Establishing a Professional Identity via Mentoring in Design Programmes

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 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 in the run of the education. A modified version of Grounded theory represents the methodical approach 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. The Activities arising from categories of practice, social relation and professional environment, which encapsulate the creation of the professional identity. 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 mentor mentee relation find it easier to navigate in the professional environment within the industry.