ESTABLISHING A PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY VIA MENTORING IN DESIGN PROGRAMMES
Year: 2016
Editor: Erik Bohemia, Ahmed Kovacevic, Lyndon Buck, Christian Tollestrup, Kaare Eriksen, Nis Ovesen
Author: Bennyson, Réne; Hansen, Birgitte K.; Blond, Malene G. S.
Series: E&PDE
Institution: Department of Design and Production, University College of Northern Denmark, Aalborg, Denmark
Section: Building Capacity
Page(s): 584-589
ISBN: 978-1-904670-62-9
Abstract
The use of a mentor mentee relation in the course of a not well known design programme in Bachelor
of Applied Science will strengthen the establishment of the student’s professional identity, with the
overall purpose of the student positioning themselves as a professional. The relation to the mentor is
made through regular meetings where the mentee gradually positions himself professionally. This
research addresses the student perspective and the students’ transition to become a part of the
profession and to position themselves as professionals. The focus in this research is to facilitate the
student’s job entry in the industry as opposed to professional mentoring within the industry where
professionals mentor professionals for career development [1] In conclusion this article is seeking to
present an example of how a student becomes aware of a professional identity by being a legitimate
peripheral participant [2] in the run of the education. A modified version of Grounded theory
represents the methodical approach [3], [4] as the collected empirical data has formed the overall basis
for this project. The descriptive and evaluation codings give an indication of which elements are
relevant in regards to the establishment of a professional identity for the student. The mentor mentee
meetings is facilitated through a series of activities throughout the educational programme [5]. The
Activities arising from categories of practice, social relation and professional environment, which
encapsulate the creation of the professional identity [6]. The findings indicates that the three different
mentee activities during the mentee mentor relation, helps the students positioning themselves as
professional thereby creating their professional identity. The findings also shows that the students who
engaged actively in a
Keywords: Professional identity, positioning yourself as professional, legitimate peripheral participation, design education, mentoring.