Academic Support using Peer Assisted Study Schemes (SI-PASS) to help new students with the transition to Higher Education. A European overview.

This presentation gives an overview of a peer learning model and academic support intervention named SI-PASS (Supplemental Instruction – Peer Assisted Study Schemes) in Higher Education in Europe. SI-PASS is a method of improving student performance in “difficult”, normally introductory, courses combining “how to learn” with “what to learn”. SI-PASS sessions are scheduled parallel to the regular education and are guided and facilitated by a “senior” student, the SI-PASS leader. The sessions are based on collaborative learning activities to understand difficult parts of the course material. SI-PASS was created at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, in the early 1970s in order to come to terms with declining retention numbers and was originally named Supplemental instruction - SI. Since then the use of SI-PASS has spread widely and staff at more than 1500 universities in some 30 countries have been trained in the method.

What do we know of SI-PASS in a European context? Not so much, which led to the present study on obtaining an overview of SI-PASS in Europe. A questionnaire was sent to university staff trained in the method in Europe (more than 700 people) regarding the status of active SI-PASS programmes. Questions in the survey was centered on topics like goals with having an SI-programme and outcomes, type of courses supported by SI-PASS, number of Leaders, supervisors and students attending SI, etc. The results show that SI-PASS-programs exist at some 70 Higher Education Institutes in nine countries in Europe involving more than 5000 SI-PASS leaders that facilitates learning activities for some 70.000 students annually. SI-PASS-programmes supports courses in all subject areas, but are very often applied to introductory courses. The most common reason for having SI-PASS is also to help students bridge the gap between secondary and tertiary education. Some of the main benefits of SI-PASS are well researched, also in a European context. Increased student performance and learning as well as a decrease in student drop-out rates have been documented in many different Higher Education environments. However, several benefits from student/staff perspectives are qualitative. A European example:
• “…It really encourages students, when they arrive to become quite independent and autonomous and looking after their own learning. So, I think in some sense, SI-PASS helps in building up that confidence, that social sense of being part of the University.” (SI-PASS Coordinator, University of Edinburgh, Scotland)