Leaflet about the HEAR ME project - VIA University College

Senior citizens
mentoring young
people at risk
- hear me
Highly Educated Retirees Mentoring
Early school leavers

The project HEAR ME:
Senior citizens mentoring young people at risk
The ageing population in Europe is drastically growing. Many
senior citizens are resourceful and wish to make a social contribution
to society but do not necessarily have the exact competences
needed to do so. One in six young adults in Europe
has not completed upper secondary education and does not
have the needed qualifications to obtain a good job. Economic
and social consequences are significant for them and for society.
This is the rationale behind the HEAR ME project. HEAR ME
wanted to support senior citizens with cognitive and practical
education to become mentors for youth at risk of marginalization
and/or school dropout.
Innovation of welfare
As a consequence of globalization, financial crisis and demographic
developments the concept of the welfare society is
under great strain. New ways of exploiting human resources
for the common good have to be developed, as we are in risk
of marginalization of both senior citizens who can no longer
keep up with e.g. the technical developments in society and
of young people who have difficulties gaining foothold at the
labour market.
Social cohesion is threatened as the traditional welfare states
no longer have the money to provide universal services of
good quality and the process of modernization in traditionally
more family-oriented societies threatens the Southern European
welfare model. Senior citizens mentoring youth at risk
of marginalization and/or school dropout could be one of the
innovative undertakings in the development of new forms of
solidarity and integration.
Establishing intergenerational mentoring projects requires
new partnerships. The success of the establishment of new
partnerships that cross borders between state, enterprises,
NGO´s and volunteers depend both on engaged participants,
on a common spirit of pioneering and on agenda and
structures. National, cultural, organizational and local circumstances
are different and require different strategies.

“H has been living at the other side of the street for about
ten years, on the borderline between two different areas of
the town. It is not because she was not curious, but it was
just too difficult to cross the border without a reason. “You
stay at your place, and when you cross the street you suddenly
are a stranger. If there is no obvious reason to mix
with the world over there it remains a strange world.” This
project, HEAR ME, was a good reason to cross the border.”
(Danish mentor).
Intergenerational work
2012 is the European year of active ageing and solidarity between
generations. The process of modernization has led to a
greater separation of generations in society. New technological
developments may accelerate this process. Senior citizens
are at risk of exclusion.
However, under the right circumstances senior citizens might
develop what the well-known developmental psychologist
and psychoanalyst, Erik Erikson called generativity: a concern
for and commitment to the next generation, as expressed
through parenting, teaching, mentoring, leadership, and a
host of other activities that aim to leave a positive legacy of
the self for the future. Senior citizens might have energy and
capacity to involve themselves in “the next generation” and
they might have life experience and networks that make them
suitable for being mentors for young people. In fact, research
tells us that older mentors (compared to same-age mentors)
are more effective.
Mentoring
Mentoring has become very popular in the last four decades

in many different settings. “The instinct to help others to follow
in one’s footstep, to pass on accumulated wisdom, to
relive one’s career vicariously, is a powerful one” (Klasen &
Clutterbuck). In an atmosphere of respect and active listening,
mentoring is a great good, but used in a selfish way without
the commitment to mutual learning, it can be suffocating and
develop dysfunctional dependency.
Some mentors see their primary role as offering the hand of
friendship: they work in the affective domain trying to make
mentees feel differently about themselves. Others provide
cognitive resources, offering advice and a guiding hand
though the difficult choices confronting the mentee. Still
others place their hands on the mentees’ shoulders –
encouraging, pushing and coaching their mentee in the process
of gaining skills and qualifications. Other mentors grab
the mentees’ hands, introducing them to their network, using
the resources at their disposal and encouraging the mentee to
benefit from their opportunities.
In our mentoring projects many different mentor roles have
developed depending on the context of the projects. In Den-

mark for instance, the community centre setting where mentors
and mentees first had to gain mutual respect for each
other, developed primarily the mentor role of a bridge-builder
between the life world of the young people and other aspects
of society (school, work, culture).
The mentor course
The mentor course is crucial for the success of the intergenerational
work.
learning
Early school
leaving
Lifelong learning
Training for intergenerational
mentoring to prevent
early school
leaving
Intergenerational
relationship
senior citizens
youth

