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Mentoring Task Group – Annual report 2006-07

The ASLI Mentoring programme has continued to roll out over the interpreting profession and these annual reports provide a good opportunity to reflect on what we have achieved in the past year, along with what we are hoping to achieve in the coming one.

More training took place in the south west which brought together potential mentors from across the regions, including the Midlands and NE – these people are in the final stages of the practicum and we hope to be able to announce results soon.  Training commenced in the NE with 10 people attending the first stage of the training in Liverpool – we are now aiming to have a repeat course in Midlands/NW and then continue further training to increase the number of mentors across all regions.

We have also seen Chereme (our trainers) being extremely active in Wales as part of the BSL Futures project – all interpreters involved in the scheme have been having training either as mentors or mentees to ensure there is a common understanding of this as part of professional development for all.  RNID have also had additional ASLI based training to bring their in-house mentors up to ASLI trained mentor equivalence – once assessment is completed, RNID individual members of ASLI will be advertised on the web site.  So we are looking to see our database of mentors increasing over this coming year.

Mentoring is a crucial element of interpreter development – this can be informal (a chat with our colleagues) or more formal with a Mentor who has undergone training and provides a professional service focussing on the individual concerned.  A recent ASLI survey (2006) conducted with current mentors and their mentees highlighted that all benefit from the relationship:

I have found the whole mentoring experience developmental for my mentees but also for myself – I find that it’s a constant reminder to my own reflective practice and can be really challenging in a positive sense to keep me on track within my own professional practice, both as an interpreter and as a mentor

It also was a great opportunity to discuss issues in a safe environment with an excellent supportive mentor.

 I think that mentoring makes qualified, experienced interpreters even more available – I don’t think I’d ever have had the confidence to approach my mentor to ask for advice without this kind of formal relationship.

I now feel much more confident and really appreciate having someone to talk to – I get supervision from my employer who is also my client and does not always see why something may be an issue for me.

The ASLI programme is also attracting comment in an international forum – Zane Hema and Caron Hawkings acted in a distance advisory capacity to the Auslan Interpreters mentorship project and recently presented an outline of the ASLI programme to the new Malay ASLI (MyASLI) in Kuala Lumpur.  It doesn’t matter where you are in the world interpreting issues are the same and mentoring can provide a developmental space for all!

I would like to thank:

And finally special thanks to all those involved with the BSL Futures project - we successfully secured funding of £2000 from the management team after submitting a bid. This will support ASLI’s ongoing work in mentoring and go towards a new event for trained mentors in 2008, for the continuation of their professional development – more information on this will be released later in the year.