Peer Mediation Network | 8 November
DATE: 8 November 2019
VENUE: Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London N10LG
TIME: 11am-4pm
RSVP (Free): ellisb@quaker.org.uk
Networking Meeting (11-1pm)
We will hear updates from Peer Mediation Network about joint projects and achievements from across the network and discuss joint projects.
Skillshare (2-4pm): The impact of mediation in a secondary school
We are fortunate to welcome Dr Alison Benson who will share her research on the impact of peer mediation.
"I will unpack the empirical paper from my doctoral thesis and I hope we can explore together how my research fits with your own experiences.
First, I hope to explain the set-up of the well-established peer mediation secondary school programme that was the focus of my research. Of course, each school and each peer mediation programme have subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) differences, so I hope this will help set my research within a context. Next, I will walk you through the process of data collection and data analysis. Then, crucially, I will talk through my key findings, including perceptions of the programme, information about how the programme works and finally some of the factors that were found to influence the effectiveness of the programme.
I would be interested to hear how my research fits with PMN members' experiences of school-based peer mediation programmes. Does this research resonate with you? If not, why not? What can we learn from this that can support the future of peer mediation in schools?
I look forward to meeting you all."
Dr Alison Benson
Educational Psychologist
About Alison
Alison is an Educational Psychologist (EP) who lives and works in Bristol. She previously lived in London where she worked as an EP in Southwark and completed her doctoral training in Educational and Child Psychology at University College London (UCL). Alison is particularly interested in the ways in which schools can promote wellbeing and resilience in children and young people.
As part of her doctorate, Alison completed a thesis about school-based peer support programmes. Part of this thesis was an empirical paper outlining a qualitative case study, which explored a well-established peer mediation programme in an inner city secondary academy in London. This approach was taken in order to extend the research on school-based peer mediation programmes and answer questions regarding perceptions of the programme, how the programme works and factors influencing programme effectiveness.