Get to Know the Different Kinds of Student Profiles
The Different Paths
When we say “Make education accessible” this naturally means “to a wide range of profiles”:
Either just getting started or retraining
Job seekers (long term or short term)
Entrepreneurs
Internal training plans
You’ll meet students of all ages and backgrounds, so it’s important to:
establish good communication to target their needs.
see if your mentoring style suits them.
decide together how you can organize things to make the most of this learning journey.
You’ll quickly discover that each mentorship experience will give you new insights into your profession. The student isn’t the only one who benefits from the mentoring relationship.
Here is what two of our star mentors at OpenClassrooms told us: meet Joy and Mike. In this first video, they’ll be talking about the many different kinds of students they’ve worked with and how enriching the experience has been:
Different Types of Funding
In addition to having different goals and backgrounds, students also have different types of funding:
Third-party funding.
Self-financed.
Third-Party Funding
Type of student | Training program structure |
Apprenticeship | Funded by a company, an apprentice follows a predefined training pattern, split into two parts: study and work. Their employer and their tutor have a right of oversight for their training program. |
Employee | Funded by their employer, they benefit from a very specific training schedule, and are learning their new skills as part of internal training, an internal development plan or an internal/external job change. |
Funded by a social program | Funded by a specific public organization in your home country, they will be part of a cohort of students entering the training program at the same time. These groups are taking an optional training program and have signed a contract that requires their ongoing attendance. Missed sessions or substantial delays will have an impact in terms of their funding and access to the training program. |
Self-Funding
Self-funded | This type of student pays for their own training. Unlike other types of students, there is no specific project end date, and they are the only ones who can take a break from their training if they want to. |
Specific Situations
At OpenClassrooms, we consider that a helpful attitude, empathy, and active listening must be the foundation of our learning, for all students.
Students who have told us that they have a registered disability can be assigned to mentors trained in and aware of their specific needs. If this applies to you, and you have not yet informed us, we invite you to notify us using this form. You should then check the “Disability-friendly” box on your mentor profile.
In some cases, a student may ask to change mentors during the training program. This is completely normal, and we believe that in some cases, a mentor change can be beneficial for students because it provides them with several different points of view. The Mentorship team is available via the contact form to tell you more if necessary.
Contact the Student Assigned to You
You may be assigned a student hours, days, or even weeks after you sign your contract; it depends on when the students start their training programs.
When you are assigned a student, you will receive an automatic email. It will contain:
all the information needed to get in touch with your student.
presentation material to help you run the discovery session and discuss key points with your student.
If your student is slow to respond, put a note on their profile (internal comment) and let us know via the contact form.
Once you’ve contacted your new student, agree on a date for the discovery session.
Book the Discovery Session on the Platform
Have you set the date and time for the discovery session with your student? Now you need to book a time slot on the OpenClassrooms platform.
The discovery session is the first mentoring session, which is especially designed for you to officially meet your student and learn more about their expectations.
Let’s Recap!
"Making education accessible to all" isn’t just a phrase, it’s a practical approach. You will be mentoring students from a very wide variety of backgrounds.
It’s important to quickly identify what type of student you are mentoring because this affects the practical and administrative aspects of their training (duration of sessions, obligatory attendance, end date of training, specific schedule, etc.).
The discovery session is a mentoring session that’s registered on the platform, like the others.
The link to the very first mentoring session must be sent to us via the contact form, so that the Mentorship Team can give you feedback and guide you at the start of the mentoring process.
Let’s now take a look at the main stages of this discovery session!
