Guidelines

The different types of mentoring that we have are described below. these are:

  • Academic and career mentoring
  • Publishing (and research) mentoring
  • Critical mentoring
  • Integrated mentoring

STUDENT (ACADEMIC) AND CAREER MENTORING GUIDELINES

Meetings will be done online but face to face meetings are possible. At least 4 meetings will be done over a 6 month period as follows:

  1. First meeting to get to know each other and developing a mutual agreement (mentoring plan can be developed at this stage).
  2. Second meeting to share information about the social work industry and workplaces and to develop a mentoring plan.
  3. Third meeting to develop Career Plans and or CPD plans; if required.
  4. Fourth meeting to work on applications for jobs or promotion applications; if required.
  5. A fifth meeting, most likely in the second year, to review progress and close the mentoring relationship.

PUBLISHING MENTORING GUIDELINES

Overview

ASWNet runs this program for 6 months. One or more mentees are connected with one mentor who works with them to (1) contribute to a journal article being led by senior researchers and publish the article with them (2) write research summaries from published articles for the ASWNet Conclusions Africa publication. (3) initiate a literature review or field research and publish a journal article with other researchers as lead author. At least three online mentoring meetings are expected between mentee and mentor, and a fourth meeting that includes all mentoring teams. By the end of the 6 months, the mentees would have gained knowledge, skills and experience of conceptualizing, planning and implementing a research project, reporting and publishing. The other important outcome, as already explained, will be the two journal articles for each mentee. A certificate from ASWNet and recommendation letter from mentor/s will be issued. Please note this opportunity is only available to ASWNet members, it is free and voluntary. Mentees provide a short profile and picture to be placed on the ASWNet website.

Meetings

We recommend that

  1. each meeting be 30-60 minutes long
  2. you share an agenda via email before the meeting
  3. you diarise the meeting and set a reminder
  4. you consider time differences in setting meeting time
  5. you use video applications for meetings Zoom, Google meetings, Skype, WhatsApp video but audio meetings can also do

First meeting

Get to know each other and agree on dates and time for subsequent meetings.

Share information about your research

Agree on research area for article 1 led by the mentor and article 2 led by the mentee. This could be existing research.

You can submit your manuscript to the AJSW, JDA or Conclusions Africa but consider other journals too.

Subsequent meetings

Discuss progress

We recommend at least 3 meetings, but you can have as many as possible

We recommend continuous communication via email

End of mentoring meeting

This meeting will include all mentees and mentors. It will be organised by the ASWNet.

Research summaries

Mentee will choose a research article from a journal or research report and summarise the article. We recommend that mentees start searching articles in the AJSW, JDA or African Journals Online (AJOL) accredited journals. Each mentee is expected to summarise at least 2 during the mentoring period. Instructions about creating research summaries are available here: https://africasocialwork.net/aswnet-guide-to-academic-writing-and-publishing/#Research-Summary Articles must be relevant to African social work, development, research or education.

CRITICAL MENTORING

With this mentoring approach, mentor and mentee focus on developing critical skills required to excel in decolonisation and indigenisation in education, practice and research. It also deals with building skills and confidence for radical and political social work. Mentor and mentee select the most suitable aspects to focus on and create their mentoring plan.

INTEGRATED MENTORING

With this mentoring approach, mentor and mentee select the most suitable aspects of mentoring and create their mentoring plan.