New Perspectives in Science Education

This paper discusses the theoretical perspectives on paired mentoring projects in science by reflecting on the experiences that the authors have had on working on multiple interventions with 15- to 16-year-olds across England. The seminal paper Sharpe, Abrahams and Fotou [1] discussed the initial pilot study and its findings. This paper draws on this work and the authors involvement in subsequent iterations to examine paired mentoring from a theoretical perspective. The paired mentoring in science approach was designed initially in 2015 at the University of Lincoln to support disadvantaged students [2] who were taking compulsory public exams known as General Certificate in Secondary Education (GCSE) during their final year of secondary education in England (Year 11 – aged 15 to 16). Inspired by the Perach Scheme [3], the pilot paired mentoring project and subsequent iterations paired an undergraduate student with a Year 11 to whom they mentored over the course of an academic year. The paper explores factors literature recommends as being suggestive of the effectiveness of paired mentoring projects. However, our experiences of involvement in these multiple interventions showed that asymmetrical pairings in terms of academic achievement and socioeconomic factors do not always associate with the effectiveness of such interventions. The paper considers practical implications for the potential implementation of effective paired mentoring in science for secondary education.