Mentorship through Maslow’s Self-actualisation: Teaching, Learning and Assessment Theories

IntroductionThe other(prenominal) decades has seen the rise in teachship programmes targeting unmarrieds and groups. Interest in learnedness programmes has been fuelled in part by the increased designation that learnship results into positive consanguinitys betwixt the mentored and the adult mentors, which have been noted to promote resilience among youths (Wilson and Peterson, 2006). In other words, mentoring is a critical aspect of human maturation with the ability to trans turn an one-on-ones hidden ability into an selected performer. However, it should never be assumed that the essential features of the natural association between an adult mentor and a young mentee is enough to diverge the dish up of mentorship championing to satisf fermentory results. More all over, closely research studies have mainly centre on mentee benefits, while ignoring their motivation and interests.Because of its multidisciplinary nature, mentorship requires a multidimensional progres s to issues. As such, various theories have been proposed to enhance mentorship programmes effectiveness. Maslows human-centered conjecture is found on the notion that experience is the basic phenomenon in the study and under assumeing of human accomplishment behaviour (Kenrick, 2010). Maslow straines on the bulkyness of choice, creativity, comforts and self-actualisation as distinctive human qualities, indicating that meaningfulness and subjectivity argon to a greater extent of import than objectivity. In other words, Maslow rejects the behaviourism and psychoanalysis because of the belief that it leads to over-reliance on human frailty at the expense of human strengths. This paper expounds on how a mentor fucking use Maslows surmisal of self-actualisation to accelerate mentorship achiever, by dint of with(predicate) the theories of teaching, learnedness and assessments.Maslows hierarchy of getsIts careful to highlight the Maslows five hierarchy of needs and wha t these needs stand for, before delving into how the live on need, self-actualisation, is essential for a successful mentorship programme. Maslow softened hierarchy of needs, which is establish on the study of psychology focusing on the inwrought experiences and freewill. In other words, human needs do change through a some(a)ones lifespan (Kenrick, et al., 2010). Maslow, thus, ranks the human needs from most basic physical needs to the most advanced self-actualisation. These ranks, which are a great deal referred to as Maslows hierarchy of needs are psychological needs, safety, belongingness, esteem, and self-actualisation. slice physiological needs overwhelm essential things like food, air, water and both other factor that contri ande to the human survival, the need for safety entangle issues to do with environmental security, job security, resource availability, healthcare and property will power among others. In many instances, the loss for safety is experienced durin g economic crisis or a country experiencing a disaster.The whiz of belonging, as another need, includes love, sense of friendship, intimacy, and family belonging among other needs. Belongingness is thus founded after safety and physiological needs have been assured. But there is exception to this rule peculiarly where peer pressure is complex, which whitethorn lead an individual to solicit for belongingness to touch a societal standards. Then there esteem, a need that include issues such as confidence, self-esteem, and respect among others. This level of need builds on the need for interpersonal elements of need such as love and belonging through the elements of being accepted and valued. It may lead to a close fundamental interaction between a mentor and a mentee, which often results to development of truehearted interpersonal and communication skills to the latter (Lunsford, 2011).Lastly is the self-actualisation, which includes factors such as righteous behaviour, creative thinking, and problem solving abilities. Self-actualisation, considered the most significant of all needs, is the number one wood of every other aspect of human need (McGuire, 2011).The theory of teaching, accomplishment and assessmentIn order to facilitate the impact of mentorship, a mentor may use various approaches of teaching, knowledge and assessment. Individuals have their own special(a) way of learning and to recognise that everyone does not learn the same way. As such, the modern concept of learning views it as a process of supple encounter (Craig, 2013 Wilson and Peterson, 2006). A mentor influences a mentee through provision of steal structure, expression of positive expectation, advocating and explaining, administering challenges to learners, provision of vision that is able to sustain the interests of the learners. agree to Feeney (2007), for mentorship to be effective, mentees must be guided on a transit at the end of which the mentee develops into a differ ent and produce more accomplished.In the perspective of Maslows theory, a mentee is more likely to develop ruin career path if their interactions with their mentors is holistic. That is, mentees particular(prenominal) needs may directly influence their births with their mentors. For a mentorship programme to success, a mentor can focus on giving greater consideration in mentoring exercise. Mentorship as processes of active engagementOne of the most critical aspects of education and learning over the past few decades is the move away from the concept that learner is a lounge around toward an image of learner as active constructor of meaning (Israel et al., 2014 954). The contemporary theory of learning focuses on behaviour. In this aspect a particular behaviour will lead to another and that when a mentor act in a certain way, the mentee will also act in a certain way as well.The reasons why modern teaching, learning and assessment theories go hand-in-hand with Maslows theory, i s that teachers hardly have control over the students ability to learn. This may also be replicated in mentoring, with a form of teaching that encourages mentors to facilitate learning process both within and distant their scope of control. Some of the things a mentor needs to observe is whether the mentee is motivated, favorable with the learning methods employed, interested, and whether the learning environment encourages interactions. These requirements are all contained in the Maslows theory of self-actualisation.Holistic learning theory provides the basic premise of mentorship as it gives individual personality, which is comprised of elements such as intellect, emotions, desire, intuition and imagination (Lunsford, 2011). For learning to constitute place and be effective, all these elements must be activated. This is in rootage with Maslows theory that is ground on the perspective that a persons drive to learn is intrinsic, and is purposefull-of-the-moony meant to achieve self-actualisation. In essence, the determination of a mentor should include the process of serving the mentee to achieve the in demand(p) self-actualisation of a mentee. In order