Setting up and Sustaining Peer Support Systems in a Range of Schools over 20 Years

This article begins by detailing some of the key ideas behind the concept of peers helping peers. The history of peer support schemes in the UK and of the author's particular and important role in this development are explored. The use of Re-Evaluation Counselling in this model is described. She also details the processes of setting up and sustaining peer support schemes in schools. The factors that are key to these processes are identified and exemplified via case studies.     

Peer Support: A Strategy to Help Bystanders Challenge School Bullying

In this article, the authors first discuss the nature of peer support and some of the ways in which it has evolved over time, particularly in the UK. Under the umbrella of peer support they include activities such as befriending, peer counselling, conflict resolution or mediation and intervening in bullying situations. Secondly, they describe research studies of peer support and discuss their relevance to bystander behaviour. Thirdly, they draw some conclusions that relate to the wider context of the developing role of peer support in schools today. These include the benefits to peer supporters and the key processes of flexible monitoring and clear observation of the needs of the potential users.     

A Peer Counselling Service in a Secondary School to Combat Bullying: Issues in Planning and Ongoing Management

Peer counselling schemes have been developed in some secondary schools to combat bullying. Research supports the need for bullied victims to speak with their peers. Such schemes need regular monitoring and modification to suit the school's particular pastoral needs. This paper explores the management issues surrounding the provision of peer counselling in one service, managed by a school counsellor. The service is outlined to show that appointment setting requires careful planning and ongoing management. This paper discusses four central issues, which are the role of a peer counselling service; the selected model; the most suitable room location; and the most appropriate time for counselling to take place in secondary school.     

Investigating the extent and use of peer support initiatives in English schools

This survey aims to give a broad overview of the way peer support is currently used in English primary and secondary schools, and to highlight common patterns. Regional strata samples of schools were selected from an online database. Questionnaire data were obtained from 240 schools (130 primary and 110 secondary), of which 186 had peer support schemes. An adjusted estimation (which makes some correction for non‐response error) suggests that 62% of schools are using a structured peer support scheme. The survey results also give an indication of some common patterns and commonalities in the characteristics of existing schemes, as well as some differences between primary and secondary schools. The implementation of peer support is often multi‐dimensional, particularly in secondary schools after a scheme had been running for some time. The findings are discussed in relation to previous research and in terms of the nature of school‐based peer support programmes.     

Teach Me and I May Remember,Involve Me and I Learn: Four Approaches to Peer Mentoring in Sport Psychology

ABSTRACT

Many students experience difficulties during their graduate education. Scholars have proposed mentoring as one potential strategy to support them. While often assumed to be the sole responsibility of faculty, graduate students are also in a position to provide meaningful mentorship to their peers. Thus, the purpose of the current article is to focus on the relationship between peer mentor and mentee and provide those interested in becoming peer mentors during their graduate training with a guide to deliberately structure their interactions and relationships with mentees. More specifically, the approaches of four former peer mentors are presented. These are all grounded in theory and have been labeled: (a) autonomy-supportive mentoring, (b) mentoring with resonance, (c) community-based mentoring, and (d) self-concept-based mentoring.     

A Critical Study in the Objective Measurement of Character

ABSTRACT

With a sample of 373 middle school students, the present longitudinal study examined the role of the classroom peer climate in mediating the relation between perceptions of classroom goal structures and academic help seeking among peers. Classroom goal structures were measured in the fall and classroom peer climate and help seeking among peers were assessed in the spring. Structural equation modeling indicated classroom mastery goal structure directly predicted desirable help-seeking behavior among peers (i.e., high adaptive help seeking and low expedient and avoidance of help seeking). A positive classroom peer climate mediated the effects of classroom mastery goal structure on expedient and avoidance of help seeking. A negative classroom peer climate mediated the effects of classroom performance goal structure on avoidance of help seeking. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

A Student Guide for Interpreting Case Material

Abstract

The use of peers in the evaluation of teaching is part of a larger trend in postsecondary education toward a more systematic assessment of classroom performance. Many scholars believe that certain aspects of teaching can be assessed only by classroom observation. This study examines the use that peer reviewers make of teaching products, especially peer observation reports, during the promotion and tenure review process. Results indicate that peer observation reports are seen as an important component in evaluating teaching effectiveness, though perhaps not the best indicator of effective teaching. Despite flaws in peer observation instruments, the results from classroom observation are seen as valid and are used in deliberations about faculty teaching performance.     

Social influence or selection? Peer effects on the development of adolescents’ educational expectations in Germany

Abstract

Educational expectations are a key predictor of educational attainment. Throughout adolescence, friends increasingly function as ‘significant others’ and, thus, can affect the development of these expectations. Although scholars often interpret the clustering of students with similar expectations within friendship networks as the outcome of peer influence, a similarity of friends can also be a result of friendship selection processes and preselection due to ability tracking. We apply multilevel social network models to panel data of adolescents from Germany (1,992 ninth-grade students in 91 classes) to disentangle these mechanisms. Beyond selecting similar friends (homophily), we find that adolescents adapt their expectations towards the average expectations of their friends (social influence) but only in secondary-school tracks that support diverse educational paths. We conclude that peer socialization is important for the development of students’ educational expectations in contexts that are sufficiently heterogeneous to allow for the emergence of distinct peer milieus.     

