The Nightingale Mentoring Network
European forum to facilitate cooperation between members and the work with mentoring.
It is clear Covid pandemic will have long- term effects in many different level, both on an individual level but also for school and a community level. This research uses Bronfenbrenner´s ecological model to show how Covid-19 disruption affected children and youth on both a macro and micro level (when schools were disrupted) and how important stakeholders were outside formal education engaged in promoting youth wellbeing and support.
Dear Nightingale friends and Network partners,
hope you all have had a relaxing vacation and are now back with new energy. We hope to meet you soon in Berlin and are looking forward to finally meet physically and to be able to have experience exchange together again.
Below you can see some important information about our 12th International Nightingale Network Meeting “The Nightingale- Past, Present and Future” in Berlin the 23rd – 24th of February.
As already mentioned we will work with the UN Global Goals. We want to highlight what has been and will in the future be the Nightingale values, by reflecting and compare our ideas with UN Agenda 2030.
HERE you can reach the homepage for the Network Meeting on the Berlin institute page. There are further information’s but more information will be added soon.
The Network Meeting will cost only 100€ and include everything: coffee, lunch, dinner and the cost of renting rooms, guided tours etc.
The registration fee had to be split due to different taxation. VIA THIS LINK you reach the registration for the network meeting. It is important that you fill in both check marks
30 € for the Conference Contribution and 70 € for the Conference Program.
PARTNER NEWS
Barcelona Rossinyols want to share some nice photos and info with you.
Here in Barcelona, like every year, we tried to increase the number of mentoring pairs, consolidating mentoring in different cities. Nowadays we are more than 100 pairs and all of them already know each other!
We want to highlight a girl who had a lot of communication difficulties and couldn’t speak in the school, family or with other people, but during the presentation we could see his eyes glaze with emotion. For us was key to see the impact of mentoring.
Biden is also sharing some thoughts with us about mentoring !
See you all in Berlin!
A new semester has started and almost ended, and we have a lot of new Nightingale tandems all around Europe. Best wishes to all of you!
It would be great if we could share some photos of different events or from just a mentor-mentee meeting even though we all have to think about GDPR.
Maybe you can send photos to ( Carina) to be uploaded on our webpage and show others how many places The Nightingale Program are running.
Here some pictures from the Kick-Off in Girona Spain, Malmö and Karlstad in Sweden.
HAPPY NEWS
Finally we have the possibility to meet again! We are so happy to announce
Next Nightingale Network Meeting, the 13th will be held live in
BERLIN the 23rd – 24th of February
All of us have now worked hard with the Nightingale during Covid restriction and quite often we work alone. That is why we want to meet again live and have experience exchange but we both also want to do something valuable for the Nightingale project/program.
CONTENT
We want to look back at the last 26 years of Nightingale (since 1997 in Malmö, Sweden ) share the present and the experiences of the last year, as well as look into the future.
The question we want to raise is, what is the value of the Nightingale by taking a closer look on what make Nightingale so unique and meaningful. We want to use the Bronfebrenner´s model and focus on different perspectives, from a micro level to a macro level by looking on the effects on:
-Mentors and mentees/parents, other keypersons
-Organizations involved, school, University etc.
– The society
We also want to focus on a particular concern regarding the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. How can we work with these values now and in the future?
What contribution does the Nightingale offer in a larger framework for the question of democracy?
In doing so, we will look back on the many years of experience and research of the project and consider together how we can accentuate the social and political significance more concretely for the future.
PROGRAM
Wednesday the 22nd of February.
Individual arrival. For those who arrive in Berlin there will be an optional gathering at 19.30 in the evening.
Thursday the 23rd of February
The Network Meeting will start at 10 o´clock in the morning. In the afternoon/evening there will be a cultural program/activity. And in the evening a joint dinner together.
Friday the 24th of February – The Nightingale Day. We will start at 9.00 o´clock and the program will end 2 o´clock with a lunch together from 1 o´clock.
There will be a webpage with more information in the beginning of January 2023.
You will have the possibly to register from the 9th of January until the 22 January 2023.
PRIZE
The prize with be only 100€ were almost everything will be included: lunch, dinner, and an event.
HOTEL
There will be on hotel reservation for us at Hotel Steglitz International, Berlin
( 20 room) Prices per room per day: 90,00 €/single room.
