• assist in the training and orientation of mentors
• coordinate ongoing communication between students, mentors and parents
• actively encourage student participation and commitment to the program
• help students recognize that mentoring relationships need time to develop
• support the student and mentor as needed to promptly resolve any issues or concerns

Monitor

• monitor the mentorship
• maintain regular communication with mentors about students’ progress and attainment of goals
• notify parents of any mentoring activities outside of school property

Reports/Evaluations

• help evaluate the effectiveness of the mentoring program

Setting up your mentorship program

1. Identify and evaluate students to participate – have your teachers submit their recommendations. A Teacher Recommendation Form is available for this purpose. Note: Please use one form per student.
2. Obtain permission and student information from the parents. Send them the following:
1. Letter to Parents on the objectives of mentoring
2. Permission form
3. Student information form
3. Conduct the student orientation. The following materials are available to get you started:
1. Student initial survey
2. Student orientation
4. Work with the mentorship program champion of the participating employer to match mentors to students, facilitating and approving any individual mentor-student matches.
5. Ensure appropriate police checks are obtained for each mentor.
6. Provide training and orientation to the mentor.
7. Set up the initial meeting of mentors, students and/or parents.

MANAGING MENTORSHIPS

Provide support

• Assist mentors in understanding your relevant school policies, providing ongoing support and clarification as needed..
• Provide support and communication structures for mentors. Hold regular meetings where mentors can discuss their experiences, voice concerns and get feedback from school staff and other mentors..
• Check in regularly with mentors, students and parents. Is the mentorship team making headway on activities and tasks with the students? What are the hurdles? Do they need support, information or tools?.
• Actively support student engagement. Follow up with students with poor program attendance, reinforce the benefits and encourage participation..
• If individual mentor-student pairings are part of your program, are these working well? What are the challenges?
• Recognize mentors and students for their achievements and participation in the program. .

Monitor and review the mentorship

• Contact the mentorship team lead regularly to check on progress of group activities, and on one-on-one activities where these are part of the program.
• If one-on-one mentorships are part of your program and a mentor-student match does not appear to be working out after the first few meetings, the teacher lead and the mentorship team lead should discuss assigning the student to a different mentor.
• Intervene quickly to address concerns by mentors or students. Coach each separately first and then meet with them together to discuss and resolve the problem.
• Conduct program evaluations frequently. Demonstrating program effectiveness is essential for obtaining program support.

Set up contacts and meetings

• Set up a schedule for where, when and how often mentors and students will meet.

Regular contact can help students and mentors develop the trust and friendship necessary for successful mentoring relationships.

Support parents

Support your students’ parents by providing them with all the information they will need about the mentorship.

• provide them the objectives of the mentorship program:
• overall goals
• why their child was identified as a candidate
• how mentors are chosen
• the roles and responsibilities of their child, themselves and the mentors
• check in regularly to ensure they are aware of their child’s progress
• answer and address any questions or concerns they may have

Visit our informational page for parents and students to learn more about their responsibilities.