Perach - Overview

• Perach Tutoring and mentoring Project is a socio-educational enterprise providing assistance to children from low socio- economic areas. 
• The Project operates in two main levels: Personality functioning and scholastic achievements.
• Tutoring and mentoring is carried out by students who are studying at institutions for higher education.

• In return for their activity, the students receive a scholarship that covers a significan part of their tuition fee.

 

Perach's Goals
For the children:

• Improving the child’s self-esteem and increasing the child’s confidence in his/her ability.

• Supporting the child and assisting him/her to develop social skills.

• Improving and establishing the child’s scholastic achievements.

• Providing cultural enrichment for the child.

 

For the students:

• Providing the student with financial support through a scholarship.
• Increasing the students’ awareness of social hardship.
• Encouraging students’ involvement and contribution to diminishing social gaps.

 

For the community and for society:

• Advancing the weaker strata via the strengthening of the younger generation.
• Improving the quality of life of the community.
• Strengthening enrichment programs run by the educational system.

 

Student - Child Relationships

• Establishing a supportive and encouraging relationship is a slow and complex process that requires :

 Sensitivity  Definition of goals  Listening skills Methodology

• ˜Emotional and/or educational and/or social deficiencies are very apparent among Perach’s children.

• ˜A mentoring relationship deals with the above by locating the child’s inner resources and utilizing them in specifically designated tasks.

• ˜The student is not expected to work out miracles. ˜

• The unique position of the student lies in the fact that he is neither a father (or a mother) nor a teacher substitute. ˜
• ˜The main effort in mentoring is to equip the child with basic tools and experiences on which he/she can count on in the future.

Connection with School

Initial Connection:

• Selection of schools is done at the regional office in coordination with:
• Perach’s national headquarters
• The ministry of education
• The local authority
• The regional manager establishes the first connection with the school before the coordinator approaches it.

During the first conversation with the principal the coordinator should:

• Emphasize the importance of cooperation

• Collect information about the school and its special characteristics

• Inform the school about the planned number of mentors/tutors

• Coordinate the manner in which children will be picked out for interviews

• Participate in a teachers’ meeting

• Meet liaison person at school

 

During the teachers’ meeting the coordinator should:

Conduct a short introduction

• Emphasize the importance of cooperation and describe his/her demands from the teachers
• Coordinate meetings in order to complete the information gathered on the children

 

During the meetings with the liason person the contact person should:

• Make a short introduction
• Gather additional information about the children
• Conduct first classification of the children-candidates
• Receive recommendations on the purpose of mentoring (for the child) and the desired mentor

 

During the year the coordinator must hold periodical encounters with:

• The liaison person (at least once every 2-3 weeks)
• The school principal (once every 2-3 months)

 

Children’s Interviews

The coordinator should meet with each child separately for interviewing, in which -

• To emphasize that the project is designed for capable children who need additional help and who can enjoy a relationship with a student.
• To learn about the child’s suitability for tutoring in terms of: motivation, time, difficulties,  
• strengths, fields of interest and expectations. ˜
• To figure out what type of student could suit the child in general
• Should not promise the child a mentor. This in only a preliminary check up stage.
• Interviews with adolescents should be held in most confidence or at home.

 

Home Visits

Home visits have two goals:

• Information gathering
• Clarification of expectations with the child’s parents

THEREFORE...

During conversation with the parents the coordinator should:

• Emphasize that the child was elected as candidate by the school’s staff.

• Do not give information that was learned about the child at school.

• Clarify the project’s goals, scope,the nature of the relationship, framework of operation, duties and rights.

• Describe the student’s role to serve as the child’s bigger friend.

• Dedicate time for gathering impressions of the home, parents’ expectations and the relationships among all members of the family.

• Have the parents sign the parents’ approval form.

• Do not promise anything to the parents.
  Exchange phone numbers for further communication.

 

Selection of the Children

• Selection of the children is done in accordance with Perach’s criteria.
• In case of disagreement the coordinator should explain the school’s staff the basic thinking underlying the criteria.
• In case that a coordinator would like to accept children who do not fit Perach’s criteria, he/she must receive approval from Perach’s counselor.
• The coordinator should go over the list of recommended children with the team leader.

