Perceived Impact of PASS Leadership Experience on Student Leaders' Transferable Skills Development.

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Dr, Laurs Deborah, E. Leckband
Copyright Year	2018
Abstract	The PASS (Peer Assisted Study Support) program has been operating at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, since 2000, and currently provides weekly study sessions in more than 50 courses each year. As well as enhancing the first-year learning experience, PASS contributes to an institution-wide award that acknowledges the impact of extra-curricular activities on students’ graduate attributes and employability skills. Selected from high-calibre candidates, PASS leaders already possess strong communication and thinking skills. Nevertheless, an online survey of current and former leaders between 2009-2014 [n=185] revealed a significant majority perceived that the experience of leading a study group, in particular the associated writing of weekly reflections, enhanced their confidence, cognitive and communication skills, as well as contributing to their CVs and job application success. Such results highlight the potential for student leaders to translate their day-to-day experiences into added value for life after university. BACKGROUND Peer learning Peer learning takes many forms, with students often setting up their own informal groups, particularly in centralised and library-based ‘study hubs’. Many institutions also offer formalised study programs, such as Supplemental Instruction (SI), a syndicated American approach to peer learning (Congos & Stout, 2003; Malm, Bryngfors & Mörner, 2012); Peer Assisted Learning or PAL (Capstick, 2004); or Peer-Assisted Study Support (or Sessions) known as PASS (Couchman, 2009; Laurs, 2009; McPhail, Despotovic & Fisher, 2012). Peer-led study sessions are led by fellow students who excelled in the course. In contrast to subject-based tutors, peer leaders facilitate ‘active learning’, encouraging group members to work together towards shared understanding. Programs such as PASS were initially designed for ‘at risk’ courses, rather than ‘at risk’ students (Capstick, 2003), but, at a growing number of institutions, the scheme has been extended to a wide range of courses that value active learning. At Victoria University of Wellington, the PASS program grew from five groups in 2001 to nearly 200 sessions in 2014, and is offered in some 50 core firstyear courses across Commerce, Law, Humanities, Social Sciences and Chemistry, as well as selected 200and 300-level courses in Psychology and Biotechnology. There is a wealth of research on the social and developmental benefits for participants of ‘learning how to learn’ (Capstick, 2004; Ette, Burmeister & Elder, 2001), although it is difficult to accurately measure the degree to which student attendance at PASS impacts on academic results. Similarly, involvement in peer-learning programs offers potential benefits for peer-leaders (Congos & Stout, 2003; Couchman, 2009; Laurs, 2009; McPhail et al., 2012; Skalicky & Caney, 2010; Stout & McDaniel, 2006), which may also prove less easy to Perceived impact of PASS leadership experience 28 measure. This is particularly the case with PASS’s impact on leaders’ skills development, given that the recruitment process relies on candidates already possessing strong communication, interpersonal and self-management skills before taking up the role. Nevertheless, the PASS experience offers potential for leaders to further develop these qualities through weekly self-reflections and ongoing support from the PASS Coordinator and senior mentors. Moreover, as this paper will show, the experience of facilitating a group of fellow students, primus inter pares (first among equals), has potential to foster leaders’ awareness of skills they can transfer to the workforce. Graduate attributes The broader applicability of leadership development is demonstrated by tertiary institutions’ increasing focus on graduate profiles and employability skills (Barrie, 2006). As an example, alongside discipline-specific requirements, graduates at Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) are expected to demonstrate critical and creative thinking skills, communication skills, the ability to work independently and in teams, and an awareness of indigenous and global perspectives (Victoria University, 2014). While curriculum developers seek to embed these skills within the disciplines, institutions are also recognising the potential for extra-curricular activities to contribute to a well-rounded curriculum vitae. At VUW, PASS is one such activity that contributes towards the university’s extracurricular award scheme, Victoria Plus, established in 2008 to give participants the “opportunity to develop leadership, social responsibility and employability skills [...to] gain valuable experience, broaden your thinking and learning, and reflect on your self-development” (Victoria Plus Award, n.d.). The program has two achievement levels: the certificate (which takes one year to complete) and the award (three years). Participants undertake a range of activities: (1) service (paid and voluntary, both on and off-campus), (2) personal development (attending workshops and seminars on interview skills, CV-writing, etc) and (3) a reflective e-portfolio (Victoria Plus Award, n.d.). Successful completion is acknowledged on recipients’ academic transcripts, certificates are presented at a ceremony presided over by the Vice-Chancellor, and the scheme is endorsed by national and international employers. Involvement in PASS aligns perfectly with these objectives; not only are peer-leaders helping their fellow students, they also gain awareness of their own repertoire of transferable skills, as shown by the following comment from a respondent: “I am able to step back from my role as a student and think about ways to communicate knowledge, rather than just absorbing knowledge. I also think about the strengths and weaknesses of certain learning activities, and what I can do to achieve balance for students whom have different learning styles.” Benefits for leaders The past ten years have seen a shift in the research on peer-learning, extending the focus from the impact on participants to peer-leaders. For example, Congos and Stout’s (2003) investigated the benefits of SI leadership after graduation in terms of interpersonal, leadership, learning and work-related skills [...which] ranged from increased confidence to the ability to say ‘no’ (Congos & Stout, 2003, p. 32). ‘Benefits after graduation’ can be equated to ‘graduate attributes’, a transferability of skills endorsed by Stout and McDaniel’s (2006) further emphasis on the value of including leadership experience on one’s CV.
Starting Page	27
Ending Page	40
Page Count	14
File Format	PDF HTM / HTML
Volume Number	11
Alternate Webpage(s)	http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1138&context=ajpl
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article