Developing frameworks for Specialist (Autism) Mentoring in Higher Education

制定高等教育专家（自闭症）指导框架

• 批准号: 2400640
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Birmingham
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2400640
• 关键词: Developing; frameworks; Specialist; Autism; Mentoring

There has been a remarkable increase in autistic students attending university; from 60 UK university students in 2003, to 11,015 students in 2018. Support for autistic students in the UK comes via the Disabled Students Allowance to engage a Specialist (Autism) Mentor to provide 'highly specialist, specifically tailored, one to one support which helps students address barriers to learning'.With the increase in the numbers of autistic students, and following national research agendas that seek to put participatory principles into action, there has been development of work that empowers autistic students in advocating for accessible university systems, but analysis still finds little or no literature on optimising Specialist (Autism) Mentoring support. Pilot studies have shown the worth of such programmes, with good mentors developing tailored partnerships to bridge the individual to university systems. Students have reported high levels of satisfaction with the Specialist (Autism) Mentoring offered, in particular mentees have reported empowerment through a 'person-centred ethos' with mentees 'appreciated for themselves rather than modified to fit in'. To this end this research asks, what are the themes inherent to good Specialist (Autism) Mentoring?Phase 1Following a scoping survey seeking a national picture via university disability officers of the UK's 130 universities, a monthly online structured diary will be solicited to representative mentees and mentors to capture the themes that are discussed in mentoring sessions. Phase 2Permission will be sought to interview mentees and mentors. Interviews will be thematically coded and consolidated into a thick description of mentoring which will be considered by the participants in the following phase.Phase 3Co-creating knowledge with autistic expertise is a robust method for understanding the social interplay inherent in the mentoring relationship. A participatory panel of autistic students, mentors and academics and allied mentors and disability practitioners, will be recruited. Anonymised data from the preceding phases will be shared with these groups who will be tasked with linking of semantic and latent themes. These conversations, and the participants' own experience of university, will form the basis of a framework for mentors to adopt. OutcomesUniversities will have a mechanism for ensuring excellent provision of mentoring. Specialist (Autism) Mentors will be provided clarity in their task and be empowered to share their experience with academics. Furthermore, these themes of mentoring should also provide clear expectations of the role to enable recruitment of autistic mentors into the profession. Potentially, neurodiverse campuses will be enhanced through autistic students' advocacy in the design of their own university encounters. It is hoped that the participatory elements of the research design will also challenge the deficit models of autism that mentees face.Though research is grounded in the experience of autistic students in the UK it will both inform and be informed by the models of peer mentoring projects that are emerging in Canada and Australia, and the college counsellor model prevalent in the US.Finally, this research also echoes four of the top five James Lind Alliance research priorities for autism. Mentoring is an intervention to improve mental health, an effective support for autistic people, an intervention to reduce anxiety, and provides appropriate support to achieve the best education, life and social outcomes for autistic people. This research contributes to ensuring the success of our growing population of autistic students and their academic communities, moving beyond conceptions of reasonable adjustment towards the universal design of university systems.

自闭症学生上大学的人数显著增加；从2003年的60名英国大学生，增加到2018年的11015名学生。在英国，对自闭症学生的支持是通过残疾学生津贴来获得的，该津贴聘请了一位专家（自闭症）导师，为学生提供“高度专业的、专门定制的、一对一的支持，帮助学生解决学习障碍”。随着自闭症学生人数的增加，以及遵循寻求将参与原则付诸行动的国家研究议程，已经有了一些工作，使自闭症学生能够倡导无障碍的大学系统，但分析仍然发现很少或没有关于优化专家（自闭症）指导支持的文献。试点研究显示了这类项目的价值，优秀的导师发展量身定制的伙伴关系，将个人与大学系统连接起来。学生们对提供的专家（自闭症）辅导非常满意，特别是学员们报告说，通过“以人为本的精神”，学员们“欣赏自己，而不是修改以适应”，从而获得了赋权。为此，本研究提出，优秀的专家（自闭症）辅导的内在主题是什么？第一阶段：通过英国130所大学的大学残疾官员进行范围调查，寻求全国情况，每月将向有代表性的学员和导师征求在线结构化日记，以记录在指导会议上讨论的主题。第二阶段，将寻求访问学员和导师的许可。访谈将按主题进行编码，并整合为指导的详细描述，参与者将在下一阶段考虑这一描述。阶段3：与自闭症专家共同创造知识是理解师徒关系中固有的社会相互作用的有效方法。将招募一个由自闭症学生、导师和学者以及相关导师和残疾从业人员组成的参与性小组。来自上述阶段的匿名数据将与这些小组共享，这些小组将负责链接语义和潜在主题。这些对话，以及参与者自己的大学经历，将构成导师采用的框架的基础。大学将建立机制，确保提供优质的辅导。专家（自闭症）导师将明确他们的任务，并有权与学术界分享他们的经验。此外，这些指导的主题还应该提供对角色的明确期望，以便能够招募自闭症导师进入该职业。潜在地，通过自闭症学生在设计他们自己的大学相遇时的倡导，神经多样性的校园将得到加强。希望研究设计的参与性元素也将挑战被指导者面临的自闭症缺陷模型。尽管研究是基于英国自闭症学生的经历，但它将为加拿大和澳大利亚正在兴起的同伴指导项目模式以及美国盛行的大学辅导员模式提供信息和借鉴。最后，这项研究也呼应了詹姆斯·林德联盟对自闭症的五大研究重点中的四个。师徒关系是一种改善心理健康的干预，是对自闭症患者的有效支持，是减少焦虑的干预，是为自闭症患者实现最佳的教育、生活和社会结果提供适当的支持。这项研究有助于确保我们不断增长的自闭症学生及其学术团体的成功，超越合理调整的概念，走向大学系统的普遍设计。