Near-peer teaching in paramedic education: A repeated measures design

Abstract

The transition of the Australian paramedic discipline from vocation education and training to the higher education sector has seen a sharp rise in interest in near-peer teaching (NPT). The objective of this study was to examine satisfaction levels of NPT over one academic semester among undergraduate paramedic students. A repeated measured design was used to investigate NPT and learning among paramedic students at Monash University. A total of 111 students participated in the study: n = 25 near-peer teachers and n = 86 near-peer learners. Near-peer learners perceived feedback from their peers to be more honest, realistic, helpful than from the instructor (before M = 3.07 vs. after M = 2.69, p = .01), while near-peer teachers believed that paramedics have a professional responsibility to teach students (before M = 2.00 vs. after M = 1.16, p = .001). These results in conjunction with wider literature suggest that NPT should be considered for implementation into the existing paramedic higher education curricula.

Keywords:

• Emergency medicine services
• higher education
• near-peer teaching
• paramedic
• peer
• undergraduate

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the near-peer teachers and near-peer learners for participating in the project and thank them for completing the survey.