These guidelines govern the conduct and responsibilities of all mentors accepted into the SMI Mentorship Programme. By joining, you commit to upholding these standards and contributing to a world-class learning experience for school leaders across Africa.
1. Role of an SMI Mentor
SMI Mentors are experienced education professionals who provide guidance, knowledge, and practical wisdom to school owners and managers enrolled in the SMI programme. Your role is to support participants in applying what they learn to real-world school management challenges.
As a mentor, you are expected to:
- Attend and actively participate in assigned cohort sessions (live or virtual)
- Engage with participants in a respectful, constructive, and encouraging manner
- Share relevant experiences, frameworks, and insights from your professional background
- Provide honest and balanced feedback that helps participants grow
- Represent the SMI brand with professionalism at all times
2. Commitment & Availability
Mentorship within SMI is a voluntary but serious commitment. By accepting a position as a mentor, you agree to:
- Honour confirmed session dates and notify the SMI team at least 48 hours in advance if you are unable to attend
- Respond to communications from the SMI team within a reasonable timeframe (typically 48 hours on business days)
- Serve for the duration of the cohort you are assigned to, unless exceptional circumstances prevent you from doing so
- Inform the programme coordinator promptly if your availability changes significantly
3. Professional Conduct
All SMI mentors are expected to maintain the highest standards of professional behaviour. This includes:
- Respect: Treat all participants, staff, and fellow mentors with dignity and respect regardless of background, gender, religion, or school size.
- Integrity: Provide honest guidance. Do not misrepresent your expertise, credentials, or affiliations.
- Inclusivity: Be sensitive to the diverse backgrounds of SMI participants and avoid language or conduct that may be perceived as discriminatory or exclusionary.
- Punctuality: Join sessions on time and come prepared. Participants look to mentors as role models in professional standards.
- Appropriate boundaries: Maintain a professional relationship with participants. Do not solicit business, personal favours, or inappropriate contact outside of programme activities.
4. Confidentiality
During your time as an SMI mentor, you may have access to sensitive information shared by participants, including details about their schools, finances, staff challenges, and personal circumstances. You agree to:
- Keep all participant disclosures strictly confidential
- Not share, reproduce, or discuss participant information outside of the mentoring context without explicit consent
- Handle any SMI programme materials, data, or internal communications with discretion
5. Conflict of Interest
Mentors must declare any actual or potential conflict of interest to the SMI team before or during their engagement. A conflict of interest includes, but is not limited to:
- A business relationship with a participant that may influence your objectivity
- A personal relationship that could create bias in your feedback or engagement
- Representing or promoting a competing training programme while serving as an SMI mentor
SMI reserves the right to reassign or suspend a mentor where a conflict of interest cannot be adequately managed.
6. Use of SMI Branding
Mentors may identify themselves as "SMI Mentor" on professional platforms such as LinkedIn while actively engaged in the programme. However:
- You must not use the SMI name, logo, or endorsement for personal commercial purposes without written approval
- Any public statements made in connection with SMI must be accurate and must not misrepresent the programme
- Upon completion or termination of your engagement, you should update your profile to reflect that the mentorship was for a specific period
7. Intellectual Property
Materials, frameworks, and content developed by mentors specifically for the SMI programme may be used by SMI for educational purposes. Mentors retain ownership of their pre-existing intellectual property. Any jointly developed materials will be discussed and agreed upon in writing with the SMI team.
8. Grounds for Removal
SMI reserves the right to remove a mentor from the programme if they:
- Repeatedly fail to honour their session commitments without adequate notice
- Engage in conduct that is disrespectful, harmful, or discriminatory towards participants or staff
- Breach confidentiality or misuse SMI materials
- Misrepresent their credentials or background
- Act in a manner that brings the SMI programme into disrepute
Where possible, SMI will address concerns informally before taking formal action. A mentor who is removed will be notified in writing with the reason for the decision.
9. Voluntary Nature of the Role
The SMI Mentorship Programme is a voluntary initiative. Mentors are not employees of SMI and this engagement does not constitute an employment contract, consultancy agreement, or paid service arrangement unless explicitly agreed otherwise in a separate written agreement.
Questions about these guidelines?
Reach out to the SMI programme team.