Peer Mentoring - Page under construction

Introduction

Aston University leads The Pathways to Success through Peer Mentoring research project. This is funded jointly by the Higher Education Funding Council for England(HEFCE) and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

This is a large-scale international research project involving seven higher education institutions.  The key aims of the three year research project are to:

• evaluate the role of a range of peer mentoring programmes across partner institutions

• establish the efficacy and effectiveness of the different models of peer mentoring in increasing student retention

• undertake an in-depth critical analysis of the role of students in supporting their peers

• examine approaches that target specific students who may be at a higher risk of dropping out

Peer Mentoring Partners

Sharing Emerging Findings

The project team has diseminated emergent findings at a range of conferences. The presentations have been aranged under the following four key themes:

• Conceptualising Peer Mentoring in HE

• Peer Mentoring across the Sector

• Peer Mentoring and Transition

• Writing Mentors: mentoring as a pedagogical tool

Conceptualising peer mentoring in HE

• A Symbiotic or Reciprocal relationship? The challenges of conceptualizing Peer Mentoring.

• Presented by Dr Jane Andrews and Dr Robin Clark

• European First Year Experience Conference, Groningen, Holland

• 13th - 15th May 2009

• http://www.adm.heacademy.ac.uk/events/4th-european-first-year-experience-conference-2009

• EFYE  

Peer Mentoring across the Sector 

• Student Peer Mentoring – an analysis of practice in UK Universities.

• Presented by Ms Mandy Ingleby

• Sixth Postgraduate International Student Conference
   ‘Making a Difference? The impact of Educational research on theory, practice or policy’Leicester University

• 2nd July 2009

• http://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/2009/03/05/making-a-difference-the-impact-of-educational-research-on-theory-practice-or-policy/

• International Student Conference 

Peer Mentoring and Transition

• Promoting a Successful Transition to Higher Education through Mutual Support and Guidance.

• Presented by Ms Mandy Ingleby, Dr Jane Andrews, Dr Robin Clark and Ms Baljit Gill

• 22nd International Conference on The First-Year Experience, Montreal, Canada

• 23rd July 2009

• http://www.sc.edu/fye/events/presentation/international/2009/2009Handouts.html

• IFYE

• Pathways to Success: The Value of Peer Mentoring in Enhancing Student Transition to University.

• Presented by Dr Jane Andrews, Dr Robin Clark and Mr Paul Gorman

• Project Team Summit Meeting, Derby

• 20th January 2010

• http://www.actiononaccess.org/index.php?p=11_3_1

• Pathways to Success Poster

• Pathways to Success Presentation

• Pathways to Success: Peer Mentoring & Student Transition to University.

• Presented by Dr Robin Clark and Dr Jane Andrews

• 5th Annual ‘Student Retention and Progression Conference: Collaboration, Communication, Completion’. Cavendish Conference Centre, London W1

• 20th April 2010

• http://www.neilstewartassociates.com/jb279/speakers.html

• Student Retention and Progression

Conceptualising Peer Mentoring in HE

• Peer Mentoring in Higher Education: A Multidimensional Approach to Conceptualising the Role of Peer Mentoring Programmes in Enhancing the First Year Undergraduate Experience.

• Presented by Dr Andrews, Ms Baljit Gill, Dr Robin Clark and Mr Paul Gorman

• Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE) Annual Conference

• 8th - 10th December 2009

• http://www.srhe.ac.uk/conference2009/programme_01.asp

• SRHE 2009

• Pathways to Success: Peer Mentoring – Special Interest Group.

• Presented by Dr Jane Andrews and partner colleagues

• Retention Convention: What works? Student Retention and Success, Leeds

• 3rd - 4th March 2010

• http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/events/detail/2010/Retention_Conference_2010

• Special Interest Group

Writing Mentors: mentoring as a pedagogical tool

• ‘Writing for Success: mentoring as a pedagogical tool – a cross-institutional study’

• Presented by Ms Mandy Ingleby, Dr Jane Andrews and Dr Robin Clark

• WDHE ‘Sustainable Writing Development: Approaches and Challenges’, London. Presentation by Mandy Ingleby and Jane Andrews.

• 28th - 30th June 2010

• http://www.writenow.ac.uk/news-events/wdhe-conference-2010/

• WDHE Poster

• WDHE Presentation

Progress

To date Aston has produced two update reports for HEFCE.

• Progress Report 1 - 

• Progress Report 2  -

In addition, the Action on Access Team, in conjunction with the Higher Education Academy, produces regular briefings for the sector on the Student Retention and Success: What Works? programme

• Briefing Paper Number 1 - December 2008
• Briefing Paper Number 2 - July 2009
• Briefing Paper Number 3 - February 2010

Project Output

Peer Mentoring Directory

PM Training Document

 What next?

The Research Team has completed the majority of the fieldwork and has begun early analysis of the data. The final year of the project consists of data analysis, report writing and dissemination the research outcomes.

You can keep up to date with project developments through the Action on Access Briefing papers.

If you have any queries about the project please contact Dr Jane Andrews  j.e.andrews@aston.ac.uk