The mission of the University of Oxford is to achieve and sustain excellence in every area of its teaching and research, enriching communities through the fruits of its research, the skills of its alumni, and the publishing of academic and educational materials. Our initiative was closely aligned with the University’s mission: to develop an innovative and high quality programme in teaching and learning by drawing on the skills of alumni to enhance the educational experience of current Master of Science (MSc) students. The overall aim of this initiative was to embed a new skills training programme in an established MSc course to develop essential practical public health skills that complement the traditional theoretical teaching for students undertaking a masters in Global Health Science, and to enhance the teaching skills of their ‘near peers’[1], the doctoral students.

Near-peer teachers have a number of benefits for the teachers, the students and the learning environment. This is particularly because their similar age and recent experiences mean they have a better understanding of the students’ knowledge and circumstances, and thus can teach at an appropriate level [2,3]. They have been widely used and evaluated in medical education [4].

The near-peers (doctoral students) who supported the development of the curriculum had graduated from the MSc Global Health Science within the previous three years and had identified a ‘gap’ in the teaching of practical skills - skills important for their future careers as researchers or policy-makers. They also identified the need for doctoral students to develop teaching skills, critical for their careers in academia. The result was the development and implementation of a ‘Practical Skills Training Programme’ designed to meet the needs of both the MSc and the doctoral students. It was built on existing work, the ‘Public Health in Practice’ (PHIP) project which has been described elsewhere [5]. Two new strands were added to the pre-existing PHIP to create the new practical skills training. These strands included oral presentation and writing skills, and debating, advocacy and media skills - skills important to future global health leaders. Doctoral students who had recently undertaken the MSc were ideally placed to participate in the curriculum development of this programme, although support for the implementation of the initiative was open to all doctoral students and not limited to the MSc GHS alumni. However, it was stipulated that all participating doctoral students must have completed two basic teaching skills training courses run by the Medical Sciences Division of the University, totalling three days of training.

 T  he doctoral students delivered a coherent and integrated programme of practical skills training for masters students. Doctoral students developed not only teaching and facilitation skills, but also gained valuable skills in organisation and leadership. 

The quantitative findings are reported in more depth in the 'details' section. Qualitative feedback has also been largely positive. Some of the comments are described below:

“Being involved in Students as Partners was extremely rewarding - it gave me responsibility to contribute to the public health education of junior students. I took this responsibility very seriously and as a result developed my teaching skills and gave me a new insight into how students learn and the efforts that teachers put in to make that possible.”

Doctoral student

 “Conversing with students showed me that it was a mutually beneficial arrangement, where the students mentioned really enjoying the accessibility of fellow senior students. In my case I was especially able to empathise with and tailor my teaching to the students' needs because I had recently been on the same course as them and was aware of the specific challenges.”

Doctoral student

The MSc students valued the training programme and, despite a pressurised course, felt it a worthwhile use of their time. They appreciated the input of their near peers; they readily identified the benefits of peer-tutoring: doctoral students were friendly and approachable, had a good understanding of their learning needs and of the constraints on their time. This is in line with other research which has described the value of such ‘cognitive congruence’ [6].

“Students felt that the doctoral student tutors were friendly, available and approachable.”

 MSc student representative 

“It was helpful to learn from people who have gone through this before. They [doctoral student tutors] were able to make the students see what you do and don’t need to do.”

 MSc student representative