Peer education: individual learning or service delivery?

This article discusses the importance and values of a peer education approach and argues that the theoretical underpinning, rationale and practice require a change in focus. Community based youth work can benefit from developments in Higher Education where peer education has become routine rather than exceptional practice. It is proposed that the value of this methodology lies in the enhancement of teaching and learning across formal and informal learning environments. In searching for definition and rationale, the article examines contemporary peer education approaches noting the persistent focus on delivery of credible, mainly health related, information. Workers spend time
trying to measure recipient impact rather than focusing on the benefits of this approach as a teaching and learning strategy. In response, the authors have created a new peer education template that can be used by peer educators and learners to help track and plan their learning across various learning settings.