Mentoring expert, Òscar Prieto-Flores, highlights the importance of relationship quality in mentoring programs

Experts’ Corner: Mentoring in the era of COVID-19

From the ‘Mentoring in the era of COVID-19: Nine experts in the field weigh in’ article by Justin Preston and Monica Arkin

Dr. Òscar Prieto-Flores, associate professor of sociology at the University of Girona in Spain, agrees that relationship quality, while not the only necessary component of a successful intervention, is a vital ingredient of any mentoring program. “I agree with Jean Rhodes that the friendship model of mentoring has its pitfalls in providing specific strategies and skills that mentees can learn from. So, programs have to develop more specific strategies lined up with their objectives. Nevertheless, we need to have a balance and not leave bonding strategies especially in these COVID-19 moments. Especially when we know from educational theory that learning is not always internalized without being meaningful and without coming from someone you trust.”