Supporting students to better support themselves through reverse mentoring: the power of positive staff/student relationships and authentic conversations in the law school

Abstract

ABSTRACT The impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on student wellbeing and mental health should not be understated. Interventions seeking to improve cultures in law schools to challenge stigmas surrounding support access are consequently vital. This paper draws on an innovative staff/student reverse mentoring scheme within a Russell Group university where law school staff were mentored by international undergraduate law students. It explores the use of reverse mentoring as a tool to develop self-awareness and positive identity formation in law students through authentic and reciprocal relationships with staff, facilitating empowered approaches to support which are anticipatory, as opposed to existing in crisis management mode. To demonstrate this, the stages of self-authorship theory are used to thematically organise interview data collected from student mentors. The paper also explores specific areas of student support (employability and personal tutoring) where the impact of reverse mentoring and its self-authorship generating capacity may be particularly useful. This paper argues that reverse mentoring in the law school and beyond provides a positive opportunity for students to adopt more self-authored and authentic approaches to their support needs, identifying a novel intersection between diversity and inclusion initiatives and the practical accessing of support as a law student.