Peer Supported Training and Why it Works

 

For many years, increasing student engagement and course completion has been a challenge for both training organisations and host employers alike.
Students and Trainees are often very excited at the commencement of their training, however, without the right framework and supports their motivation can easily decrease with many students dropping out within a few months.

So what is the answer?
Students who undertake a placement based traineeship or study a Certificate with their local training provider are more likely to remain engaged and complete their qualifications with Peer Support.

​

What is Peer Support?
Peer support is when people give or receive support based on shared experiences.
For example, a group of peers may share the same culture, age, gender, location or interests.
Peer-to-peer learning also enables knowledge sharing among participants in a comfortable setting. For example, in a classroom, rather than students preparing and delivering a presentation in class, sharing knowledge among peers is less intimidating. There is a willingness to make mistakes and learn from them from this collaborative setting.
Peer support provides benefits through empathy, acceptance, and skill-sharing that comes from dealing with similar lived experiences.   

​

Here are five benefits of undertaking training with Peer Support:

​

1. It creates a safe environment to learn

   • ​​A peer support group fosters a safe learning environment for participants.

   • It is like the old saying “safety in numbers”. When you are a member of a group of people who share a commonality, it provides a feeling of belonging and security.

2. Provides support and encouragement

   • Peers provide support and encouragement to other students, particularly where the commonality is culture or language.

   • When completing a task or assignment, students can discuss the requirements or answers in their own language or relate it to their own culture, traditions or situation.

   • When studying or on placement, having the peer support of another student is very beneficial and prevents individual students from feeling isolated.

3. Improved attendance and completion

   • Students are more likely to attend and keep attending in a peer supported training program.

   • The social interaction that students in a peer supported training program enjoy is an important factor that contributes to improved attendance.

   • The encouragement from peers is also great way to keep students engaged and working towards the completion of their study.

4. Students enjoy a higher level of self-efficacy.

   • Students who feel a sense of belonging in an educational environment are more engaged in classroom activities, are more motivated and report a greater sense of academic self-efficacy.

5. Opportunities for social connection and friendship.

   • Peer support groups are a great opportunity for social connection and a way to make friends.

   • Being brought together to study a particular topic is the catalyst to uncovering
     other shared interests and similarities. Many students who study together
     become life long friends, or work colleagues.