 

Students’ Interviews

All students who applied on time should be interviewed During the interview the coordinator should:

• Clarify the candidate the nature of the activity and his/her duties and rights as student-tutor.
• Learn about the candidates motives for participation.
• Check how the candidate perceives the relationship with the child.
• Find out how the candidate relates to children.
• Locate the candidates fields of interest.
• Learn about the candidate’s abilities and skills.
• Check the candidate’s persistence and the way he/she copes with complex situations.
• Learn about objective limitations for acceptance.
• Check the candidate’s suitability for a specific child.

 

At the end of the interview with the student-candidate the coordinator should:

• Describe the next steps in the admission process.
• Take notes of the interview.

 

Pairing Students with Children

• Perceptive eye and healthy intuition are the basis for good pairing. During the pairing process the coordinator should consider the following:
• Proximity of inhabitance  
• The child’s wishes  
• Family request
• The student’s wishes
• Suitability of the student to the child’s needs and environment
• ˜Students and children who are extremely different from each other should not be paired
• Students from a religious/traditional background should be paired with religious children

Many coordinators pay too much attention to the pairing but the main work is the guidance and companionship that comes afterwards.

The coordinator should summon his/her group of students to a preparatory meeting for their first encounter with the child
 

During the meeting the coordinator should:

• Present Perach's vision.

• Go through the working agreement - contract.
• Prepare the students to their first meeting with the child.
• Provide details and highlights in an individualized manner to students about the child they are going to mentor.
• Encourage the student the student to have second thoughts regarding the task he/she is about to encounter.

 

Preparation for First Meeting with Child

Before the first meeting the coordinator should provide the student with ideas for activities and guidelines for entering the child’s home.

• Written guidance concerning the first encounters with the child.
• Relevant information about the child and his family.
• Not “flood” the student with details in order not to raise fears or create prejudice.

 

The First Meetings

• The first encounter between student and child always takes place at school in the presence of the coordinator.
• Each pair’s meeting takes place separately:
• After an introduction the coordinator parts from the pair to allow them converse and fix a date for their next meeting.
• After the pairing the coordinator sends the parents information about their child’s participation in the project.
• The next few meetings must take place at the child’s home.
• The student is instructed to hold a conversation with the parents regarding expectations from the tutoring.
• The student is instructed to inform the parents regarding the times of the meetings and exchange phone numbers.

 

Meeting the Tutors/Mentors

• Meeting the students takes place within the coordinator’s weekly admission hours.
• ˜The admission hours are set by the regional office in collaboration with the coordinator.
• ˜During admission hours the coordinator holds at least one monthly conversation with each of the mentors.

 

Contact with School

• The coordinator should dedicate two mornings every month to visit the school.
• The purposes of the school visits are:
• To exchange information with the liaison person.
• To meet the school principal and the children’s home-room.
• teachers.
• To maintain contact with the children.
• To perform administrative tasks concerning school.
• To hold admission hours for parents or near-by tutors

 

Construction of Tutoring & Mentoring

• ˜Research on T&M indicates that a well-constructed tutoring has a more successful ending.
• ˜The student can’t deal with all the child’s weak points. Therefore he/she should focus on selected ones.
• ˜Mentor should focus on achievable goals that combine his/her abilities with the child’s inner resources.
   

Construction of Tutoring & Mentoring

• Principles of the system:
• A joint process for coordinator and mentor. It begins after the acquaintance and ends with termination of activity.
• Coordinator and mentor should locate the child’s resources, strength and needs.
• They should define a number of reachable goals.
• It is best to define measurable goals.
• First goals selected should be easy to achieve and should take advantage of the child’s inner resources.
• Taking one step at the time contribute to achieving further goals.
• Achieving even one small goal is also a success.
• Tools for action should be worked out together with the mentor.
• Coordinator should check regularly with mentor the child’s advancement
• and achieving goals.
• The mentor should document the process.
   

Professional Counseling & Guidance

• Many mentors may come up with problems which require professional counseling
• ˜Perach operates a professional counseling system to support coordinators and mentors to address such problems
• Coordinator and mentor may ask for help from school counselor as well 
• Informative guidance leaflets on different issues are distributed throughout the year
   

The Portfolio: Student-Child File

• After pairing the coordinator should open a file for the pair.
• The file should contain all relevant materials concerning the student and the child.
• Information in the file is essential and confidential and should be kept as such.
• At year’s end the coordinator writes his/her personal impression of the pair and their activity.

