Building motivation, achievement and progression online: evaluating Brightside's approach to online mentoring

Abstract

This report sets out the findings of an independent evaluation of Brightside conducted by the International Centre for Guidance Studies. Brightside is a charity that seeks to raise young people’s aspirations and awareness about education and career pathways and enhance their capability to achieve those aspirations. A mixed methods approach to evaluation was taken which combined interviews with Brightside staff and partners (representatives of organisations that used Brightside) with analysis of existing web statistics collected by Brightside, an online survey of mentees and a detailed content analysis of a sample of online mentoring conversations. Overall the evaluation found that Brightside is well regarded by its partners, and provides a tool which delivers high quality mentoring and clear impacts for participants (mentees). It is particularly effective in helping young people to transition to higher education by helping them to think about which university they want to apply to, and supporting them through the application process.