Mentors are trusted, more experienced individuals who offer young people advice on their future career and study plans. A mentor can be a family member, a friend, a schoolteacher, or other community member. Previous research has linked natural mentoring with positive academic, vocational, and social-emotional outcomes (van Dam et al., 2018). Understanding who young people turn to for guidance can help inform efforts to support their decisions.
This data story draws on the GENERATION study, a nationally representative longitudinal study of young Australians (Edwards et al., 2024). It explores whether students from 2022-2024 (corresponding to Years 10-12 for most participants) spoke to a mentor to help make decisions about their future, who those mentors were, and how mentoring differed by university plans and school location.
About a third of Year 12 (or equivalent) students reported speaking to a mentor to help make decisions about their future, up from 21% in Year 10.
When asked what was the relationship with that mentor, 53% identified teachers, while 47% identified relatives, neighbours or family friends.
Almost half of Year 12 (or equivalent) students attending regional or rural schools reported speaking to a mentor, compared with 31% attending major city schools.
Of Year 12 students planning to go to university, 36% reported speaking to a mentor, compared with 31% of those not planning university.
The proportion of young people who reported speaking to a mentor increased as they progressed through secondary school. In Wave 1, around one in five young people (21%) said they had spoken to a mentor or mentors that year to help them make decisions about their future. This increased to 28% in Wave 2 and 36% in Wave 3. Overall, the proportion was roughly 15 percentage points higher in Wave 3 than in Wave 1, showing that young people were increasingly likely to engage with mentors as they approached the end of secondary school when young people are closer to making important decisions about life after school.
However, around two-thirds of young people in Wave 3 did not report speaking to a mentor. Expanding access to mentoring could therefore give more young people an additional source of guidance and support as they consider their future pathways.
Among young people who reported speaking to a mentor, relatives, neighbours or family friends and teachers were the most common sources of guidance. In Wave 1, 61% identified relatives, neighbours or family friends, and 47% identified teachers. By Wave 3, teachers (53%) and relatives, neighbours or family friends (47%) were each identified by around half of mentored students.
Industry or career contacts were also common, reported by 41% of mentored Wave 3 participants. Around 24% identified university mentors, while 11% mentioned community group mentors. Students could identify more than one mentor type, so these percentages do not add to 100%.
These findings suggest that existing personal and school networks are important sources of guidance. Connections beyond these networks may offer additional perspectives, especially when students are considering pathways unfamiliar to their families or schools. Expanding opportunities to connect with a wider range of mentors could complement existing support and broaden the guidance young people can draw on as they consider their post-school pathways.
Among Wave 3 participants, mentoring differed by plans for university study and school geographic area. Mentoring was more common among students planning to attend university (36%) than those not planning university (31%). The largest difference was by school geographic area, with almost half of students attending regional or rural schools (49%) reporting speaking to a mentor, compared with 31% of those attending major city schools.
These findings show that mentoring was not equally common among Year 12 (or equivalent) students with differences particularly apparent by the students’ university plans and school location.
Overall, mentoring became more common as young people progressed through secondary school, although many had not spoken to a mentor by Wave 3. Relatives, neighbours, family friends and teachers were the most common sources of guidance. Among Wave 3 participants, the proportion reporting mentoring was higher among those planning university than among those not planning university, and among students attending regional or rural schools than among those attending major city schools. These findings may help inform efforts to support young people as they consider their future pathways.