A teacher's guide to using peer mentoring in online safety
School/college-wide initiatives that are led by children and young people, or ‘peer mentors’ can be particularly effective when it comes to online safety.
By harnessing learners’ knowledge of the issues children and young people encounter online, peer mentors can model positive online behaviour, equip their peers with knowledge about online trends and issues, and raise awareness of how to bounce back from setbacks online.
This guide explains what a peer mentor does, the benefits, and how to successfully implement a peer mentoring scheme.
What are the benefits of using peer mentoring?
Peer mentoring schemes offer a number of benefits to both the school/college and learners acting as peer mentors. For learners, it is an opportunity to gain in confidence, develop a sense of responsibility and acquire active listening, empathy and communication skills.
Peer mentors often have more in common with learners who need help than adults. Because of this, learners who have been bullied often find it helpful to talk to a peer and are more likely to listen to them than an adult. In this way, peer-mentoring schemes can influence behaviour to create a positive change in a school/college’s culture.
What does an online safety peer mentor do?
In terms of online safety, the role of a peer mentor may include:
- providing learners with someone of their own age to talk to about problems they experience online
- reporting incidents of online bullying or other issues to staff members
- understanding the issues that exist among their peers in relation to the online world
- working with and supporting learners who have experienced issues such as online bullying
- helping to review policies and procedures around online safety
- running activities and campaigns which educate learners, staff and parents/carers about online safety and promote positive online behaviour and attitudes
- educating learners and parents/carers about what they can do if they and/or their child are struggling with an issue online
- building a school/college culture which places a strong ongoing emphasis on online safety and skills.
Top tips for implementing a peer mentoring scheme
- Include the youth voice. Run consultations with groups of learners to help design an effective training programme that can then be implemented for peer mentors. After each training programme, conduct an evaluation of the training to identify any areas for improvement.
- Take a whole-school/college approach. Involve everyone in the school/college community in promoting online safety. This means embedding online safety principles into the curriculum, involving your peer mentors in assemblies, and ensuring that everyone in the community is clear on your school/college’s online safety and anti-bullying policies.
- Ensure diversity. It is important for learners to be able to identify people who are like them in your peer mentoring team. Ensure your peer supporters are representative of the school/college population and think about including different ages and friendship groups. When it comes to online safety initiatives, it is helpful to include children and young people with a range of experiences, positive and negative of the online world.
- Keep roles clear. Ensure your peer mentors are confident with where their responsibilities lie, including when they need to consult a staff member. Clarify how they should approach situations that might have safeguarding implications and make sure they know never to promise to keep something a secret when it comes to disclosures.
- Appoint a lead staff member. The support of a dedicated staff member can really help a peer mentoring scheme get off the ground, someone who can arrange meeting times, book meeting rooms and offer all-round support to the peer mentoring team. Lead staff members may find it helpful to assign roles within the team to make the scheme more sustainable in the longer term.
- Raise awareness online. In order to provide ownership to the children and young people who are mentors, consider allowing them to access the online world to promote their work. Set up social media accounts attached to the school/college that can be used by the peer mentors to advertise key messages and awareness of their roles, but don't forget to have a member of staff monitor and control their use.
- Use resources. There are many free resources available online which can help your team to develop awareness campaigns and peer-to-peer activities on online safety. Keeping safe online is one example.
- Evaluate progress. Peer mentors should report regularly to school/college staff on the types of support they’ve provided and the impact and reach of their activities. Ask learners directly what they think of the peer support scheme. Keep checking in and ask yourself ‘how do we know this is successful?' Regular reviews of your team’s progress can help to determine the future direction of the scheme.