Peer tutoring in algebra: A study in Middle school

Abstract

This study reports the academic benefits of peer tutoring in algebra for middle school students. A total of 380 students enrolled in grades 7^th and 8^th participated in the study. Two peer tutoring sessions took place during each week (10?weeks). Interactions between peers lasted 20 to 25?minutes for each session. The typology of tutoring was fixed and same-age. A pretest posttest with control group design was used. Statistical significant improvements were reported in the academic achievement variable after the implementation of the peer tutoring program for 7^th and 8^th grade courses separately and altogether. Over 87% of the students in the experimental group improved their marks. The overall effect size for the experience was reported to be medium (Hedge’s g?=?0.48). The main conclusion of this study is that fixed and same-age peer tutoring in algebra may be very beneficial for middle school students.     

Acceptance or rejection? The social experiences of children with special educational needs and disabilities within a mainstream primary school

ABSTRACT

This article details a study which investigated the social acceptance and friendships of children with SEND, and their typically developing peers, at a mainstream primary school in the North West of England. Participants were 29 children aged five and six years old, separated into three groups; typically developing children, children who were being monitored for SEND, and children with formally identified SENDs. With the use of a peer nomination sociometric technique, findings revealed that children with SEND had less promising peer relations and friendships compared to children tracked for SEND and their typically developing peers, consequently questioning the mainstream ‘ideal’.     

The road to self-assessment: exemplar marking before peer review develops first-year students’ capacity to judge the quality of a scientific report

Lack of clarity about assessment criteria and standards is a source of anxiety for many first-year university students. The Developing Understanding of Assessment for Learning (DUAL) programme was designed as a staged approach to gradually familiarise students with expectations, and to provide opportunities for the development of the skills required to successfully complete assessment tasks. This paper investigated the students’ perceptions of the first two components of the DUAL programme, which assist first-year biology students to engage with stated assessment criteria and standards in order to develop their capacity to make judgements about scientific report exemplars, their peers’ scientific reports and ultimately their own. The study found strong evidence (96% of responses) that the marking and discussion of exemplar reports with peers and demonstrators clarified expectations of scientific report writing. A key feature of this element of DUAL was the opportunity for structured discussion about assessment criteria and standards between peers and markers (demonstrators). During these discussions, students can clarify explicit statements and develop a tacit knowledge base to enhance their ability to judge the quality of others’ work and their own. The peer review exercise (the second element of DUAL) was not rated as highly, with 65% of students finding the process helpful for improving their report. The negative reactions by a sizeable minority of students highlight the need to clearly communicate the expectations and benefits of peer review, with a focus on how the process of giving feedback to peers might benefit a student as much as receiving feedback on their own report.     

Peer groups and behaviour problems

Abstract

The study evaluated the effect of a programme for elementary school students with behaviour problems integrated into the regular classroom. The programme combined in-class social skills training and specific educational activities with peers, namely cooperative learning and tutoring by a prosocial peer. The innovative aspect is that the social status and affiliations of children with behaviour problems are key components in the matching of children during peer support. The goal is to improve social behaviour and to change peer perception through interventional strategies, therefore improving social reputation. Pre-test/post-test control group design was used. Results from traditional analysis indicated no significant difference between treatment and control groups after the programme. A modest effect size showed a relative improvement for students with behavioural disorders who participated in social skills training. Results are discussed in terms of the role of friends in the intervention programme.     

The impact of formative peer feedback on higher education students’ academic writing: a Meta-Analysis

Peer feedback is frequently implemented with academic writing tasks in higher education. However, a quantitative synthesis is still lacking for the impact that peer feedback has on students’ writing performance. The current study conveyed two types of observations. First, regarding the impact of peer feedback on writing performance, this study synthesized the results of 24 quantitative studies reporting on higher education students’ academic writing performance after peer feedback. Engagement in peer feedback resulted in larger writing improvements compared to (no-feedback) controls (g?=?0.91 [0.41, 1.42]) and compared to self-assessment (g?=?0.33 [0.01, 0.64]). Peer feedback and teacher feedback resulted in similar writing improvements (g?=?0.46 [-0.44, 1.36]). The nature of the peer feedback significantly moderated the impact that peer feedback had on students’ writing improvement, whereas only a theoretically plausible, though non-significant moderating pattern was found for the number of peers that students engaged with. Second, this study shows that the number of well-controlled studies into the effects of peer feedback on writing is still low, indicating the need for more quantitative, methodologically sound research in this field. Findings and implications are discussed both for higher education teaching practice and future research approaches and directions.     

Factors associated with students’ attitude change in online peer assessment – a mixed methods study in a graduate-level course

Abstract

Positive student attitude towards peer assessment can be demonstrated through high-quality peer assessment activities. Research findings on students’ attitudes before and after such activities were mixed. This study was conducted using a mixed-methods approach to investigate the underlying factors influencing students’ attitude change. Participants were students enrolled in an online graduate-level assessment course in the college of education in a university in the southeast United States in the fall of 2017 (N?=?31). Surveys and interviews were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data separately, both of which indicated that perceived accurate and specific feedback tended to help students shift to more positive attitudes towards online peer assessment. In addition, final task score improvement after the activity was correlated with positive attitude change. Qualitative results also identified other factors, such as communication with the peers’ work and logistic concerns. The current study offers insights for researchers and instructors to promote positive attitude changes in online peer assessment activities.     

