Why mentorship matters to the South African architecture profession

Abstract

This article investigates mentorship within South Africa's architecture profession, a field grappling with retention and demographic transformation amidst historical socio-political complexities. While mentorship has evolved from discretionary to a near-mandatory practice prescribed by the South African Council for the Architectural Profession (SACAP), its actual impact on the architecture profession remains understudied. Employing a pragmatic mixed-methods approach, this study integrates document reviews and survey results from 430 participants, and 46 key informant interviews to explore perceptions surrounding mentorship. The study reveals that positive, neutral, and negative mechanics and sentiments on mentorship co-exist, highlighting the contingent and variable effects of mentorship on career trajectories. These findings challenge the conventional ‘mentorship-is-good’ paradigm, suggesting that traditional mentorship models may inadvertently perpetuate hierarchical relationships, thereby hindering transformation efforts. The implications point to a need for intensified scholarship to underpin mentorship approaches that are relevant, effective and informed, address power dynamics, and promote equitable professional development in post-apartheid South Africa. The identified lack of research on the nuances of mentorship dynamics on professions fields - especially from a global south perspective - shows a need for the profession to engage more critically with the topic. This could pave the way for mentorship to be less a symbolic or outdated practice and serve as a tool for more meaningful progress.