WhatWorked

Peer Tutoring is highlighted by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) teaching and learning toolkit as an intervention which appears to have a have a positive impact on learning, with the average positive effect equivalent to approximately five additional months progress. The evidence for the impact of peer tutoring is extensive and robust, with benefits to both tutors and tutees.

At WhatWorked, we are launching the National Peer Tutoring Programme to support schools and learners in response to the COVID pandemic. We believe that through peer tutoring, we can support teachers and schools create a sustainable and cost effective capacity within the education system.

There are a number of benefits from peer tutoring for students. If you look at cross-age peer tutoring where you have an older students tutoring a younger student, people worry that the older student is not going to be learning anything. But the evidence suggests that they are as likely to learn as much, if not more, than the student that they are tutoring and this is partly because in order to teach it, you have to think about how you present the idea,  you have to understand the task or problem that you are teaching and it develops your meta-cognitive awareness of problems of that kind.

As peer tutoring uses your own students as tutors, the strategy requires no tutor costs and provides a double impact intervention improving attainment for both tutors and tutees. 

Here is a sneak peak for the introduction of the National Peer Tutoring Programme, with Dr Wayne Harrison explaining how the interventions are structured for you to test in your school.

To find out more, sign up to the 10 minute introduction to the National Peer Tutoring Programme to see how your school can become involved.