The Experience of Class Tutors in a Peer Tutoring Programme: A Novel Theoretical Framework

The following paper presents the first known examination of the experiences of class tutors within a peer-assisted learning program. Three female first-year class tutors, aged 25-28 years, provided insight into how they experienced a novel peer tutoring program embedded in their tutorials. Using grounded theory techniques, it was found that the following five themes underlie their experiences: "role exploration," "sharing responsibility," "regulation of the peer tutored groups," "harnessing the peer tutors' role," and "community." Literature from the domain was examined post-hoc and was found to complement these themes. Additionally, it was found that class tutors were beneficiaries of the program. It was suggested that future research address the limitations of the present study and test a number of hypotheses within a novel theoretical framework. The hypotheses were constructed to include the key roles within embedded peer tutoring, and learning climate typologies and dimensions (Little, 1975).