Peer tutors as learning and teaching partners: a cumulative approach to building peer tutoring capacity in higher education

Sherran Clarence

doi:10.14426/cristal.v4i1.69

Abstract

Peer tutors in higher education are frequently given vital teaching and learning work to do, but the training or professional development and support opportunities they are offered vary, and more often than not peer tutors are under-supported. In order to create and sustain teaching and learning environments that are better able to facilitate students’ engagement with knowledge and learning, the role of peer tutors needs to be recognised differently, as that of learning and teaching partners to both lecturers and students. Tutors then need to be offered opportunities for more in-depth professional academic development in order to fully realise this role. This paper explores a tutor development programme within a South African writing centre that aimed at offering tutors such ongoing and cumulative opportunities for learning and growth using a balanced approach, which included scholarly research and practice-based training. Using narrative data tutors provided in reflective written reports, the paper explores the kinds of development in tutors’ thinking and action that are possible when training and development is theoretically informed, coherent, and oriented towards improving practice.

Highlights

In South Africa and other contexts, like the United States and Canada, postgraduate student tutors, or teaching assistants, are given important roles to play in facilitating student learning in higher education
In the UWC Writing Centre’s peer tutor development programme - the illustrative case study drawn on in this paper - Academic Literacies has been utilised as a guiding philosophy underpinning peer tutoring practice in enabling student learning
Methodology and data analysis The data discussed in the paper are extracted from five sets of reflective reports written between May 2012 and December 2014, by peer tutors working in the UWC Writing Centre and participating in the peer tutor development programme outlined above

Summary

Introduction

In South Africa and other contexts, like the United States and Canada, postgraduate student tutors, or teaching assistants, are given important roles to play in facilitating student learning in higher education. In the UWC Writing Centre’s peer tutor development programme - the illustrative case study drawn on in this paper - Academic Literacies has been utilised as a guiding philosophy underpinning peer tutoring practice in enabling student learning.

Results

Conclusion