to achieve the desired outcomes, it is necessary for mentors to establish relationships between mentors and mentees, which encourage patterns of regular contact over a significant period of epoch.Mentorship as a social phenomenon the social theory of learninganother(prenominal) significant angle in the mentorship field is the growing cognisance among mentorship theorists is that learners and mentees need social environment to facilitate learning and enhance the full benefit of mentorship. While previous learning theorists put more emphasis on individual learning, the current work places more emphasis on the critical role of social groups in the development of sympathizeing and enhancement of mentorship success. Even though solitude and silent background provide reasoned opportunities that are lik ely to favour learning process, the social occasions involved in various discussions, conversations, debate and partnership or group working equally play a critical role in the learning outcome. For example, small children may refer to everything with four legs as dog, but learn to separate a dog from a cat with time as they pronounce the names publicly and an adult gently right their pronunciation. This kind of approach to learning sometimes is referred to as activity theory, which can be traced psychologist Vygotsky, 1981 (cited in Lunsford, 2011 479), who theorised that social world has a toughened influence on individuals development.Self-actualisation, as one of Maslows five hierarchies of needs, deals with the idea of setting a sense of problem solving. A mentor can use the social interaction to enhance their mentees develop more problem- solving skills. The common concept about self-actualisation is that knowledge and practice is inseparable, because humans learn or know b y doing (McGuire, 2011 Wilkes, 2006). This means that a mentor can look at mentees as they are doing something meaningful, such as solving an authentic problem, in case they want to understand what the mentees level of understanding.Learner difference as a resourceAnother significant shift that people have contracted is the value pose on individual and group differences. Quinn and Hughes (2007) observe that one of the self-evident truths of learning is that learners come with varied experiences, capabilities, understandings, and backgrounds. As a person seeks mentorship to achieve high-quality of what they value most in their lives, the differences between individuals continue to widen. For example, as school environments become more democratic, teachers/ mentors are forced to learn to deal with the inherent differences that live between the students/mentees. While in the traditional model of teaching, teachers often apply the deficit model of students to draw and plan the lear ning process, modern teaching, based on mentorship, emphasises that the difference between mentees should be toughened as a resource.This approach is in line with Maslows self-actualisation, which embraces the difference between individuals growth, which is treated as personal and fulfillment of ones own potentials. A mentor, using this perspective, will focus on the difference between individual mentees as strength rather than a weakness, by focusing on each mentees own volition of success. In essence, a mentor should not use a standardised approach to building individual mentees personality. According to Maslow (1987, cited in Kenrick, 2010, p.4), a self-actualised person has a great sense of awareness, which allow them to maintain a near constant utilisation of life. They often engage in activities that facilitate the feeling of unity with feasible meaningful outcome. They also tend to develop some degree of word sense for all that seem unchangeable as well as level of sponta neous and stamina to work on what is changeable (Kenrick, 2010). In essence, a self-actualised individual has developed a complete and coherent personality that enables them to govern their lifes direction. A mentor can use this approach by applying theories of learning to help themUtilise and provide value to the division that a mentee brings to the table during the assessment process Undertake, facilitate and act upon feedback from a mentee with regard to effectiveness of the learning environment Allow the mentee to have some personal time for reflection of their personal as well as professional development Provide value-oriented and timely feedback and evaluation of individual mentees level of proficiency (Gopee, 2011). The Theory of teaching for understandingThe other shift that mentors have redirect their concern is based on assumptions that knowledge is based on what a mentee is to learn. Nicklin and Kenworthy (eds) (2003) state that this theory is no longer based on what me ntees quietly master or learn, but is based on the contemporary educational reform that demands that students possess more flexible acquaintance of issues in a broader concept. In other words, learners must not sole(prenominal) know the basics but also how to use those basic skills to recognise and solve non-traditional problems. Alternatively, the use of critical thinking is meant to emphasise teaching for understanding. This theory has specific underlying assumptions that to be considered competent in a specific field, one must master core ideas, concepts and facts, and more importantly, its processes of inquiry and arguments. remnantAlthough critics of Maslows self-actualisation believe that this approach of teaching and learning oversimplifies complicated ideas, it may not be right to suggest that ideas about learning, learners, and knowing are either mutually exclusive or monolithic. If anything, the compatibility of these ideas is one of the reasons for their popularity in the last three decades. The idea of developing skills needs to be holistic, and mentors need to adopt methods that would embrace the contemporary theories of teaching, learning and assessments to increase the effectiveness of mentorship.A mentors role in practice placement is critical helping a mentee go through successful learning and assessment process. Although the relationship that may develop between a mentor and a mentee is preferably complicated, it is essential to establish certain form of association that allows a mentor to provide support while at the same time repose objective and analytical as well. From the perspective of a mentee, a salutary mentor is teacher who nurtures, while at the same time remains a knowledgeable friend (Wikes, 2006). Maslows self- actualisation need can guide a mentor through identification of essential factors that would lead to a mentee becoming self-actualised. A mentor can facilitate the success of a mentorship process by jointly definin g realistic expectations of their relationship with a mentee, to increase opportunities for understanding and trust.ReferencesCraig, C.A., Allen, M.W., Reid, M.F. Riemenschneider, C.K., and Armstrong, D.J. (2013) The impact of career mentoring and psychological mentoring on affective organisational commitment, job involvement, and turnover intention. 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