Mentoring scheme set to help low achievers

The national mentoring campaign, led by Christine Hodgson, chair of the Careers and Enterprise Company, will see schools and businesses encouraged to work together to give these young people the best possible chance to succeed in later life.

The campaign will look to build on existing mentoring provision offered by organisations including the Prince’s Trust, the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation, and Mosaic.

Cameron said the campaign will work with business, charities and the public sector to "build a new generation of high-quality mentors".

“We’ll direct £70m towards careers in this parliament, primarily to the Careers and Enterprise Company who will lead this major new effort to recruit mentors for young teenagers with a focus on the 25,000 about to start their GCSEs who we know are underachieving or at risk of dropping out.”

Hodgson added: “We hope that this campaign will highlight even more opportunities for people to get involved in a meaningful way to help young people who are in danger of becoming disengaged.”

David Simmonds, deputy chair of the Local Government Association (LGA), said his organisation is keen to work with the Careers & Enterprise Company to help develop the initiative.

“The new mentoring programme should help build confidence and ensure the best chances of finding employment when youngsters leave education,” he said.

Sophie Livingstone, chief executive of City Year UK, said: "In my experience, there will need to be careful consideration of how the mentoring relationships are brokered with schools already doing a lot with finite resources.