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| This article first appeared in the September 2003
issue of Literacy Today (issue
no. 36). |
Keith Topping
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'Inclusion' is a current buzz word in education, and raising achievement
and promoting inclusion are the two principal goals emphasised by
government. Keith Topping, Professor of Educational and Social Research
at the University of Dundee, reports on the benefits of peer assisted
learning for advancing these goals and some findings from his current
research.
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The old conception of inclusion as involving the placement of pupils
with special educational needs in mainstream settings has been replaced
with a much larger conception. This speaks of valuing diversity and overcoming
barriers to learning for a wide range of pupils who might be underperforming
for reasons associated with socio-economic disadvantage, gender, linguistic
heritage, and many other factors.
It is doubtful teachers would disagree with this ideal, but delivering
it is hardly straightforward. Where are the resources going to come from?
How can teachers do more with ever wider pupil ability ranges, an already
overcrowded curriculum and intense time pressures, not to mention innovation
fatigue and targets to worry about?
Peer assisted learning
Peer assisted learning has some advantages in this context:
- it can be used across the curriculum
- it offers a vehicle for differentiating the curriculum
- pupils with learning barriers can benefit from engagement as both
helpers and helped
- it can yield multiple added value -not only raising achievement but
also developing communication and personal/social skills
- it need not involve any new resource materials.
Peers who are the same age or older can act as tutors or other helpers
for learners. Methods must be carefully designed so that both the helper
and the helped gain intellectually, socially and emotionally from their
experiences. Tutoring is interactive and engaging - it fosters responsibility
and gives the less energetic pupil no where to hide. Children with special
educational needs can serve as tutors to younger children, thereby consolidating
their own skills and boosting their self-confidence.
Good practice
Where would you look for examples of good practice? Birmingham City features
great socioeconomic and ethnic diversity, and is the largest local authority
in Europe. Birmingham's Inclusion Strategy incorporates a vision for 2020,
which specifies peer assisted learning as a central feature of the authority's
forward thrust for inclusion, stating, "peer tutoring will be a common
feature of all learning experiences. " Here, there is exciting and inspirational
cutting edge development and research in progress (see box).
This is all very different from the traditional model of peer tutoring
in high schools, which has often involved final year or sixth form pupils
volunteering to act as teacher surrogates by helping first year pupils
with reading. Typically, the helpers are white, female, middle-class volunteers.
The tutees are very different. The reek of class-based Victorian philanthropy
is hardly compatible with an inclusive philosophy. And what benefits are
the tutors obtaining?
Transferable skills
Peer assisted learning connects strongly with PSHCE (Personal, Social,
Health and Citizenship Education). Generic tutoring skills (see Inclusion
website below) include many aspects of planning, creative adaptation,
communication, and the establishment and management of relationships.
In the Scottish Read On project (see Inclusion website below), teachers
reported striking gains not only in motivation and confidence, but also
in social skills and self-esteem, and that these generalised across the
curriculum.
Of course, some of these soft outcomes of education are difficult to
measure, and we would not wish central government to start setting 'touchy-feely
targets'. But as an element in teacher-led school improvement efforts,
some way of making these more explicit would be welcome. Consequently
work is proceeding to develop a mapping of transferable skills in peer
assisted learning, to be made available in the form of a triangulated
formative peer and self- assessment tool. Put more simply, both helper
and helped pupils reflect upon their own performance and that of their
partner, then compare and discuss their observations. This should be made
available in a web-based format which will enable customisation to the
requirements of individual schools and also integrate automatic analysis
and reporting on responses.
Does it work?
In these days of 'evidence-based practice', we need to know what quantity
and quality of evidence is available that any method can work. That does
not mean we can never do anything new -it just means that anything new
should be done on a modest pilot basis until we can figure out if, when
and where it works.
This is rather different from the traditional local authority approach
of one influential person getting enthusiastic about a method for whatever
reason, then inflicting it on others, then committing to the expansion
of the method, then panicking when the councillor who is still awake asks
those tricky questions: work? How do you know that?", and rushing out
to commission a quick and dirty post hoc "evaluation" which must come
up with the right answer. (Of course, the most solid external research
evidence does not prove that it will work in your school, since you might
have chosen a method unsuitable for your context, or just implemented
it badly, but that's another story...)
Reassuringly, the evidence for peer assisted learning methods in general
is good, and for peer tutoring in particular is among the strongest of
any research evidence on anything in the human world. For a specific local
example, consult the recent DfES review of research on the effectiveness
of methods for raising reading achievement (Brooks, 2002).
