Peer Assisted Learning & STEM > Project Outputs > PAL Leaders

Project Outputs > PAL Leaders

As part of the Peer Assisted Learning & STEM project, a couple of pieces of work were undertaken that focused upon the role of PAL Leader.

The first involved a group interview in which seven PAL leaders participated. These leaders were involved in a broad range of STEM or STEM-related programmes within their institution. The main aim of the interview was to uncover the PAL leaders' perspectives about how provision of Peer Assisted Learning supports new first years in their transition to HE.

The resultant paper (which can be accessed below) is split into the following sections:

Introduction
A discussion of social learning
The role of PAL
Qualities of PAL leaders
Benefits to new first year students
Benefits of being a PAL leader
Conclusion

Download the paper below:

PAL Leader Perspectives

The second piece of work (which was presented at an associated project seminar at Bournemouth University in May 2012) undertook a sociolinguistic analysis to identify the challenges in being a PAL leader. This work identified that leaders deploy a range of practices (facilitation, participation, collaboration, context) in their tutoring roles and that several discourse practices (peer talk, levelling and 'expert student') were utilised to affirm peer identity.

Crucially, the challenges and conflict that PAL leaders may face were found to arise often from 'disciplining'. Disciplining could be seen as a necessary tool to enable PAL sessions to function but leaders resisted it for fear that taking on an authority role might counteract their peer identity and role as a facilitator.

A summary of this sociolinguistic analysis can be accessed below:

Challenges in being a PAL Leader: A Sociolinguistic Analysis