Peer Mentoring: A Citizenship Entitlement at Tanfield School

This paper describes the experience and benefits of peer led education at Tanfield School and how this led to the development of a peer mentoring scheme in the school, which was linked to citizenship education. The project aimed to strengthen existing links and ease the transition of pupils from feeder primary schools to the secondary school. The second aim was to improve the key skills of the mentors and have an impact on their learning. The project involved year 10 older students mentoring pupils in year 7. The findings of the evaluation are reported and it is argued that the aims were met.     

The acceptance and rejection of peers with ADHD and ASD in general secondary education

The authors focused on analyzing (a) peer acceptance and peer rejection of typically developing students, students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in general secondary education; (b) attitudes of general secondary-aged students toward peers with ADHD and ASD; and (c) the relationship between peer acceptance/rejection and students' attitudes. A cross-sectional study was performed (n = 437 typically developing students, n = 28 students with ADHD/ASD; range = 12–15 years old). Students were asked to indicate with whom they prefer to hang out or preferably not want to hang out (peer acceptance and peer rejection). Attitudes were assessed using the Attitude Survey Toward Inclusive Education. Multilevel analysis showed significant differences between students with ADHD and ASD and typically developing peers on peer acceptance and higher on peer rejection. Second, typically developing peers showed neutral attitudes toward peers with ADHD or ASD. Third, the results showed that students' rejection and attitudes of peers significantly relate to each other.     

Classroom dimensions predict early peer interaction when children are diverse in ethnicity, race, and home language

The purpose of this study was to test a model for predicting preschool-age children's behaviors with peers from dimensions of the classroom and teacher-child relationship quality when the children were from diverse race, ethnic, and home language backgrounds. Eight hundred children, (M = age 63 months, SD = 8.1 months), part of the National Evaluation of Early Head Start, participated in this study just prior to entering kindergarten. We observed children with peers in their classrooms and rated classroom peer group size, affective climate for peer interaction, teacher management of the classroom, and materials for dramatic play. Teachers reported on teacher-child relationship quality. Children from Spanish-speaking homes played similarly in classrooms where Spanish was and was not spoken. After control variables and receptive vocabulary scores were entered into the model, classroom dimensions and teacher-child relationship quality significantly predicted pretend play, anxious-withdrawn, aggressive, and victim of peer aggression behaviors with peers. Children engaged in more pretend play and received lower ratings of being the victim of peer aggression when classroom groups were smaller. When teachers perceived teacher-child relationships as lower in conflict and higher in closeness, children's anxious-withdrawn, aggressive, and victim of aggression ratings were lower. Children's ratings of being the victim of peer aggression were higher when ratings of classroom positive peer climate were lower. Child-teacher ethnic or racial match did not moderate these predictions.     

An empirical review of anonymity effects in peer assessment,peer feedback,peer review,peer evaluation and peer grading

Abstract

Peer assessment has proven to have positive learning outcomes. Importantly, peer assessment is a social process and some claim that the use of anonymity might have advantages. However, the findings have not always been in the same direction. Our aims were: (a) to review the effects of using anonymity in peer assessment on performance, peer feedback content, peer grading accuracy, social effects and students’ perspective on peer assessment; and (b) to investigate the effects of four moderating variables (educational level, peer grading, assessment aids, direction of anonymity) in relation to anonymity. A literature search was conducted including five different terms related to peer assessment (e.g., peer feedback) and anonymity. Fourteen studies that used a control group or a within group design were found. The narrative review revealed that anonymous peer assessment seems to provide advantages for students’ perceptions about the learning value of peer assessment, delivering more critical peer feedback, increased self-perceived social effects, a slight tendency for more performance, especially in higher education and with less peer assessment aids. Some conclusions are that: (a) when implementing anonymity in peer assessment the instructional context and goals need to be considered, (b) existent empirical research is still limited, and (c) future research should employ stronger and more complex research designs.     

Peer Support: A Strategy to Help Bystanders Challenge School Bullying

In this article, the authors first discuss the nature of peer support and some of the ways in which it has evolved over time, particularly in the UK. Under the umbrella of peer support they include activities such as befriending, peer counselling, conflict resolution or mediation and intervening in bullying situations. Secondly, they describe research studies of peer support and discuss their relevance to bystander behaviour. Thirdly, they draw some conclusions that relate to the wider context of the developing role of peer support in schools today. These include the benefits to peer supporters and the key processes of flexible monitoring and clear observation of the needs of the potential users.     

发挥朋辈互助作用 防范校园危机事件

探讨了高校朋辈辅导的涵义及特点,提出开展朋辈辅导应明确招募条件。分析了朋辈互助在防范校园危机中的作用,提出通过朋辈互助防范校园危机事件的具体方法。