This is a new educational research project run by Dr. Alana James and funded by the Higher Education Academy. Current psychology undergraduate students at Royal Holloway are acting as mentors to school pupils studying psychology at A-level. The aim is to give pupils a real idea of what going to university is like and what the subject is like at degree level. This project recognises the need to prepare entry students before they actually enter higher education. New university students find that there are some differences between what was involved in studying Psychology at school and what it is like at university – for example, at degree level there is often a much greater emphasis upon statistics skills and running experiments. Cross-age mentoring has previously been used effectively to promote higher education aspirations within the government initiated AimHigher Associates scheme. The project also offers undergraduate students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience and develop skills which are essential for careers in psychology.
For more information about the Higher Education Academy and the AimHigher Scheme please click here
For more information about the resources used in this study and any useful links please see the Mentoring Resources page.
The School Report which describes the first year of the project and the results found is available here.
Dr Alana James discusses how cross-age mentoring, can be used as a way of supporting the transition into University. This blog has recently been published on the Higher Education Academy website and can be accessed here; https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/using-mentoring-support-transition-and-out-higher-education