Keith Topping

Trends in Peer Learning

Developments in forms of peer learning 1981–2006 are reviewed, focusing mainly on peer tutoring, cooperative learning, and peer assessment. Types and definitions of peer learning are explored, together with questions of implementation integrity and consequent effectiveness and cost‐effectiveness. Benefits to helpers are now emphasised at least as much as benefits to those helped. In this previously under‐theorised area, an integrated theoretical model of peer learning is now available. Peer learning has been extended in types and forms, in curriculum areas and in contexts of application beyond school. Engagement in helping now often encompasses all community members, including those with special needs. Social and emotional gains now attract as much interest as cognitive gains. Information technology is now often a major component in peer learning, operating in a variety of ways. Embedding and sustainability has improved, but further improvement is needed.

The Effectiveness of Peer Tutoring in Further and Higher Education: A Typology and Review of the Literature.

Quality, outcomes and cost-effectiveness of methods of teaching and learning in colleges and universities are being scrutinised more closely. The increasing use of peer tutoring in this context necessitates a clear definition and typology, which are outlined. The theoretical advantages of peer tutoring are discussed and the research on peer tutoring in schools briefly considered. The substantial existing research on the effectiveness of the many different types and formats of peer tutoring within colleges and universities is then reviewed. Much is already known about the effectiveness of some types of peer tutoring and this merits wider dissemination to practitioners. Directions for future research are indicated.

Formative Peer Assessment of Academic Writing between Postgraduate Students.

Reciprocal paired qualitative formative peer assessment of academic writing was undertaken by 12 postgraduate students of educational psychology. Overall, staff and peer assessments showed a very similar balance between positive and negative statements, but this varied according to assessment criterion. However, only half of all detailed formative assessment statements made showed some degree of correspondence between staff and peers. Nevertheless, there was very little evidence of conflict between the views of staff and peers-rather, they focused on different details. Subjective feedback from students indicated that most found the process time consuming, intellectually challenging and socially uncomfortable, but effective in improving the quality of their own subsequent written work and developing other transferable skills. The reliability and validity of this type of peer assessment thus appeared adequate, and the partiality of overlap in detail between staff and peer assessments suggested that the triangulation peer assessment offers is likely to add value. However, caution is indicated regarding the generalisation of this finding. Implications for action are outlined.

Theoretical models of culture shock and adaptation in international students in higher education

Theoretical concepts of culture shock and adaptation are reviewed, as applied to the pedagogical adaptation of student sojourners in an unfamiliar culture. The historical development of ‘traditional’ theories of culture shock led to the emergence of contemporary theoretical approaches, such as ‘culture learning’, ‘stress and coping’ and ‘social identification’. These approaches can be accommodated within a broad theoretical framework based on the affective, behavioural and cognitive (ABC) aspects of shock and adaptation. This ‘cultural synergy’ framework offers a more comprehensive understanding of the processes involved. Implications for future research, policy and practice are explored.

Peer Assisted Learning: A Framework for Consultation

In this article we explore ways in which the development of peer assisted learning (PAL) interventions can enhance the work of educational and psychological consultants. The range and scope of PAL strategies are reviewed, although the main focus is on simpler methods that are relatively easy and swift to implement. Organizational dimensions on which PAL interventions can vary are then explicated. Essential practical elements in the successful organization of local PAL programs are discussed. A model is provided of the routes and channels through which PAL strategies have their effects. This conceptual framework should help consultants illuminate the relevance of PAL to particular local needs, and promote the development of PAL into forms adding most educational value. Ways in which this framework might be applied in practice are explored. The interested reader is referred to more detailed sources and resources.

