The ABC of Peer Mentoring: What Secondary Students Have to Say about Cross-Age Peer Mentoring in a Regional Australian School

Willis, Paul; Bland, Robert; Manka, Louise; Craft, Cec. “The ABC of Peer Mentoring--What Secondary Students Have to Say about Cross-Age Peer Mentoring in a Regional Australian School” Educational Research and Evaluation, v18 n2 p173-185 2012.

In this article, we outline the evaluation process of a cross-age peer-mentoring program implemented in an Australian secondary school. This program had a distinctive focus on blending cross-age peer mentoring, academic tutoring, and social support roles. We focus on the program's consumers--the voices of Year 7 students (mentees) and Year 10 students (mentors). Student perspectives were gathered using qualitative methods through repeated focus groups. Data were thematically analysed, and the findings show observed changes in social relationships, problem-solving skills, and engagement with literacy. We discuss the importance of this relationship for effective learning and examine the reported changes to engagement with relationship building. Implications for developing whole-of-school support and increasing wider participation are discussed.

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