PARTNER NEWS
New coordinator
We would like to welcome the new coordinator i Nattergalen Agder, Norway:
Janne Lund is the new coordinator at the University of Agder. She teaches at the education of child welfare pedagogics and social work and is especially concerned about the everyday life of children and adolescents.
National Network Meeting Sweden/Finland
was held in Karlstad the 23-24th of November.
Petra, the host in Karlstad, Miriam, Sara and Carina from Näktergalen Malmö and Ann from Näktergalen Trollhättan. Richi from Näktergalen Finland was with us from a link.
Bank grants to Näktergalen Malmö
Näktergalen Malmö have made an application to the bank Sparbankstiftelsen Finn and got a fund which now make it possible to give a scholarship to all our mentors, tax free.
New research, on the page Research about mentoring.
Research shown that effective teacher-student relationships influence students’ social function, such as behavioral problems, academic achievement, and engagement in learning activities. Please read more.
The board wishes Happy weekends to all of you!
Merry, merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
See you live in Berlin 2023!
The Influence of Affective Teacher–Student Relationships on Students’ School Engagement and Achievement: A Meta-Analytic Approach. Review of Educational Research, 81(4), 493–529.
By: Roorda, D. L., Koomen, H. M. Y., Spilt, J. L., & Oort, F. J. (2011).
Interesting research show that affective teacher-student relationships influence students’ social function, such as behavioral problems, academic achievement, and engagement in learning.
Read more here
Welcome back to a new Nightingale year in 2022-23,
the first year in two, without any Covid restrictions!
Nightingale Conference & Network Meeting
Time flies and the Conference we want to hold in February 2023 seem to be difficult to organize. Right now we have no partner willing to host it. So the board have discussed the possibility to instead of a Conference have a Network Meeting in February – A Reunion after Covid. A more informal meeting without Keynote speakers etc. But with possibility for all of us to meet and eat but of course also be able to have experience exchange. Carina has so far post the question to Berlin and Vienna. So we will come back were we can meet. Maybe you have any ideas?
The plan is to have the Network Meeting the 23-25 th of February 2023.
Network fee
As everyone knows the new Nightingale Year also start with the Network fee 200€ /year, from 1st of September until last August.
Malmö University have a new administrator who will take care of it. Her name is Christina Ahlberg. She will contact you.
Research
The post Covid situation – Mentoring can help
The mental health are an important topic, real and widespread. Children have faced an increased health concerns by the Covid -19 pandemic. In USA around 1,5 million have had depression in 2021. However one very positive effect is that youth with mentors have reported fewer depression and social anxiety symptoms than their non-mentored peers regarding to one research study. Interesting fact for us!
Read more about this on our page “Research about mentoring”
PARTNER NEWS
Regarding to this research the board member Cecilie, Nightingale Trondheim in Norway also mentioned the increased numbers of student’s health problems in Norway and she was worried about if this affected the numbers of applicants. She is writing:
Greetings from Trondheim, Norway
Hi fellow Nightingalers! I hope you`ve all had a great summer and that the prosess of recruiting mentees and mentors is going well. Here in Trondheim, Norway, I was feeling a bit anxious regarding this years recruitment prosess, especially when it came to recruiting enough mentors. In the newspapers and media, there have in the last year or so, been a lot of focus on students and their mental health and distress. Some studies (or at least this is the medias angle) indicate that todays students are more troubled, have more suicide thoughts, are more lonely and a so on. Some researchers say that this apparant increase in various distress, might be due to Covid and the fact that the students who graduate from highschool today, have experienced long periods of their adoloscence under “Covid conditions”, with more homeschool (and hence less physical interaction), more “screentime” and more “worried surroundings”. I think there is som truth to this; of course environmental conditions matter, of course we need physical interaction to connect with others beyond a surface level. Being smitten with medias foreshadowing of declining mental resources in young adults, I was quite worried that the new students entering university this fall, would not be capable of, or seeing themselves capable of, joining the Nightingale and taking on the responsibility of a child. Now, the prosecc of recruiting mentors is over, and I`m very happy to report that I was wrong; in Trondheim, we have around the same amount of applicants this year that we usually have 🙂
Best wishes, Cecilie
We want to welcome our new partners in Helsinki, Finland.
Greeting from Helsinki Finland where the Nightingale landed during the spring and eagerly awaits to start singing. Nightingale mentoring at the University of Helsinki is a Swedish-speaking programme with the aim of being bilingual Swe-fFn within two years. The recruitment of students and kids have started of well and we are exited to begin the mentorship programme in the end of October. The reception of the programme from both internal and external partners have been exceptional, and we hope our blue Nightingale bird stays with us for many years to come, despite the cold and dark winters.
