Eleventh grade students work with 7th graders as they study teh HEY! curriculum. Many students said they preferred peers to tutors as they felt more comfortable, share similar backgrounds, and have a better rapport with them:
7th grade student (F): Sometimes you feel more trust with young people. Eleventh graders are still young and the age difference between 7th and 11th graders is not much. Students get along better and there is more trust, and sometimes that is not the case with teachers. It is also useful that 11th graders can learn from us and they take advantage of that as well.
Most eleventh graders thought that training prepared them for peer-to-peer implementation and expressed confidence that they did a good job.
Consistent with previous studies (e.g. Jaworsky et al., 2013), eleventh graders reported benefits of implementing materials such as experience speaking in public, confidence, and greater knowledge acquisition:
11th grade student (F): An advantage is that we develop our mind and we become capable of being in front of a group of adolescents talking about these themes. These are themes that some people are embarrassed to talk about like sex, condoms, and things like that. Talking about these themes is very advantageous because it teaches us a lot and we also learn from other students because sometimes they share stories that have happened in their families and that is an advantage.