Near-peer teaching in paramedic education: A repeated measures design

The transition of the Australian paramedic discipline from vocation education and training to the higher education sector has seen a sharp rise in interest in near-peer teaching (NPT). The objective of this study was to examine satisfaction levels of NPT over one academic semester among undergraduate paramedic students. A repeated measured design was used to investigate NPT and learning among paramedic students at Monash University. A total of 111 students participated in the study: n=25 near-peer teachers and n=86 near-peer learners. Near-peer learners perceived feedback from their peers to be more honest, realistic, helpful than from the instructor (before M=3.07 vs. after M=2.69, p=.01), while near-peer teachers believed that paramedics have a professional responsibility to teach students (before M=2.00 vs. after M=1.16, p=.001). These results in conjunction with wider literature suggest that NPT should be considered for implementation into the existing paramedic higher education curricula.