We have face an increased mental health concerns, by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In U.S around 1,5 million more children experiences depression or anxiety in 2021
One study shows over a period of 13 months how the depressive symptoms reduction emerged.
A positive result however comes from a study showing that children with mentors have reported fewer depression and social anxiety symptoms than their non-mentored peers.
Mentoring is helpful in promoting mental health.
Read more about this in The Chronical of Evidence-Based Mentoring
This mentoring year is going to its end and so is one semester too.
Now we are hoping for the best for next semester – a new Nightingale year without the Covid.
It is however always interesting to look both back and forward and think about of the Covid years we have gone through with surprisingly good results. But I am also thinking of all the years our Nightingale has been running. In Malmö we now celebrate our 25th anniversary!
Over the years we all have contribute to:
*inclusion and widening participation in education
*students and children’s development and learning
*a better integration in our cities
One of the Global goals in Agenda 2030 is: Leave No One Behind. Nightingale and mentoring is one good example of this – we try not to leave anybody behind but instead include them. We don´t want any children to be left behind. We want to strengthen their self-confidence and develop a better self-esteem – to develop their potentials.
Those who otherwise would not met now meet. It is a mutual exchange and learning and development for both mentors and children (and for others too)
Mentors’ engagement is also good for the society – they are doing a humanistic effort. Through mentoring the society gets individuals who are engaged not only here and now. Their engagement will increase for social questions and social justice also in the future, isn´t it amazing! ( Stukas A, Snyder M and Gil E. (1999) The effect of Madatory intention to volunteer. )
PARTNER NEWS
Next Nightingale Conference.
Unfortunately The Nightingale Berlin will take a pause. That means next Conference can not be held in Berlin. Any wishes or ideas?
New board members
Cecilie Ellefsen has been the coordinator for the Nattergalen in Trondheim, Norway since 2018.
Núria is technical support in Nightingale Girona since 2019. She is also psychologist interested in social issues and promoting social inclusion through mentoring. Finally, in 2018 she participated in the Applying Mentoring research.
First Conference with Rossinyols in Spain.
State Congress of Social Mentoring was held in Navarra. Here you can read more about the Conference. ( in Spanish)
Prize of good practices developed in mentoring
We are also happy to announce that Rossinyol, Girona received the seal of quality on the good practices developed in mentoring, along with 8 other projects (here Jèssica is receiving the award).
Nightingale in social media
we try to spread our news but also make links to things you send us. We like to spread news, ideas, research etc. So please continue to send us your news or interesting things worth spreading! Or remember to do so.
We have account on:
LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram
You tube
UIA – Urban Innovative Actions
We are also spread on the webpage : UIA – an Initiative of the European Union promoting pilot projects for sustainable urban development. Read more here
Since some year ago we are included on the webpage with facts, goal and aims about our Network and ”events” held during the years.
Some of you have probably started your vacation and some of you will not until August. Whenever you go: enjoy, rest and have a nice time!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION THIS SEMESTER.
Which you the best and a nice summer!
The 24 – 25th of March we had our Nightingale 11th Conference hosted by Lillehammer, Norway – the same date as Ukraine was invaded. However we all agreed on the importance to work together in the Network and this type of cooperation is important and needed in Europe. We hope for peace and will continue to work with compassion by letting people get together that otherwise would not meet and learn from each other. For a better and sustainable society.
We also want to send a big thanks Liv for hosting us on zoom and for all her work to organize this Conference. Partners agreed on the importance to be able to meet ( even if it is on zoom) and to have experience exchange. In our Network we can ascertain – there are a lot of knowledge. Important to spread.
PPTs from Key note speaker Sunil Looma and PPT from the seminars are uploaded on the page: Conferences
The Minutes from the Network Meeting is uploaded on the page Network Meetings
PARTNER NEWS
I am happy to inform you we now have a new board consisting of:
Cecilie from Nattergalen Trondheim
Núria Rossinyol from Girona
Peter Stammerjohann from Nightingale, Freie Universität Berlin will continue his second year.
Carina will continue in the board
That means we now have members from Sweden, Spain and German speaking countries ( Germany, Austria and Switzerland)which was the goal to be able to represent all
NEWS FROM FINLAND
We are happy to inform you that Nightingale Finland will start their Nightingale project at Helsinki University.
