The effect of peer tutoring on academic achievement during practical assessments in applied sports science students

Peer tutoring has been shown to be highly effective in enhancing both tutor and tutee achievements and skill development in a range of educational settings, although this has not currently been investigated in an applied sports science degree setting. The aim of this investigation, therefore, was to determine if peer tutoring enhanced achievement of tutees during practical assessments on an applied sports science degree programme. Final year students on an undergraduate applied sports science degree programme provided optional peer tutored practical sessions, twice per week (two hours per session) for a period of eight weeks, for students in the second year of the same undergraduate degree programme. Grades the of 2nd year tutees (Group 1; n=12) were compared to the grades of the students that did not attend the optional peer tutoring (Group 2; n=16), and the grades of students from the previous year, who were not peer tutored (Group 3; n=24). Results demonstrated that peer tutoring (Group 1) resulted in significantly (p=0.003) higher grades (75.00 +/- 10.58%) compared to students that were not peer tutored (Group 2: 51.81 +/- 18.49, p=0.003; Group 3: 59.48 +/- 19.21, p=0.014). This study demonstrates that peer tutoring during practical sessions on applied sports science programmes can enhance the achievement of tutees during practical assessments. It is therefore recommended that peer tutoring is adopted as an effective teaching and learning method for the development of students' practical skills during undergraduate sports science degrees.