Peer Assisted Learning FAQs

In the 2022/23 academic year, the PAL programme is running on the below courses:

Arts and Humanities

• Animation
• Criminology 
• Criminology and Sociology
• Digital Communications
• English (and English related courses)
• Film Making
• Fine Art
• Games Art
• History
• Languages, Linguistics and TESOL
• Multimedia Journalism
• Philosophy
• Photography
• Politics
• Sociology

Business and Law

• Accounting and Finance
• Banking and Finance
• Business and Human Resource Management
• Business and Marketing
• Business Psychology
• International Tourism Management

 Health and Education

• Early Years and Childhood Studies
• Educational Psychology
• Integrated Health and Social Care
• Nursing
• Physiotherapy
• Primary Education
• Psychology
• Social Work
• Speech and Language Therapy

Science and Engineering

• Biomedical Science
• Chemistry
• Computing
• Engineering - Electrical, Mechanical and Product Design Engineering
• Environmental Science 
• Geography
• Human Biosciences
• Human Physiology
• Sport and Exercise Science

If you can attend PAL sessions, these will be scheduled on your timetable and will also give you the room your session will take place in, or a MS Teams link if the session is online. 

We would expect students to attend all timetabled activity. Feedback from students is that PAL has helped them better understand their course content, develop their study skills and meet new people from their course so there are many benefits to joining your sessions. 

PAL Leaders cannot look through your academic work, or show you examples of their work. If you want one-to-one academic support, you can talk to your personal tutor, tutor for the specific unit you are working on, or the Study Skills Team. If you had a specific skill or area you wanted to look at, you could speak to your PAL Leader about this being covered in a future PAL session.

We will be opening our recruitment window between March and May each year. Search PAL on the Jobs4Students portal to make an application during this time.

In the academic year 2022/23, the PAL programme is running on the below courses:

Arts & Humanities

• Animation
• Criminology 
• Criminology and Sociology
• Digital Communications
• English (and English related courses)
• Film Making
• Fine Art (Level 4 and 5)
• Games Art
• History
• Languages, Linguistics and TESOL
• Multimedia Journalism
• Philosophy
• Photography
• Politics
• Sociology

Business & Law

• Accounting and Finance
• Banking and Finance
• Business and Human Resource Management
• Business and Marketing
• Business Psychology
• International Tourism Management

Health and Education

• Early Years and Childhood Studies (Level 4 and 5)
• Educational Psychology (Level 4 and 5)
• Integrated Health and Social Care
• Nursing
• Physiotherapy
• Primary Education (Level 4 and 5)
• Psychology
• Social Work
• Speech and Language Therapy

Science & Engineering

• Biomedical Science
• Chemistry
• Computing
• Engineering - Electrical, Mechanical and Product Design Engineering
• Environmental Science 
• Geography
• Human Biosciences
• Human Physiology
• Sport and Exercise Science

Hopefully this webpage is helpful, however the next best option is to contact your course contact and/or faculty lead for PALs, as they should have a good understanding of the scheme and how this runs. Alternatively please contact pal@mmu.ac.uk

Firstly, PALs has been shown to increase levels of academic and social support to students, especially those in their first year of study. Attendees at PAL sessions report that they feel more confident with their academic work and working as part of a group. You can also know that your students are receiving additional support from peers, and will be sign posted to specialist services where appropriate.

We have received the below feedback from staff who have been involved with the scheme:

First year students were really appreciative of having that space there for them, and felt it added an extra layer of support. The PAL Leaders were just excellent – they were very proactive in promoting the sessions and always really well prepared for them. They were also really keen to find out what students in first year were learning about and challenges they were facing, in order to make the PAL sessions more meaningful and supportive.

 Marta Da Costa (Tutor – Education) 

The PAL leaders have worked so incredibly hard to grow a sense of community with the first years who attend the sessions, to inspire, support and encourage them in their studies. Colleagues from across the Faculty have shared encouraging feedback about the scheme, they’ve shared how students seemed better prepared for practical clinical assessments and how they’ve witnessed the value of peer to peer learning.

 Karen Crees (Senior Lecturer – Nursing & PAL Faculty Lead for HPSC) 

We quality assess PALs in a number of ways and support our Leaders within their role:

• Training: PAL Leaders attend training prior to the start of the academic year to teach them to use key techniques in facilitation. It is made clear that they are not teaching content, and the boundaries of the role are explored in this training. They also received guidance on a university support services, and how to refer to these.
• Observations: Staff members observe segments of PAL sessions on a termly basis to ensure that the sessions are being run correctly. PAL Leaders are informed these are happening, but not when, so they can advise attendees this may occur in their session. Where necessary, feedback is provided to PALs.
• De-briefs: PAL Leaders meet with the central PAL team on a regular basis to discuss the results of observations, raise concerns and to receive follow up training that has been identified.
• Support from staff: PAL Leaders are supported by the central PAL team and a faculty lead (for all practical issues such as timesheet approval and rotas) and a course contact (for academic queries).

We would advise that they check this webpage for up-to-date information about recruitment. They will need to make an application via the Jobs4Students portal, and shortlisted candidates are invited to interview. We open our recruitment for the next academic year from March to May each year, adverts will go live at this point and we will update this webpage with links to the adverts.

If a prospective PAL Leader has any questions about the role they can talk to a current PAL Leader on their course or email pal@mmu.ac.uk

To see a full list of courses running PAL in the current academic year, please look at the FAQ above which provides this list. 

A list of courses recruiting leaders in the recruitment window from March each year, can be accessed via the recruitment section of our website at this time.

You can also contact your faculty lead for PAL or the central PAL team at pal@mmu.ac.uk

We would love to hear from you about your ideas. Please contact the central PAL team at pal@mmu.ac.uk to discuss this further.