 

Scholarships

• Every student who fulfills all his/her duties is entitled to a scholarship of approximately half a tuition.
• Mentors are entitled to get the scholarships as rightfully deserved and on time.
• Perach’s scholarship is wire-transferred directly to the student’s bank account.
• Scholarship is divided and allocated three times a year.
• Every mentor is entitled to appeal in cases of reduced scholarships.
   

Refund of Travel Expenses to Students

• ˜Perach covers with students’ travel expenses to the child.
• Refund is added to the scholarship portion in accordance with mentor’s report.
• ˜Refund is limited to an informed amount.
• Exception from the above mentioned rules requires prior approval of Perach’s regional manager.

 

Safety Regulations

• It is Perach’s responsibility for making rules that meant to keep the students and children safe from any harm.
• It is highly important to emphasize to the student his/her responsibility for the child’s safety during Perach’s activity.
• In any case of exception the coordinator should consult Perach’s manager and receive his/her permission.

 

Confidentiality and Research

• Perach deals with highly sensitive information that is gathered both on the students and the children
• To keep information from getting lost or reaching wrong hands coordinator should take the following measures:
• Keep all the forms and reports in the student-child file at the regional office.
• Keep additional information at the “professor” portfolio.
• Deny access to information to anyone outside Perach.
• No questionnaires or research should be conducted without permission from Perach’s national headquarters.

 

Dictionary

Meeting - A meeting between the student and the child of a minimal duration of two hours

Authorized meeting - A meeting that did not take place but is payable as if it was actualized

Double meeting - A significant meeting of at least four hours of activity

Completion of meeting - possible with a limit of no more than two per month of activity

˜

May and May Not:

The Coordinator may not

• Promise what he/she cannot keep.
• Disappoint students and children.

The coordinator may

• All the rest
• Be dynamic, creative and full of ideas.

• Ask a thousand of questions without being ashamed.

• Ask for help.
• Come with suggestions and complaints.

The coordinator is Perach’s representative and therefore should make sure to be attentive and provide the best service there is!

 

Coordinator’s Tasks

The coordinator is in charge of a group of about 40-50 mentors/tutors.

The coordinator’s tasks are numerous and vary throughout the year of activity as follows:

September:

• Receiving forms containing details about the candidate children.
• Holding interviews with each of the candidate children.
• Visit the children’s home, meeting their parents, documenting impressions about the household members.
• Getting parents’ signed approval for their child’s participation if the project.
• Selecting the children with assistance of the school staff and team-leader.

September - June:

• Participating in weekly coordinators’ meetings.
• Holding twice monthly talks with the team-leader.

October:

• Active participation in students’ recruitment.
• Interviewing each student-candidate.
• Selection of fit students
• Student-child pairing under supervising of Perach’s counselor and team-leader
• First-group encounter of students to prepare for the beginning of their activity
• Handling the students’ scholarships.

November:

End of pairing.

• Conducting monthly talks with each one of the tutors.

School visits for updates

• Managing a student-child file for the entire group.
• Participation in counseling groups run by the counselors.

December:

• Set goals and action plan for the “construction of tutoring” process.
• Teachers-students meetings at school (second group encounter).
• Preparation for first scholarship installment.

February:

• Construction of tutoring (continued) in monthly meetings with tutors.
• Presentation of the “personal project” to the student.

March:

• Conducting third group encounters for students (in small groups).
• Second house visits

April:

• “Personal Project” exhibition at school.
• House visits (continued).

May:

• Preparing schools to fill out forms of children candidate for next year.
• Preparation for third payment of scholarship.
• Organizing Perach’s event at school.
• Conducting group session preparing tutors for parting and “Saying Goodbye”.

June:

• Meeting for summing up with school.
• Organizing end-of-year event at school.
• Meetings for summing up with students.

July:

• Preparing file for next year’s coordinator.
• Preparing for fourth payment of scholarship.
• “Summing up” conversations at regional office.

August:

• Some rest

 

The Regional Office

Perach’s regional office is comprised of two units - linear and horizontal.

