PhD defence Roman Raffeal Hari

Keywords: Near-Peer Teaching, Skills Teaching, Cognitive Congruence, Curriculum Design

"Near-Peer-Teaching in Undergraduate Skills Training: Exploring Teaching Strategies and Implementation"

This thesis explored how students who are slightly more advanced, known as near-peers, can contribute to teaching practical skills in health professions education. While near-peer teaching is already common because it helps reduce costs, its true value lies in how near-peers support learning in ways that differ from faculty. Using the framework of Cognitive Apprenticeship, the research examined both teaching methods and curricular design. The studies showed that near-peers and faculty use similar teaching strategies, but near-peers often create a more supportive learning environment and focus strongly on students’ needs, whereas faculty place more emphasis on preparing students for clinical practice. Importantly, when near-peer teaching was deliberately combined with faculty input, students achieved even better results than in faculty-only training. The thesis highlights how near-peers and faculty bring complementary strengths and argues for carefully designed programs that integrate both, benefiting learners and fostering the development of future educators.

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