Peer-Assisted Learning

Peer-assisted learning can be defined as the acquisition of knowledge and skill through active helping and supporting among status equals or matched companions. It involves people from similar social groupings who are not professional teachers helping each other to learn and learning themselves by so doing.

Where much older helpers work with much younger learners, the differential in levels of ability and interest can be understimulating for the helpers, who are unlikely to gain cognitively. The peer helping interaction is different from that between a professional teacher and a child or young person, and it has different advantages and disadvantages. Consequently, there has been more interest in deploying helpers whose capabilities are nearer to those of the helped. The helper is intended to be “learning by ...