Benefits of PAL
Student Participants (Tutees)
• Provides peer support and encouragement
• Promotes active learning and enhanced cognitive processing
• Improves academic performance
• Affords opportunity to share experiences and strategies
• Student-student support for academic and personal development
• Provides opportunity to develop effective study and learning strategies
• Assists practice of subject matter
• Promotes collaborative companionship and learning
• Offers a less formal learning environment
“The peer tutors are so friendly and helpful, it really is great to have some friends in a higher year who know all the tricks of the trade! I think we’d have been lost without them!!”
“I think the hour a week spent with my peer tutor is definitely the most beneficial hour of language learning I spend!”
Student Leaders (Tutors)
• Provides opportunity to develop sense of personal competence
• Allows meaningful use of subject material to aid own learning
• Reinforces knowledge of fundamentals
• Encourages group interaction
• Gain insights into the teaching/learning process
• Develops personal and professional skills
• Offers experience useful for CV and job interviews
“I enjoyed communicating with the first years as there isn’t much communication between the years in general. It was nice knowing they had someone who has ‘been there’ and can give general advice.”
Academic Staff and Schools
• Increases level of student involvement in learning
• Improves student attendance
• Increases pass rates
• Fosters sense of community within the student years
• Improves motivation
• Provides feedback on course
Institutions
• Helps transition from 2nd level to 3rd level and helps students to integrate into higher education
• Increases student satisfaction
• Decreases failure rates and reduces drop-out
• Offers way to help students develop ‘transferable’ skills