Richi who has been a mentor in the Näktergalen, Malmö for some years ago took the initiative and now he and his college Belinda will start to run it the in Autumn. in cooperation with Helsinki University and one local school.
After a two day visit in Malmö and workshops they are now fully educated!… and have a lot of energy to begin. We wish them a big Good Luck!
An idea, to discuss in our national network?
it would be so nice if we together could compile some stories from mentors and mentees in our Network and make a sort of a booklet/ digital. Sharing and showing the variation but also what is common in the tandems or in the concept of Nightingale. Could be a nice way to show other outside our network and to spread all around. Could also be one way of showing our cooperation in Europe. (and with Africa too!)
Dear Nightingale friends,
welcome back, hoping the new year stated well!
As already decided our next Network meeting & Conference will be held at Zoom, arranged by Nightingale at Lillehammer University in Norway.
The program will almost be as decided …but cost nothing! Lillehammer will pay for all, the Keynote speaker and for the cultural event we can take part in. So now you will have the great opportunity to invite student, mentors, contact persons and your network in the municipality and at your university for free.
We will also have an optional gathering in the evening the 24th of February.
The program will start 9.45 the 24th and end 1 o´clock the 25th of February.
Las day for registration will be the 18th of February. A link will be sent to all registered.
Click here to get the interesting program, agenda for the days.
Looking forward seeing you all!
Despite the covid everyone is trying to run the Nightingale program. And as always we meet passionate and clever students who reflect on mentoring, on children´s life and living condition and as well on their own life and living. One good aspect of mentoring is the mentors reflection, – how do I live my life, but also the moral aspect, how should life be lived and what society do I want. Today when we face so many challenges I think it is so important to have and get insight into different aspect of the society, to be able to understand, but also to improve for other.
Here one reflection from one mentor in Nightingale Vienna:
“Patience is one factor that I was able to train in this project. Since we live in an incredibly fast time, in which everyone has to be available at all times, one often loses patience in dealing with other people. This is particularly evident in our compulsory internships when we observe mentors who do not even let the children think for two seconds, but immediately asks the next raised hand to formulate the correct answer. Accordingly, we should all work to give children time to focus on things and not humiliate them if they don’t spit out the answer in the next second. Spending several hours with a young child whose knowledge of German is not yet fully available trains your own patience enormously.
I am sure that my empathy towards her person and character has led to a strong basis of trust. I’m proud of that too. One cannot emphasize too often the appreciation of diversity and individuality. Because there are still prospective teachers who want to move to a small, cozy village in the country immediately after graduation in order to teach a class that is as white and homogeneous as possible. If everyone thought that way, there would be a lack of staff in schools that do not have privileged children. For whom we are often the only common thread they can cling to. In addition, there should be more intensive preoccupation with and examination of the needs of different children. We should be interested in their worlds, take their development phases seriously and, above all, act in a constructive and supportive manner in their pubertal phase.”
(Tara, Teacher-Student, final online-report_June_2020)
Dear Nightingale friends,
IMPORTANT NEWS
Unfortunately the Covid situation in our countries is bad again so the board have decided to adjust to the situation and be safe, under the current circumstances. We have to call of our meeting in Lillehammer the 24th of February – 25th, 2022.
But don´t cry…we will have the Conference anyway – it will be digital but almost the same.
The zoominar will be two days, a little shorter but it will be an interesting version. There will also be time for you to get to know each other in Breaking rooms and there will even a pub in the evening!
We will adjust the agenda as soon as possible and give you more details in January, next year.
Partner news
As already mentioned I ( Carina) am now a Honorary Doctor at Karlstad University, where we also have our Nightingale bird singing, lead by Petra Johansson.
It was two fantastic days at the University in Karlstad and the ceremony is now a memory for life for me!
But as I said my wish is that the light will not only shine on me but on The Nightingale and give us more national and international attention and priority at our University for our work with compassion and humanity.
I also think, to be honest, the hat should be meant for all our mentors who actually do the most work and deserve it!
Since I promised, some partners to show you photos from the ceremony
here they are.
Now the board wish you all the best, we also wish you a Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Thank you for your effort in the Nightingale due all the restriction and obstacles we have had because of the Corona.
We are looking forward to meet you all, first digital at the Conference the 24th of February. But fingers cross maybe we can meet physically in the year 2022.