The first city competition “The Best Mentor” has been held on the basis of the Taganrog Boiler-Making Works “Krasny Kotelshchik” (TKZ). It was a special project of the plant aimed at supporting and developing professional mentoring in production and in the vocational education system.

The competition brought together mentors of the plant and masters of industrial training from specialized educational institutions in Taganrog and became a response to the growing need for qualified personnel in the city's economy and effective tools for their integration into a team.

“Every graduate who starts working at a factory needs a person who will give a hand, help to integrate into the processes and gain confidence. The competition, initiated by “Krasny Kotelshchik”, became an important step towards the formation of a professional mentor community in Taganrog, a platform for the development of a learning environment and the exchange of experience,” Oleg Shekhovtsov, Deputy Head of the Taganrog City Administration for Economic Affairs, who visited the plant, said.

Mentoring requires not only professional competencies, but also deep personal involvement, the ability to work with people, communicate competently, see and develop their potential. This approach was the basis for the evaluation of contest participants. The program included both theoretical and practical blocks, and the final creative stage (the development of educational tasks for students) became a real test of “pedagogical” skills.

“I am grateful to “Krasny Kotelshchik” for reviving the institution of mentoring in Taganrog. Mentoring is much more than just knowledge transfer. This is faith in a student, support, and attention. Mentors help to create an environment in which students can grow, prove themselves and stay in the profession,” Sergey Revko, Director of Tagmet Taganrog College of Machine Building and Metallurgy, says.

Two TKZ mentors, Sergey Sopotov and Nikolay Batrachenko, are among the winners of the competition. Professionals like them play a key role in the adaptation of students and budding specialists who come to the factory for production practice and internships.

The growing number of newcomers, the expansion of partnerships with colleges, and the modernization of the training base of educational organizations, in which the plant invests heavily, training specialists in accordance with the needs of its production, urgently require a strong mentoring institution. That is why TKZ implements integrated approaches that promote the development of relevant forms of adaptation, training and support for employees in their workplace.

The company's systematic activity in this area has been widely recognized in professional circles and at the government level, “Krasny Kotelshchik” has received a number of prestigious awards for the development of the mentoring institution.