How to Mentor But Not to Helicopter Students in Inclusive Higher Education.

Background: BLuE – 'Bildung, Lebenskompetenz und Empowerment' ['Education, Life Skills and Empowerment'] – is an inclusive university programme with a peer‐mentoring system, where students of the primary education programme assist students with attributed cognitive or mental disabilities as tutors. Deutsch et al. (2024) showed that it is a challenge to achieve a balance between providing adequate support and avoiding well‐meant but exaggerated support. This balance requires on‐going negotiations. Methods: The participatory research project contained two sequences of semi‐structured focus groups with BLuE students and tutors. Results: Various points of tension, all concerning negotiation of responsibility, were identified. Tutors individually seem to manage responsibility for the BLuE student's study without openly discussing it, often making decisions internally. BLuE students make decisions for themselves in accordance with tutors' preferences but without reference to recognised problems. Conclusions: Tutors play a crucial role in fostering self‐responsibility and autonomy in BLuE students. Rather than feeling solely responsible for ensuring course requirements are met, tutors and BLuE students should engage in open discussions about how to share responsibility for the student's studies and the process of gaining greater independence. Summary: BLuE is a university programme for people with attributed cognitive or mental disabilities at the University of Education in Salzburg, Austria. The BLuE programme lasts 4 years.We are a team of researchers. We are all part of the BLuE university programme. One of us is a graduate in this programme. One of us is a tutor in this programme. Two of us are lectures in this programme.Students in the BLuE programme and tutors discussed how they work together.What we found out: Responsibility is important. Sometimes tutors take too much responsibility for the study of the BLuE students. Sometimes BLuE students feel left alone with their work assignments. What we found out: Tutors and students should work together to figure out who does what. This helps students be more in charge of their own learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]