Including everyone: A peer learning program that works for under-represented minorities?

Jacques Van Der Meer,Stephen Scott

doi:10.5204/intjfyhe.v4i1.147

Jacques Van Der Meer, Stephen Scott

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5204/intjfyhe.v4i1.147

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Abstract

Peer learning has long been recognised as an effective way to induct first-year students into the academic skills required to succeed at university. One recognised successful model that has been extensively researched is the Supplemental Instruction (SI) model; it has operated in the US since the mid-1970s. This model is commonly known in Australasia as the Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) program. Although there is a considerable amount of research into SI and PASS, very little has been published about the impact of peer learning on different student groups, for example indigenous and other ethnic groups. This article reports on the results from one New Zealand university of the effectiveness of PASS for Māori and Pasifika students. The questions this article seeks to address are whether attendance of the PASS program results in better final marks for these two groups of students, and whether the number of sessions attended has an impact on the final marks.

Highlights

Both the Australian and New Zealand, government are concerned with the achievement of underrepresented minorities in tertiary education
If we were to assume that the students who attended Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) represented unique over the 2009-2011 period shows that Māori and Pasifika students at this university who attended PASS gained higher final course marks than students who did not attend
The aim of the study was to establish whether Māori and Pasifika students who attend PASS benefit from their attendance relative to those who do not attend PASS, and whether there was an effect for the number of sessions attended

Summary

Introduction

Both the Australian and New Zealand, government are concerned with the achievement of underrepresented minorities in tertiary education. New Zealand data show that this under-achievement has an impact on the graduation rates of particular student groups, for example Māori and Pacific students (Scott, 2004). SI was originally set up to address the attrition rate of first-year African-American students enrolled in medical studies in one particular university, the University of Missouri – Kansas City. Research suggests that this program was successful in reducing attrition rates (Blanc, DeBuhr, & Martin, 1983; Martin & Arendale, 1993). This is still true when differences are analysed, despite ethnicity and prior academic achievement. (p. 3)

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