School-Based Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Programs: A Review of Effectiveness

In this systematic and critical review of purely school based child sexual abuse prevention program efficacy studies, 22 studies meeting the inclusion criteria differed by target population, program implementation, and evaluation methodology. Measured outcomes for children included knowledge, skills, emotion, risk perception, touch discrimination, reported response to actual threat or abuse, disclosure, maintenance of gains, and negative effects. Many studies had methodological limitations (e.g., sampling problems, lack of adequate control groups, lack of reliable and valid measures). However, most investigators claimed that their results showed significant impact in primary prevention (increasing all children’s knowledge or awareness and/or abuse prevention skills). There was little evidence of change in disclosure. There was limited follow-up evidence of actual use and effectiveness of prevention skills, and the evidence for maintenance of gains was mixed. Several programs reported some negative effects. Very few studies reported implementation fidelity data, and no study reported cost-effectiveness. Implications for future research, policy, and practice are outlined.

Transferable skills for online peer learning

Efforts to enhance learning through peer interaction in an electronic forum are now commonplace. However, facilitation and moderation of such a forum by academic staff can be of limited effectiveness and very time‐consuming. The skills required by peer learners to effectively manage such distributed discourse for themselves have rarely been clearly identified. This paper compares the social, organizational and cognitive characteristics of effective peer learning interactions in face‐to‐face and online environments (with particular reference to peer tutoring and peer assessment). This leads to a specification of transferable skills for online peer learning, at the macro and micro levels, with commentary on areas needing particular attention. The implications for assessment of such online distributed discourse process skills are explored with reference to professional practice and future research.

Collaborative philosophical inquiry for schoolchildren: Cognitive gains at 2‐year follow‐up

BACKGROUND Evidence of maintained gains from thinking skills interventions are rare in the literature even within sectors of education, let alone across sectors. AIMS This study investigated the cognitive effects of collaborative philosophical inquiry at long-term 2-year follow-up, after the participants had transferred to secondary (high) school without experiencing further philosophical inquiry in the interim. SAMPLE Sample attrition was greater in the control than in the experimental group, but 96 experimental and 52 control subjects were available. METHOD Intervened children who engaged in collaborative inquiry for 1 hour per week over 16 months and whose pre-post cognitive gains were reported in Topping and Trickey (2007) were followed up 2 years later, some time after they had transferred from primary to secondary school, again using the Cognitive Abilities Test. RESULTS The significant pre-post cognitive ability gains in the experimental group in primary school were maintained towards the end of their second year of secondary school. Higher achieving pupils were somewhat advantaged in sustaining these gains. The control group showed an insignificant but persistent deterioration in scores from pre- to post-test to follow-up. CONCLUSIONS Given the pattern of sample attrition, the group difference seems likely to be underestimated. The study provides evidence of maintained cognitive gains from collaborative philosophical inquiry, transferred across contexts. Implications for future research, policy and practice are discussed.

Peer Tutored Paired Reading: outcome data from ten projects

Abstract In the context of a large scale dissemination project, ten different peer tutor projects were conducted, and procedures and outcomes are reviewed in this paper. Pre‐and post‐test data are reported for all studies, while four studies also have baseline data and two studies have comparison group data. Two studies have follow‐up data for the short and long term respectively. The evidence reviewed suggests that peer tutored paired reading accelerates childrens reading progress, with peer tutors gaining more than tutees.

Teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion in high schools

This study investigated the attitudes of secondary teachers to inclusion in schools. Three hundred and ninety-one teaching and management-level staff from 19 mainstream and 6 special schools in one local authority in Scotland completed a survey. Overall, teaching staff were pro-inclusion, conditional on adequate support and resources. There was a significant gender difference, with female teachers being more inclusive than their male colleagues. Head Teachers (School Principals) were the most inclusive group overall, followed by Deputy Head Teachers (Vice-Principals). Both were significantly more inclusive than teachers. There was no significant difference between practical and non-practical subjects, but there were differences between departments, with the Special Needs/Support for Learning department being the most inclusive. After the first year in teaching, there was a significant negative change in the attitude towards inclusion. However, length of service was not a significant factor in attitude. Whilst 68% of teachers indicated that they had no qualification in special education, studying for a module in special education after qualifying had a significantly positive impact on attitudes to inclusion. These findings suggest that inclusive education policies have to be more in tune with the views of practising teachers in order to work effectively. Suggestion is also made of the importance of studying inclusive education effectively at the teacher-training stage, and this finding has implications for how institutions prioritise inclusive education.