Example 1: The Learning Center (TLC)
At a community college where the peer tutoring center was run by the counseling department, peer tutors -- all of whom were students, and some of whom were in fact receiving tutoring in some areas while providing it in others -- were trained in counseling skills as well as education. The assumption was that academic problems often carried with them, or were caused by, other issues that affected learning.
Their training made tutors aware enough to suggest that a learner might be pressured by parental expectations to do well in a particular course, or that she thought of herself as stupid whenever she was faced with a particular type of problem. Through these kinds of observations, and well-placed encouragement and support, tutors were often able to help learners overcome the non-academic difficulties that were keeping them from success in the classroom. The support of the counselors, both as supervisors for the tutors and as backup when students' problems were more than tutors could address, also added greatly to the success of the program.
The Learning Center proved the most successful program of its type in the state community college system. Begun in 1976, it is still running -- based on the same set of assumptions -- nearly 25 years later.
Example 2: Computer Literacy
When an adult literacy program received a new computer with an internet account, the instructor and some learners applied for and got a grant to teach students to use it. Six volunteers from among the program's learners were trained in basic computer skills and the use of the internet. These six then each taught several other learners what they had learned. Now, several years later, computers have become an integral part of the program...and so has the peer education by which new students learn how to use them.
The power of peer education in this situation resides in the peer educators' ability to understand the roadblocks that students often experience when confronted with computers for the first time, and to say truthfully that they've been there, too. The pressure that is almost always inherent in learning from someone who "knows" is nonexistent in this situation, and students are able to gain skills and confidence much more quickly than they might in a class.
Example 3: La Leche League
This organization, started in 1956 to encourage new mothers to breastfeed their babies, has grown into a huge international organization that has contact with over 100,000 mothers each day. It is a peer education program, with a leader certification program for volunteers, all of whom are experienced breastfeeding mothers. These women act as mentors and group leaders for groups of first-time nursing mothers, encouraging and answering questions, facilitating discussion, and providing and encouraging peer support. The model has worked so well that it has lasted more than 40 years, and has helped to change the cultural attitude toward breastfeeding in this country and others.
Example 4: University of Zimbabwe/Southern African Training School Without Walls: Partnerships Against AIDS
The University off Zimbabwe and the SAT School Without Walls work with local organizations and NGOs (non-governmental organizations, i.e. community-based non-profits) to identify and contact the groups most at risk for HIV infection in an area where the infection rate is enormous -- as much as 40% in some areas and among some groups. Leaders or respected members of at-risk groups -- female sex workers, miners, etc. -- are trained as peer educators, and work within existing informal social networks to educate and change the behavior of other members of those groups. The result has been a decline in the rate of infection and an increase in the use of condoms and other safe-sex practices.