The Early Childhood Education Program at TRU has received a grant of more than half a million dollars to start a different kind of mentoring program.

TRU is thinking outside the box when it comes to new educators getting help.

Dr. Laura Doan from the Faculty of Education and Social Work at TRU explains what sets this new programs apart from others. “Peer mentoring is really recognizing that both new educators and experienced educators have things to offer each other and they can learn from each other.”

“So this is stepping away from maybe the typical, traditional mentoring model which is mentor-mentee where you have the expert and the novice.”

Dr Doan says another advantage to peer mentoring is not only new and experienced educators having help in questions they might have, but both can support each other in times where they’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed.