Total success in the Teacher Mentoring Program

Alberto Gómez 

There are many professors who join the Rey Juan Carlos University year after year to carry out their duties. There are times that after teachers join the University, they have little time to know how to carry out their activities or how to manage the relationship with the students. Many of them must learn in a short time the procedures and performances to carry out their academic activity. 

To minimize this problem and for professors to adapt to the University Community from the very beginning, the URJC has created the "Faculty Mentoring Program: How to be a good mentor". During March 23 and 24, 88 teachers have participated in these sessions whose teaching team is made up of: Raquel Herrera, Diana Benito, Raquel Montes, Mercedes Martin López and Carmen De la Calle. 

Carmen De la Calle herself, Director of Academic Planning, tells us that "having the vision of professionals and experts in the area of ​​Mentoring has been a great opportunity for future mentors of the URJC who have been able to meet expert professionals, the advantages of this Human Resources tool”. These professionals have been Antonio Vega, leader in the Mentoring and Coaching sector; Joaquín Álvarez Serrano, as a mentor and Pilar Rodríguez Morales, who recounts her experience as mind or mentored. 

The course has been structured in three different parts. In the first part, the participants have received an analysis of what mentoring is, the role of the mentor and what benefits this methodology has. Later, the necessary skills to be a good professional have been explained and a dynamic activity is carried out to reflect on the motivation that has led teachers to want to be a mentor. To finish, a dynamic activity has been carried out to reflect on what is known and not known about the URJC, to later make known the relevant aspects that the University has. 

“The University as a whole is favored by the program since: it facilitates the implementation of an open and welcoming culture that encourages all teachers to improve the university, fosters camaraderie and generates a greater commitment to the institution, both by the mind like the mentor”, affirms Carmen de la Calle.