Specialist Mentor

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The Role
What you'll do
Who you are - Qualifications, Experience, Knowledge and Skills required
How to apply
Benefits
Employment Visa
The Role
The successful candidates will assist students individually with a variety of study organisation challenges, and in resolving problems to enable students to focus more effectively on academic progress. Responsibilities vary, but may include supporting students to keep appointments, plan and track completion of study related tasks, and navigate some social situations.

Working as a member of a multi-disciplinary team you will meet regularly, by appointment, with your allocated students to advise and assist them on appropriate approaches and strategies which they may adopt to facilitate effective study and learning.

The successful candidates will be qualified to degree level and must have comprehensive training in adult autism as determined by the "Non-Medical Help (NMH) - DfE qualification and professional body membership requirements to deliver DSA's fundable NMH roles" for the role of 'Specialist Mentor - Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC)'.

To make an informal enquiry, please contract John Harrington at oih@aber.ac.uk

Successful applicants will be subject to a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service Check (DBS) check.

Appointments are normally made within 4 - 8 weeks of the closing date.
What you'll do
This job description is subject to review and amendment in the light of the changing needs of the University, to provide appropriate development opportunities and/or the addition of any other reasonable duties.

Specialist mentors provide highly specialist, specifically tailored, one to one support which helps students address the barriers to learning created by a particular impairment, e.g. autistic spectrum disorders. This could include a range of issues, for example, coping with anxiety and stress situations, how to deal with concentration difficulties, time management, prioritising workload and creating a suitable work-life balance.

Specialist Mentors should not act as advocates or counsellors. Their role is to help students recognise the barriers to learning created by their impairment and support them in developing strategies to address these barriers, particularly at times of transition, e.g. when starting at university or when planning to move on from it. For some students this support will need to be ongoing while for others it might be gradually phased out or only be required at certain points of their course.

Individual students will normally have an allocated time period and number of sessions per week allotted to mentoring. Mentors are required to work within the guidelines provided to them in line with the student's allocation.

Minimum work hours are not guaranteed and will vary according to individual assignments; these respond to individual student support plans and work around individual timetable scheduling. On average, an eligible student may be allocated between 1-2 hours mentoring per week during term time; a mentor may be asked to work with one or more students, depending on matching criteria, availability and established competences.

This employment opportunity is offered as a Non-Medical Helper funded by Disabled Students' Allowances. Whilst the majority of mentoring sessions will take place during the academic terms mentors should be available throughout the year. It will be highly desirable for mentors to be available for 1:1 sessions between 9.00am and 5.00pm.

Main Duties & Responsibilities

• Orientation: Ensure students are able successfully navigate the campus for scheduled sessions (fresher's week sessions; lectures, seminars and workshops; appointments at finance office etc).
• Transition: Use knowledge of the University's structures and procedures to guide and support students transitioning through University from their arrival, breaks in study, through to transition out of University life in preparation for employment.
• In collaboration with the student, support in the maintenance of their timetable and appointments; also monitoring student participation in the weekly schedule.
• Providing regular opportunities for students to check email, Blackboard and any other relevant sources of information and communication from academic or service departments and to record and encourage the student to act on these as necessary.
• In collaboration with the student, plot assignment deadlines (identifying any converging deadlines) to support the student in managing their study action plan. You will plan for the regular (usually weekly) monitoring and review of progress for all goals and tasks.
• Providing the information and support required for students to develop their own skills in planning, identification of priorities, goal setting, and time management; similarly for their recording, storage and organisation of key information for ease of retrieval as it is needed (e.g. use of assistive technology and hard copy files of lecture notes etc).
• Anticipating any access needs that may arise for the individual because of unexpected developments (late changes to rooms or session changes), receiving and acting on communications relating to these to ensure their progression and minimise negative impacts on the student.
• In collaboration with the student, to take a lead in guiding students with aspects of research and data collection where specific mentoring functions have been highlighted in individual learning plans, study needs assessment reports or their equivalent.
• Assessing the needs of the student in order to refer the student to relevant specialist support staff, departmental and University administrative.
• Monitoring the student's engagement with their course of study and identifying any shortfall in relation to the student's current support provision recommendations.
• Build a working relationship with the student to quickly identify any difficulties that may arise in order to signpost to suitable support to prevent disengagement from their course of study and to empower the student to make decisions relating to their progression.
• Liaising with departmental colleagues (i.e. Accessibility Advisers, Wellbeing Adviser and Study Skills Tutor).
• Providing responsible guidance, working with sensitivity to the particular requirement of the disability to advise in skills that will assist the student to meet their own aspirations for participation and fulfil their study and personal potential.
• Encountering potentially difficult and challenging health and wellbeing issues and responding with sensitivity, diplomacy and de-escalation skills.
• To reflect on practice and the development of learning support materials on a regular basis, leading to the subsequent revision or reformulation of the learning support strategies used within the Student Support Services department.
• To undertake health and safety duties and responsibilities appropriate to the post.
• To be committed to the University's Equal Opportunities and Diversity Policy, together with an understanding of how it operates within the responsibilities of the post.
• To be committed to your own development and that of your staff through the effective use of the University's Effective Contribution Scheme.
• Any other reasonable duties requested commensurate with the grade of this role.

Who you are - Qualifications, Experience, Knowledge and Skills required
Essential

Desirable

*More information on Welsh Language Levels can be found at:

https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/hr/policy-and-procedure/welsh-standards/
How to apply
To promote a flexible workforce, the University will consider applications from individuals seeking full time, part time, job share, or term time only working arrangements.

Applications for this role must be made through jobs.aber.ac.uk. You are welcome to apply for any vacancy in Welsh or English and any application submitted will be treated equally.
Benefits

• Flexible working policy
• 36.5 - hour week for full-time roles
• Generous leave entitlements - 27 days annual leave plus bank holidays and university closed days
• Commitment to Professional Development
• Enhanced contribution to our workplace pension schemes
• Staff recognition and reward schemes
• Opportunity to learn the Welsh language for free
• Staff relocation bursary
• Maternity, Paternity, Parental and Adoption Leave
• Staff discount for gym facilities, hospitality, and retail on campus.

Please keep reading
We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and communities and, those that are currently underrepresented in our workforce. This includes but is not limited to Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates, candidates with disabilities, and female candidates.

We are a Bilingual Institution which complies with the Welsh Language Standards and is committed to Equal Opportunities. You are welcome to apply for any vacancy in Welsh or English and any application submitted will be treated equally.
Employment Visa
Under the UK Government's points-based system scheme, this role does not meet the criteria to be sponsored by Aberystwyth University (AU) for a Skilled Worker Route (SWR) application.