Lotterywest fund Virtual Mentoring Pilot Program
Last year was full of challenges and opportunities, leading EdConnect to consider new and innovative ways of connecting volunteers with students. After surveying schools to understand their needs and receiving strong interest from member schools, EdConnect Australia are running a Virtual Mentoring Pilot Program to assess how this type of program will benefit students, volunteers and schools alongside our existing school based volunteer options.
The pilot program began earlier in Term 3 2021 at one Western Australian primary school and one high school.
So far mentors and their mentees have been connecting online for 30 minutes each week and are getting to know each other. New technology has been well adopted by both schools, volunteers and students and we are very interested in hearing feedback from mentors and mentees as to how they are finding the experience as the pilot progresses.
The virtual mentoring pilot was made possible through the support of a Lotterywest grant. Based on the outcomes of the pilot EdConnect will determine if a virtual mentoring model can be added to our existing school based volunteering offerings for the 2022 school year.
By offering schools a virtual model of mentoring we hope to be able to better service our schools, especially those in rural and remote areas where it can be difficult to recruit volunteers, whilst offering volunteers the option to make a difference in the life of a child from their own home or workplace.