The Active Ingredients in Peer-mentoring: an exploration of the relationship between peer-mentoring, self-affirmation, and self-efficacy

同伴指导越来越多地用于教育环境，因为它声称对学习者有益（Ehrich et al. 2004; Hattie 2008），特别是在大学，它是更广泛的主动学习话语的一部分（Kane 2004; HEA 2008），作为培养研究生属性的机制。然而，人们对将同伴指导与积极效益联系起来的基本过程知之甚少：缺乏明确的证据和理论。拟议的项目将利用心理学中成熟但在真实的世界教育环境中不太好用的理论来探索同伴指导和教育成果之间的这种联系。该项目将研究同伴指导作为一种自我肯定的社会互动，对接受者和导师都有好处，从而提高自我效能和信心，从而取得更好的教育成果。研究生的属性都涉及愿意采取行动，而不是知道，并受到学生对成功的信心程度的限制。这种信心是通过提高自我效能来增强的。自我效能感是一个人对自己执行特定行为的能力的信念，是参与成功行为的重要决定因素（Bandura 1977; 1986; 1997）。自我效能感高的人更有可能被激励并实现目标。自我肯定理论认为，人们需要全面的自我完整性，这可以通过对积极行为方法的反思来实现（斯蒂尔1988）。研究强烈表明，自我肯定可以提高自我效能（Epton & Harris 2008; Zhao & Xiaoli 2010;谢尔曼& Cohen 2014）。例如，已经证明，肯定的经验可以成功地促进学术成就（Cohen et al. 2006）和积极的健康行为（Bandura 2004; Zhao & Xiaoli 2010; Harris et al 2014）。研究问题可以分为两大阶段。在第一阶段，目的是调查是否同伴指导提高教育成果，因为它诱导自我肯定和提高自我效能。教育成果和同伴指导之间的关系在多大程度上以及如何涉及自我肯定和自我效能？在第二阶段，目的是将这些与所涉个人的经验联系起来。自我效能、学习和教育成果的各种变化可能在个人能够感知和认识它们之前发生。2.在同侪指导的过程中，学术知识和研究生属性的发展是何时以及如何经历的？3.这种经历的时间过程与自我和社会肯定的发生以及自我效能的变化有什么关系？在每一个问题中，我也会问这些影响是如何受到学生背景因素的影响，如：基线平均成绩;社会经济地位;和研究生一代。

Peer-mentoring is increasingly used in education settings because of its claimed benefits for learners (Ehrich et al. 2004; Hattie 2008), and especially in universities, where it is part of a wider discourse of active learning (Kane 2004; HEA 2008), as a mechanism for developing graduate attributes. Little is known, however, about the underlying processes that link peer-mentoring to positive benefits: there is an absence of clear evidence and theory. The proposed project will explore this link between peer-mentoring and educational outcomes using theory that is well-established in psychology but less well used in real world educational settings. The project will investigate peer-mentoring as a self-affirming social interaction with benefits for the recipients and mentors leading to enhanced self-efficacy and confidence and so to stronger educational outcomes.Graduate attributes all involve a willingness to act rather than know and are limited by the extent to which a student has confidence they can succeed. That confidence is enhanced by increasing self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is the belief in one's ability to carry out a given behaviour and is an important determinant of engagement in successful behaviours (Bandura 1977; 1986; 1997). People with high self-efficacy are more likely to be motivated and achieve their goals. Self-affirmation theory proposes that people have a need for global self-integrity which can be achieved by reflection on positive behavioural approaches (Steele 1988). Research suggests strongly that self-efficacy can be increased by self-affirmation (Epton & Harris 2008; Zhao & Xiaoli 2010; Sherman & Cohen 2014). For example, it has been shown that affirming experiences can successfully promote academic achievement (Cohen et al. 2006) and positive health behaviours (Bandura 2004; Zhao & Xiaoli 2010; Harris et al 2014). The research questions can be broken down into two broad phases. In the first phase, the aim is to investigate whether peer-mentoring enhances educational outcomes because it induces self-affirmation and enhanced self-efficacy.1. To what extent and how does the relationship between educational outcomes and peer-mentoring involve self-affirmation and self-efficacy? In the second phase, the aim is to relate these to the experience of the individuals involved. The various changes in self-efficacy, learning and educational outcomes may occur before the individual can perceive and recognise them. 2. When and how is the development of academic knowledge and graduate attributes experienced in the process of peer-mentoring?3. How does that experienced time course relate to the occurrence of self- and social-affirmation and to changes in self-efficacy?In each question, I will also be asking how these effects are influenced by student background factors such as: baseline grade point average; socioeconomic status; and graduate generation.