For the first time in the history of the faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences an academic mentoring programme for students was initiated with the support of the AHEAD ELTA ELSE DP Faculty (FHSS) Grant on 2019. The foundation was set forth with the first training and coaching workshop held on 18th of October 2019 with the participation of selected academic mentor and coaches representing all 14 Departments of the faculty.
The second stage of the mentoring and training was held on 5th and 6th of February at the Faculty premises. Mrs. Kanthi Basnayake; president of International Association of Coaching (IAC) Sri Lanka Chapter and Dr. Sharmini Perera; Director – Future Holdings joined in as Resource to the workshop representing Asia Pacific Management Institute.
The proceedings of the two day workshop began with Dean of FHSS delivering the introductory remarks for the workshop followed up by the explanation of workshop objectives by Prof. Sunethra Thennakoon; the Coordinator of the AHEAD Project (FHSS). Introductory remarks for the fundamentals of student coaching and mentoring was given by Dr. S. Perera which set the foundation for the institution of the GROW model of coaching by Mrs. K. Basnayake. The day continued after the lunch by dividing the participants into teams to map out skills and competencies that should be developed to understand students and their needs accordingly.
The second day of the workshop began with an interesting story telling session where the mentors and coaches shared their experiences on dealing with students in academic and non-academic work. This led to the next session guided by Dr. S. Perera on Emotional Intelligence (personal) test. The student’s involvement in academics and how to build trust amongst the students and their respective lecturers were highlighted by Mrs. K. Basnayake. With this the mentoring programe came to an end and the Action plan for the mentor and mentee programe (Wheel of work) was introduced to the designated mentors of the faculty and concluded the mentoring committee and the Action plan on mentoring for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.
