A “Curriculum of Hope” - Designing and Evaluating a Remote Mentoring Program for Pupils in a Pandemic

Oct 15, 2026

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The paper evaluates the GROW Programme, a remote mentoring intervention for 15–18-year-old pupils in England who could not attend school during 2020–2021. It theorizes the practical basis of mentoring under lockdown by applying thematic analysis to mixed-method data from teacher and mentor surveys, interviews, and pupil focus groups. Using Bernstein’s knowledge codes and the idea of open schools, the study identifies knowledge forms in online mentoring and highlights metacognition and self-regulated learning benefits for disruption contexts.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

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Pages24

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Abstract

Introduction

Part 1: The context and research design

A “Curriculum of Hope”: Designing and Evaluating a Remote Mentoring Program for Pupils in a Pandemic Richard Pountney Shefﬁeld Hallam University ECNU Review of Education 2023, Vol. 6(1) 33–56 © The Author(s) 2022 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[DOI: 10.1177/20965311221111806](DOI: 10.1177/20965311221111806)[ ](DOI: 10.1177/20965311221111806)[journals.sagepub.com/home/roe](journals.sagepub.com/home/roe) Abstract Purpose: This paper reports the evaluation of an ongoing intervention, the GROW Programme, aimed at meeting the needs of 15–18-year-old pupils who were unable to attend school in England for periods during 2020–2021 . The aim of the paper is to theorize the underlying basis of practice in such a lockdown context to inform future responses. Design/Approach/Methods: Thematic analysis of a mixed-method evaluation, using surveys and interviews of teachers and mentors, and pupil focus groups, of the remote mentoring of pupils and their learning during lockdown, is further analyzed by means of Bernstein’s knowledge codes and concept of open schools, to identify the form of knowledge inherent in online mentoring. Findings: The analysis offers a framework for open schooling valuable to schools in uncertain times and identiﬁes the shift to metacognition and self-regulated learning as holding particular beneﬁts for learning under disruption. Originality/Value: The paper takes a novel view of the disruption brought about by the partial closure of schools and offers a methodology for evaluating its effects by means of a unique intervention. It makes visible the characteristics and the potential beneﬁts of alternative approaches in order that schools can make informed choices. Corresponding author: Richard Pountney, Shefﬁeld Institute of Education, Shefﬁeld Hallam University, Room 104111, Arundel Building, Charles Street, Shefﬁeld S1 1WB, UK. Email: [r.p.pountney@shu.ac.uk](r.p.pountney@shu.ac.uk) Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License ([https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as speciﬁed on the SAGE and Open Access page ([https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage](https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage)). Keywords Evaluation, knowledge codes, lockdown, mentoring program, metacognition and self-regulated learning, open school Date received: 3 February 2022; revised: 9 April 2022; accepted: 27 April 2022 Introduction The partial closure of schools in England owing to the COVID-19 pandemic (CV19) on March 20, 2020, save for on-site education for vulnerable children and children of critical workers, has impacted all areas of society, including education. This paper reports the evaluation (cf. Pountney et al., 2021) of an instrumental case study (Stake, 1995, 2006) of an ongoing intervention for 15–18-year-old pupils who were unable to attend school for periods during the 14 months up to June 2021 . This intervention was devised by schools and a team at a university in South Yorkshire, England, including the author, and comprises the GROW Programme ([https://blogs.shu.ac.uk/](https://blogs.shu.ac.uk/)[ ](https://blogs.shu.ac.uk/)grow) of focused, online mentoring for pupils by recent graduates, either at home or on return to school. The paper is in three parts. Part 1 sets out the context for the program within the ongoing CV19, the responses to the lockdown of schools, and the problems that arose from the effects of missed schooling. Part 2 describes the design of the intervention and its aims and the evaluation of its efﬁcacy. In Part 3, there is a discussion of how inter

FAQs

What is the GROW Programme and who is it for?

The GROW Programme is an ongoing remote mentoring intervention for 15–18-year-old pupils in England who were unable to attend school for periods during 2020–2021.

How does the paper evaluate the remote mentoring intervention?

It uses thematic analysis of mixed-method evaluation data, including surveys and interviews with teachers and mentors, plus pupil focus groups.

What learning outcomes does the study highlight for online mentoring?

The analysis emphasizes a shift toward metacognition and self-regulated learning, which are presented as key benefits for learning under disruption.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by hdkawk