Mentorship and employability in a Peer Assisted Learning programme You’ve got a PAL in me Mentorship and employability in a Peer Assisted Learning programme

Background Pilot project – 4 PAL Leaders across two subject disciplines Two day training programme to skill share and develop capabilities Focus on the ‘soft’ skills as well as the academic We went into the PAL scheme thinking about the benefits it would have for our students, being supported by their peers etc. We also look at the employability angles

Mentoring Each PAL Leader had a mentor from the Academic Support Team Scope for formal to informal relationship

Negotiation, liaison and marketing Proactively contacted academics Insight into the challenges of liaising with competing interests Creative problem solving triumphed

Basic admin skills Challenges around time sheets, HR processes and lost paperwork(!) Attention to detail

Time management They set their own timetables/priorities Prompt and responsive to emails Juggling study, work and family commitments

Tacit skills Working collaboratively with our team, but also each other Learning approaches to handle workplace ‘conflict’ Mentoring a key part to working through issues

Reflective Asked to complete a reflective journal Formed a focus group to improve our support materials Led to the development of the Video Wall We understand reflection to be a key employability and professional skill. It enables us to evaluating and conside r

What we learnt Employability doesn’t end with ‘hard’ skills Opportunities can be about how to work Focus on the transferable when designing opportunities A taster into an industry

Keep in touch Cathryn Peppard Email: c.e.a.peppard@gre.ac.uk