The presentation focuses on the prevention of early school leaving (European Comission, 2015; Gonzáles-Rodrigez, 2019; Paksi et al, 2023), and the analysis presents a preventive intervention for groups of pupils at risk of dropping out.

The research was carried out in Hungary, which has an early school leaving rate of 12.4% in 2022, compared to the EU average of 9.6%. The SES index for Hungary measures a high number of students' performance (OECD 2019). Students with low social status are more likely to live in deprived areas and small towns, and Roma students are over-represented among them. International research on Roma has found that the most persistent forms of group-based disadvantage are linked to identities of origin (minority), with one form of inequality promoting or deepening another (Howard and Vajda 2017). Another problem is the limited access to educational services, which is caused by the frequent segregated education in addition to the settlement disadvantage (Kende, 2021).The educational attainment of disadvantaged and Roma youth is significantly lower than that of their higher social peers, and they are more likely to have failed schooling and to drop out early (Kende-Szalai, 2018; Bocsi, Varga & Fehérvári, 2023). These are described to lack career guidance, which if present, is characterized by “randomness” in elementary school (Bereményi, 2020, p. 19.). According to a Hungarian study (Kisfalusi, 2023), Roma students are less likely to apply for a secondary school career that requires a longer learning path. This is due to the lower socio-economic status of Roma students, cost-benefit expectations and their lower self-esteem. Lack of information and lower career offers from teachers may also play a role. Studies show that mentor programme reduce the gap in career guidance; besides it is understood to prevent early-school leaving (Fehérvári & Varga, 2023). The research investigates an ongoing mentoring programme in 1-1 classes in 10 schools, supporting the successful progress of disadvantaged and Roma students (N 130). The aim of this programme is to connect services and resources in the student's environment and strengthen career guidance to help prevent early school leaving. The key actors in the programme are mentor teachers, who work along a career-focused mentoring plan tailored to their institution and supported by horizontal learning. In their work, cooperation with families and institutions that provide peer support in secondary school or university courses for pupils is important. The presentation inquires peer mentors (secondary school students), who, based on the literature also benefit from participating in such mentor programs (Beltman, Herker & Fischer, 2019). Elementary school pupils’ primary socialization (as they are from disadvantaged background and/or of Roma minority) differs from the institutional secondary school socialization sphere; due to this, they undergo bicultural socialization (LaFromboise, Coleman & Gerton, 1993; Nguyen & Benet-Martínez, 2013). In the programme peer mentors are attributed by similar socialization patterns as pupils (mentees), meaning they have undergone or are undergoing same or similar difficulties as their younger peers.

This presentation focuses on the role of peer support in career guidance by introducing students who participate in the programme as mentors. Twenty students from Gandhi Roma High School joined one of the 10 schools in the framework of the School Community Service (and/or volunteering). The criteria for joining were that they should preferably be "alumni" of the school and/or from a surrounding locality.

To explore peer mentors’ perceptions about the benefits and difficulties of their mentoring role prior to their personal experiences, interview format research was carried out. Data collection has followed the research ethical guidelines and the headmaster of the institution has given permission for involving students in the interviewing process. Research participants have contributed to recording the interviews. Transcript were made of the recordings and data of participants have been anonymized using codes. Data collection has been carried out between December 2023 and January 2024. Interviews were collected by two members of the research group. Those students from the High School were invited to the research who were peer mentors in the program, all of them accepted participation (N=20; n=20). Semi-structured interviews were used to explore their views on the mentoring role at the beginning of their work. The semi-structured interview consisted of a total of 21 items of which 1 item was an associative, open-ended task; 13 items were semi-structured, open-ended discussion topics; and 7 items were closed-ended demographic data. Demographic data introduces the sample via descriptive statistics, analysing age, grade, gender, socioeconomic status (parents education level), minority, place of habitat. Open-ended discussion topics revealed the “mentoring past” of participants meaning their history of being mentored and being a mentor, that contributes to the analysis of the results. Open-ended items were coded with content analysis, applying the grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss, 2017), via the help of the Atlas.ti software. Two independent coders – research group members – have coded the interviews, creating a consensus on the final coded results. Results were analysed with descriptive statistics, presenting the frequency and distribution of answers. Quotations from the participants are also used to illustrate categories and to further nuance the results. In the presentation the focus is on a few results that are connected to peer mentors’ self-reflection about their self-efficacy and presumed difficulties, obstructions in their work.

In the research peer mentors were asked about their roles as mentors and self-evaluation of their work – in most of their cases, data collection has taken place at the beginning of the mentoring process. The results highlighted that peer mentors have joined the programme because of intrinsic motivation: most of them undergone difficulties when choosing secondary school, because of that they aimed to support their younger peers. Choosing a school from the 10 institutions was mostly based on redescription of the research group (students were “alumni” pupils) and/or social motivation (other peer mentors joining). As peer mentors who begun their work, assumptions about the characteristics of a “good” mentor and mentee were recorded. Their plans as mentors and presumed difficulties highlight the areas in which programme developers can scaffold mentoring – thus providing a positive mentoring experience. Peer mentors are committed to their work, and the introduction of supervision, which they have requested, can help them to overcome the obstacles that many of them have encountered. Further research is planned to monitor the mentoring process in the end of the semester (Spring semester of 2023/2024) in which experience of mentors is to be revealed. Process-monitoring should also involve the perception of mentees and document analysis of mentoring outcomes/products.

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