• The linear unit carries out operational tasks and includes the regional manager, team-leaders and coordinators.
• The horizontal unit provides professional services for the linear one and includes a counselor and a secretary

The Linear Unit

The regional manager:

• The regional manager has sole accountability for the proper functioning and the daily regular work at the regional office.
• He/She is also in charge of carrying out the organization’s tasks (Perach’s vision) in the region that he/she is responsible for.
• Goals of the regional manager at work are:
• Regular increase in the number of students and children at his/her area.
• Development of a vision and goals for the region.
• Choosing, building and leading a team towards these goals.
• Creating an infrastructure of external relations.
• Maintaining a balanced budget and expanding its base.

Regional manager’s tasks are:

• Planning, organizing and routing daily regular activity of the regional office.
• Accompanying, guiding and leading the regional office’s staff (coordinators, team-leaders and counselors).
• Initiating new tasks and improving old ones – creating a system of reassessment and supervision of the regional office’s procedures.
• Representing Perach and creating a dialogue with all bodies in touch with the regional office.
• Handling the budget and creating additional income resources.
• Advertising and marketing the project to schools and students.

The team-leaders

• The team-leader is a partner of the regional managing team.
• The team leader manages a group of coordinators and is responsible for the organizational and counseling activities of the group.
• The team-leader works in a full-time position.
• The number of team-leaders is set in accordance with the regional office’s size in a relation of 1 team-leader for 23 to 25 coordinators.

The coordinators

• The position of the coordinator is apparently the most central and important in Perach’s organizational structure.
• The coordinator’s job is to operate, guide and supervise a group of students, operating in a town, school or project defined to him/her by the regional manager.
• The coordinator represents Perach in his/her contacts with the various bodies in town, schools or the institution that he/she works at.
• The coordinator is in charge of 45-50 tutor-mentors.

 

The horizontal unit:

The counselor

• The counselor serves as a professional authority in the psychological and educational fields.
• The counselor’s job is to provide professional psychological and educational advice to the manager, the team-leaders and the coordinators.
• The counselor is responsible for holding guidance meetings to groups of coordinators and for providing counsel for coordinators and tutors with problems that require profession knowledge.
• The counselor works part-time.

The secretary

• The secretary The secretary is in charge of running Perach’s regional office.
• His/Her job is to receive, sort and rout applications from exterior and interior bodies.
• The secretary is responsible for keeping the regional office in order and for creating a pleasant work surrounding.
• The secretary is the “face” and “show window” for Perach’s region.

Selection of personnel for the regional office

The Team Leader:

The team-leader is selected by the regional office manager together with a representative of national headquarters.
Skills and Requirements:

A former senior coordinator who excelled in performance.

Excellent managing and organizational skills, initiative, leadership, counseling ability, high motivation, self-discipline and good personal relations skills.

Minimum requirement- first-degree (B.A.).

Mobility Willingness to commit to position for several years.

Selection of personnel for the office
The counselor 

• The counselor is selected by the regional office’s manager and a representative of the national headquarters.
• Masters Degree in Psychology, Educational Counseling or Social Work.
• 2/3 years of experience working with children/teachers/parents and para-professional workers as well as experience in group guidance.

The Secretary

• The secretary is selected by the regional manager.
• The secretary should master tasks related to office management, be service prone and have good personal relation skills.

The Coodinator

• The coordinator is chosen by Perach’s regional manager and must be an active student preferably an veteran Perach tutor experienced with guidance and management who is ready and capable of accepting responsibility and authority.
• The process of selecting coordinators is long and includes several stages. An admissions committee headed by the regional office manager includes a counselor or a team-leader and begins the process in May. The committee forms clear-cut criterias and agrees upon the manner of conducting the interviews.
• The selection process: • Sorting by C.V. • Sorting by group interview • Personal interview (for those who pass the group interview stage)

Layout of Guidance

The most important part in the regional office’s work involves the training and qualifying of the coordinators who in turn must accompany the tutoring relationships in the best possible form.

Coordinators’ training starts before the beginning of the year by an extensive seminar and continues throughout the work year (on the job training).

For this reason Perach has set a number of forums and frameworks for guidance.

