ABSTRACT
Peer mentoring is when people of similar age and/or status take on the roles of mentor and mentee. However, the simplicity of the definition masks a diversity of practice. The majority of programmes of this sort have been peer tutoring where the emphasis is often upon learning support in the areas of basic skills or subject learning. Peer tutoring ‘involves educational support through meetings between advanced learners and less advanced learners’ (Saunders and Gibson, 1998). However, programme titles can be variations on a theme-peer mentoring, peer teaching, peer tutoring, peer facilitation, peer counselling, peer coaching-but often describe very similar activities. Some argue that ‘peer helping’ is a convenient umbrella term that includes all these activities (Rosenroll, 1994). Most of the research has focused on peer tutoring rather than peer mentoring. Whereas peer tutoring is often undertaken in small groups, peer mentoring is more likely to be one-to-one.