Inclusion is a very large and moving target- as has been said, a journey
rather than a condition. Fortunately, peer assisted learning offers a
wide range of means of achieving some of the relevant goals, without major
resource demands other than teacher reflection and planning time to ensure
good organisation and a successful outcome. The awesome creativity of
teachers who are pushing boundaries forward in very challenging contexts
is a testament to the power of the profession.
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Examples of good practice
The Billesley Paired Writing Project
This was a same-age class-wide peer tutoring in writing project
in a mainstream primary school. The focus was to raise writing standards,
especially within Year 5, using drama to stimulate writing. Three
parallel classes of Year 5 Paired Writers co-composed books for
an audience of Year 3 pupils. A number of pupils with special educational
needs participated. Subsequently Paired Writing was spread across
the school. It proved possible to block time allocated to writing
within the National Literacy Strategy, taking a year-long perspective.
Participant feedback has been extremely positive, although national
curriculum levels proved too loose and wide to effectively measure
gains in writing capability. Given the paucity of evidence-based
approaches in raising writing standards, other schools have shown
considerable interest.
The Dame Ellen Pinsent Project
This special school for pupils with moderate learning difficulties
(www.dameellenpinsent.bham.sch.uk)
has also developed a same-age peer tutoring in writing project.
It is startling that they have succeeded with such challenging pupils
in arguably such a challenging curriculum area. The objectives were
to raise writing standards, especially in creative/expressive writing
(where there was a social-emotional agenda); to increase variety
of writing; to increase vocabulary in and through writing; and to
develop social and communication skills (especially in those pupils
on the autistic spectrum or with a different linguistic heritage).
This work is being qualitatively evaluated.
The Fox Hollies Project
Fox Hollies Special School is for pupils who have severe learning
difficulties. It has a national reputation in the performing arts.
Both within and outside the school, pupils are involved in peer
assisted learning through the MENCAP Transactive Project, in performing
arts (such as the Cafe Atlantique project and Birmingham Royal Ballet
project), and in work experience. They work with pupils with similar
difficulties and with pupils from mainstream schools. The school
also receives peer helpers through the Valued Youth scheme (see
below). The Fox Hollies Project is also being qualitatively evaluated.
The Broadway Project
Birmingham has a distinguished record in deploying
high school students with serious emotional and behavioural
problems as tutors in primary and special schools.These
young people usually present a completely different
and much more positive aspect of their personality and
capability in such settings. The Broadway project seeks
to extend this by developing cross-age peer tutoring
in reading for pupils with behavioural difficulties
in the Lower School of a high school, prior to developing
a scheme for Upper School pupils to do likewise with
Lower School pupils. Broadway is a two-campus high school
in an intensely multicultural area.
The Reading42 Project in Scotland
As England groans in the stranglehold of the national curriculum,
much of the innovation in education is happening in the devolved
Celtic fringes. However, concern about a plateau in achievement
growth in the first two years of high school is common across the
UK. In a high school in Dundee, middle ability second year readers
act as cross-age tutors to low ability first year readers (including
many special needs pupils), using high motivation books of a level
of challenge which engages both tutor and tutee, and serves to enhance
the reading capability as well as the self-esteem of both. Reading42
features experimental research with control groups. Collection of
post-test data is still proceeding at the time of writing.
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References
www.dundee.ac.uk/psychology/Inclusion/
www.dundee.ac.uk/psychology/ReadOn
www.dundee.ac.uk/psychology/TRW
www.dundee.ac.uk/psychology/ParentsinEducation
G. Brooks (2002) What works for children with literacy difficulties?
The effectiveness of intervention schemes. Research Report RR380.
London: Department for Education & Skills: www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RR380.pdf
K. J. Topping (2001) Tutoring by peers, family and volunteers.
Geneva: International Bureau of Education, United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) [Online]. www.ibe.unesco.org/International/Publications/EducationalPractices/prachome.htm
(Also in translation in Chinese and Spanish).
K. J. Topping (2001) Peer and parent assisted learning in reading,
writing, spelling and thinking skills, Spotlight No.82. Edinburgh:
Scottish Council for Research in Education [Online]. www.scre.ac.uk/spotlight/spotlight82.html
K. J. Topping (2001) Peer and parent assisted learning in maths, science
and ICT, Spotlight No. 83. Edinburgh: Scottish Council for Research in
Education [Online]. www.scre.ac.uk/spotlight/spotlight83.html
K. J. Topping (2001) Peer assisted learning: a practical guide
for teachers. Cambridge, MA: Brookline Books.
K. J. Topping (2001) Thinking reading writing: a practical guide to
paired learning with peers, parents and volunteers. New York & London:
Continuum International.
K. J. Topping & S. Maloney (eds.) (2003) Inclusion in Educational Contexts.
London & New York: RoutledegeFalmer (in press).
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