Patterns of instructional work

• Three-day extensive seminar instructed by the regional offices’ staff at the beginning of the year.
• Once a week: coordinators participate in a workshop held by the counselor in the presence of the team leader.
• Every two weeks: team leaders meet with coordinators for an instructional meeting.
  Once a month: counselor meets with coordinators in the framework of group- guidance.
• The counselor dedicates time for the manager, team leaders, and the coordinators for individualize counseling when the need arises.
• The counselor dedicates time for counseling of student-tutors during set times.
• The counselor is a regular participant in the team meetings as a full partner.

for coordinators’ workshops

Suggested Timetable for coordinators workshops:

September- October

• Acquaintance and coordination of expectations.
  Students’ interviews Pairing.
• Pairing meetings Preparing the student tutor for a meeting at the child’s home and the activity.
• Optional: Handling stressful situations & time management.

November

• The first activity report/structure of instructional conversation common problems related to beginning of the relationship.
  Preparations for student-tutors’ group meeting no. 2.

Contact with teachers and school.

• Optional: Presentation of the enrichment centers games,crafts and child development.

December

• The structuring of mentoring rRelations with parents, parents’ involvement.
• Inspection of scholarships.

Optional: The child protection agency- Dealing with child abuse The Pygmalion’s effect. Hanukah party
Listening skills

• Preparation for distribution of 1st part of the scholarship.
• A model for counseling the student- tutor in one meeting.

January

Preparation for the mid-year crisis.
Second house visits.

Monthly conversations with the student-tutors – points of focus for the conversation and counseling tips.
Handling clashes
Optional: Feedback conversation with the student-tutor.
Learning disabilities
Canceling a workshop due to exams’ period.

February

Preparation for group meeting no. 3 – structure and essence.
Group meeting no. 3 – skills for instruction of a small group.
Common problems in tutoring.
Management styles, leadership and motivating workers.
Optional: Canceling a workshop due to exams’ period Preparation for distribution of 2nd part of the scholarship.

March

The personal theme
Preparation for Perach’s annual event
3rd portion of the scholarship
Distribution of A1/K1 forms to schools – Briefing of teachers
Optional: Assertiveness 
Optional: Effective communication Presentation Enrichment

April 
Passover Vacation
Optional: Effective communication 
Presentation Enrichment
May

Perach Fair
Saying goodbye –behavior in students and children Preparing for the last meeting Summarizing conversation with students

June
Evaluation of student’s performance
Outstanding student- tutors
Personal and group summary
Preparation for distribution of 4th part of scholarship
Farewell Party

 

Counseling conversations for the coordinators
At some points during the year (crossroads such as approvals of pairings, problems in the beginning of the relationships, and construction of the tutoring) the coordinators are required to meet Perach’s counselor for a conversation. These conversations serve goals both of the coordinator and the regional office. For the coordinator this is an opportunity to acquire tools that will enable him/her to continue the accompaniment of the students via imitation of a professional model. For the regional office this conversation serves as an opportunity to deepen the insight and work out a work plan for developing the coordinator’s management and instructive skill. It is also possible for a coordinator to initiate a personal meeting with the counselor in order to consult with questions that he/she feels that he/she has no answer for or that the answer that he/ she received from the team-leader is insufficient. Finally, the coordinator can be sent for consultation with the counselor by the team-leader

 

Counseling conversation for the student-tutors
Occasionally, Perach’s coordinators have difficulty giving student- tutors advice. It is possible that the coordinator might feel that he/she has no answer to give the student-tutor or that the situation needs professional interference. In this case the coordinator can turn to (alone or with the student-tutor) the counsel for consultation and advice. The counselor’s conversation with the student-tutor is short.
During such conversations the counselor is required to know the student-tutor, gain his/her trust, understand the problematic dynamics in the tutoring relations that poses difficulties on the achievements of the goals and try to offer help of the type that the student-tutor can deal with. The regional office’s manager should make sure that counseling hours for student-tutors are allocated and for the availability of this service the students.

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Guidance of Student-tutors
Once a month the coordinator should meet with each of his/her student-tutors to have a get a report and to give guidance.

The meeting is at least half an hour long.

The meeting should provide the student-tutor with basic assistance, definition of goals and ways of action, and clarification of the student’s feelings towards the tutoring relationship.

Several times a year the coordinator meets for instructional group meetings.

The meetings’ goal is to provide guidance for the student-tutors in critical crossroads during the year: Pairing, preparing for the tutoring relationship and for the first meeting with the child. Teachers – student-tutors encounters,

Small group meetings according to needs, parting and Saying goodbye.