Developing reciprocal peer tutoring in Irish medium schools

Reciprocal or classwide peer tutoring, as a form of cooperative learning, was first designed to improve the mathematics attainment of students livening in high poverty inner city areas. It has been studied in English medium schools, but reported use in languages other than English are limited. This chapter will report a Phase II trial that was undertaken to assess the impact of using reciprocal/classwide peer tutoring on mathematics attainment in Irish Medium schools. Six schools undertook peer tutoring, and six schools acted as comparison and continued teaching as usual. Teachers in the intervention group implemented the peer tutoring technique during mathematics lessons, and teachers in the comparison group used their usual pedagogic approaches, during a period of up to 16 weeks. Changes in attainment were measured with an Irish translation of the Scottish Survey of Achievement in Mathematics Test, administered before and after the peer tutoring intervention. Classes that used reciprocal/classwide peer tutoring improved their mathematics attainment scores significantly more than the comparison classes with an effect size gain of +0.34 for the peer tutoring group, compared to the control group. Results indicated that reciprocal/classwide peer tutoring had potential to be an effective pedagogy for learning maths in Irish Medium schools. The chapter will report the research, discuss how the technique articulates with theory, and explore what implications findings have for professional practice and policy.