The courses were organized in different ways as they had to
fit the local contexts.
Despite the differences in the mentor program in the five
countries there are many common elements of the courses:
Input/reflection on the following themes:
• Mentoring & different mentor-roles
• Voluntary work, social capital and networking
• Young people, (life circumstances, life world, and
psychlogical development)
• Multiculturalism, (religion, gender etc.)
• Ethics
Combined with training of communication skills and
active listening
In all courses the didactic has been experience-based and
action learning has been used as a method. Narratives have
played a role in different ways, some partners have used
life stories, others have used narratives and storytelling as
approaches to collect and condense important experiences
from the mentor’s relationships with the mentees. The courses
have been characterized by a play-full approach and dining
and socializing have been important components. At the same
time serious coaching and supervising have been used as important
and necessary methods to reflect on experiences.

The senior citizens involved in the projects in the different
countries enjoyed the mentor course and the mentoring. They
were happy to be able to contribute to the young people but
they also really enjoyed the social setting with peer-mentors
and trainers/teachers and found this very meaningful.
The mentor course and the possibility of sharing and actionlearning
have been crucial for our projects. There are many
pitfalls, and it is as important to be careful when matching the
seniors and the youth as to be attentive to signs of malfunctioning
relationships.
We have had many modest but important successes. “We
planned for a September-December mentoring, but three of
our pairs wanted to follow their relationship on a voluntary
base. Mentors and mentees became friends to each other.
Nowadays they pay visits to each other and congratulate on
birthdays. It is a nice success story.” (The Finnish partners).
Perspectives
Intergenerational mentoring is a great vision that requires hard
work to realize. It is hard work to develop sustainable partnerships
that provide a suitable institutional framework. It is hard
work to recruit, to select, to match, in short - to establish the
mentoring-relationship. However, our experience is that it is
worth it.
In relation to mentoring we reinvented the strong combination
of bonding and bridging: two different aspects of
mentoring that have to be balanced. During the project we
found out that intergenerational mentoring in fact is innovative:
it is not only about the introduction of a method, it is also
about the introduction of a new way of organizing a “welfare
service”, an initiative that contributes to social cohesion and
wellbeing in the European countries.

This is the story about a girl, K, from a very
religious Muslim family. Her mother never left the
house, and was completely veiled. Also she wore
a veil in which only her face was uncovered, and
she only left the house for visiting school. Through
her mentor, she came in contact with things that
she had no knowledge of. She had never been
in contact, besides with their teachers, with white
Dutch adults. This led to a very special and close
relationship, based on trust. At the close of the project,
the girl indicated the following: ‘I do not want
to lose my mentor, because she is my window to
the world.’ Her mentor, Dorrit, stated at the end:
‘She is the daughter I have never had.’ They did
not want to end their contact, and have stayed in
touch after the mentoring project.
(The Dutch partners).

HEAR ME is a joint project between universities, Universities of
Applied Science and organizations dealing with adult education,
community work and volunteering in five countries: Denmark,
Finland, Netherlands, Spain and the U.K.
Partners and associated partners
Denmark
VIA University College, lead partner
Østbasen, Horsens (community centre)
Turku, Finland:
Turku University of Applied Science
Turun Kaupunkilähetys (Turku City Mission)
Turku Vocational Institute (Vocational secondary school)
The Netherlands:
Utrecht University of Applied Science
School’s Cool, Utrecht
HOVO (Adult education provider), Amersfoort
Vader Rijn College (preparatory vocational sec. edc. ), Utrecht
Spain:
University of Valencia
Town Council of Gandia
The Valencian council of Social Educators
The Valencian council of Social Workers
The U.K.:
University of East London
Bonny Downs Community Association, London
Please have a look at our web site:
www.viauc.com/hearme where you will find:
• A Guide for developing senior mentor courses in the
context of youth mentoring projects
• Relevant knowledge and tools as annexes to this Guide
• Mentor Course Packages with the concrete projects and
courses as carried out in the five countries

The project HEAR ME has been carried out in Denmark,
Finland, Spain, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
Our most important message is: “Do it! Try it! It works”.
For us it was worth it. It is neither the golden key that opens
the jewellery coffer, nor the Final Solution, but it is a modest
yet promising contribution to the enhancement of well-being
and social cohesion in our societies.
This project has been funded with support from the European
Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any
use which may be made of the information contained therein.