The European Parliament issued a vital opinion piece on mentoring (December 2023). The document’s title is Mentoring: A Powerful and Meaningful Tool for the Europe of Tomorrow. The Committee of the Regions unanimously approved the document in their plenary session, presented by rapporteur Miss Anne Rudisuhli (FR / Renew Europe, member of the Bouches-du-Rhône Departmental Council).
The report draws attention to mentoring’s positive effects on personal and professional empowerment and civic engagement (including for marginalised individuals and communities), which are key factors for social cohesion, promoting social mobility, and levelling the playing field. Due to these positive effects, the Committee of the Region has delved into this topic.
Best practices are described from Italy, Spain, and France. Recent research findings reveal that the chance of finding a job in France increases by 16 per cent six months after completing one’s studies. The great news is that the number of mentor/mentee pairs in France has increased from 30,000 to 200,000 in just two years.
The report gives proof why mentoring makes a difference in society. There is also a broad range of recommendations for policy makers. The document gives recommendations such as:
“… calls for mentoring programmes to be integrated into education and training programmes, and for them to be promoted trough European and national initiatives to improve their accessibility and relevance…’’
‘’…advocates creating a quality label for mentoring which ensures the professionalism, performance and effectiveness of programmes across the European Union, in accordance with the legal rules in force, and urges the European Commission to establish a public register of mentoring initiatives that have been awarded the European label, thus giving greater visibility and recognition to quality mentoring programmes in Europe…’’
Lastly the report gives recommendations to the European Commission such as:
’…calls on the European Commission to work closely with local, regional, state and European-level partners to develop a common framework for the development of quality mentoring in the EU…’’
This document is essential for mentoring because it marks the first time the Committee of the Regions has issued an opinion piece on mentoring. They acknowledge this instrument.
If you want to read the complete document, click the link below. This will take you to the European Parliament’s database website, where you can read it in your preferred language.
EUR-Lex – 52023IR1537 – EN – EUR-Lex (europa.eu)
This blog post is brought to you by Mirthe Hollander, student lab, Mentoring Europe.