Teenage mentors help keep younger pupils out of trouble

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The Evening Standard has called for the widespread adoption of so-called "peer mentoring" schemes to teach children that respect cannot be won at knifepoint, and a government-commissioned report said today that pupils who were mentors and mentees "responded overwhelmingly positively to their experience".

Some 180 secondary schools are testing a scheme developed by the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools and Families. It involves training a group of older pupils to act as non-judgmental supporters to younger children, under the supervision of a teacher.

An evaluation by researchers at Canterbury Christ Church University said 92 per cent of mentees found the experience "very positive" and one said: "I thought someone would be telling me off, but it's different."

The reduction in bullying was marked. As a result, ministers will invest £3 million in peer mentoring schemes aimed at cutting bullying, suggesting attitudes to knives could be successfully targeted in future.

Children's minister Kevin Brennan said: "Role models play a huge part in how young people behave. They can promote an atmosphere of respect and maturity."

The report said mentoring had to be used with other measures, such as anti-truancy drives and the government's Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning programme.