Supporting SEND Students

Lessons from Mentoring in Alternative Education
Beyond Just Caring: The Role of a Mentor

In the world of Alternative Provision (AP), many students arrive having experienced exclusion, trauma, or prolonged disengagement from education. It can be tempting to view mentors simply as “caring adults,” but their role is far more complex. While compassion is important, adaptability, emotional intelligence, and relationship-building are what truly define effective mentoring. Mentors do more than offer support, they act as facilitators of engagement, helping students navigate barriers to learning and develop the skills necessary for success. In mainstream KS3 and KS4 education, high workloads, large class sizes, and curriculum pressures limit one-to-one pastoral support. Mentors complement teachers by providing relational support outside the curriculum, building trust, confidence, and self-regulation to help students engage and learn effectively. This need is heightened as the number of children with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) continues to rise, increasing by approximately 11% between January 2024 and January 2025 to around 638,700 active plans in England (Department for Education, 2025). The trend reflects the growing complexity of needs across school populations, highlighting the importance of adaptive, personalised approaches to support. Mentoring provides one such model, complementing teaching and supporting every child to reach their potential.

Adaptability in Action: Lessons from Navigators
At Navigators, a Greater Manchester-based AP provider, mentoring is not a static role; it is a dynamic, evolving relationship shaped by the needs of each learner. This flexibility, often constrained in mainstream settings, demonstrates how mentoring can transform engagement, wellbeing, and achievement.

1. Lloyd: Personalised Planning and Responsive Support – Lloyd’s mentor worked with him to design a realistic, flexible plan addressing both his anxiety and academic goals. When seasonal factors disrupted his sleep and attendance, the mentor adapted the programme rather than penalising him. By maintaining close communication with Lloyd’s family, the mentor ensured a consistent approach, keeping him engaged in learning.
   Lesson for mainstream: A truly effective support system relies on flexibility. When teachers and mentors adapt their approaches rather than enforce rigid routines, students are far more likely to re-engage academically and emotionally.
   
2. Ruby: Building Trust Through Creative Connection – Ruby had been out of education for three years and initially hid beneath a blanket during sessions. Her mentor used patience and creativity, employing arts and crafts to build trust.
   Gradually, Ruby began participating independently and successfully sat her GCSEs. She is now studying Hair and Beauty at a local college.
   Lesson for mainstream: Progress often begins with a relationship, not a curriculum. Investing in trust-building and emotional safety lays the foundation for academic success, especially for students who have disengaged or experienced trauma.
   
3. Joe: Consistency, Safety, and Emotional Growth – years of instability had eroded Joe’s trust in adults and the education system. Through consistent mentoring, he developed a sense of security, rebuilt confidence, and engaged academically. The mentoring relationship also strengthened family communication and stability.
   Lesson for mainstream: Consistency and stability can be as vital as lesson plans. Long-term, relational mentoring communicates to students that they are valued, enabling learning to follow naturally.

Effective Mentoring
At Navigators, impactful mentoring is built on trust, empathy, and flexibility, combining emotional availability with adaptability to support each student’s individual needs. Mentors receive essential training and ongoing professional support to manage the emotional demands of the role, which can be particularly challenging when working with students
affected by trauma or mental health issues (Fitzsimmons et al., 2021). Effective mentoring relies on perspective-taking and adaptability (Spencer et al., 2020), enabling mentors to understand students’ experiences and respond flexibly as needs evolve. At Navigators, these principles are put into practice: mentors adjust schedules, meeting locations, and communication styles to remove barriers to engagement. They support emotional regulation, recognise incremental progress, and ensure every student feels heard and valued. This relational, flexible approach aligns with findings from the Education Endowment Foundation (2025), which indicate that developing confidence, resilience, and aspiration helps students re-engage with learning and sustain progress.

What This Means for Mainstream Education
As Johnston and Nolty caution (2023), the presence of ‘caring’ staff alone is not enough, especially when educators are expected to fill gaps left by overstretched children’s services. Students with SEND and complex needs require more than goodwill; they need structured, relational support that builds trust and engagement. While budget constraints can make additional staffing a challenge, mentoring in AP demonstrates that targeted, flexible approaches can have a meaningful impact. As the number of pupils with EHCPs grows, schools must think beyond traditional classroom models and consider innovative ways to embed relational support into everyday practice. Integrating mentoring principles of flexibility, relationship-centred practice, and emotional literacy can make learning more inclusive and effective for all students.
The Navigators’ approach demonstrates that progress begins not just with teaching, but with understanding. Mainstream schools can adopt this lesson by embedding mentoring practices into daily life, training staff to respond flexibly to student needs, and valuing relational work as much as academic outcomes. In doing so, every learner can feel seen, supported, and capable of thriving.

The author

Dr Claire Baird

With over 20 years of experience in higher education, Claire has built a career dedicated to teaching and researching within the field of enterprise education. Her work focuses on how entrepreneurial thinking, creativity, and innovation can empower learners and expand their future opportunities. She is deeply committed to inclusive education and strives to create learning environments that recognise, respect, and respond to the diverse needs of all students. In addition to her academic work, Claire is an active advocate for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and their families. She works to raise awareness, drive positive change, and support parents as they navigate educational systems, ensuring that every child receives the understanding, support, and opportunities they deserve.