The Peer Educators Takes Charge

Last week, PULSE and Field Band Education (FBE) hosted the final training intervention of the Peer Educator Pilot Programme. Since January 2017 we have met regularly to upskill and train the Peer Educators (P.E) in PULSE and Education strategies. The list of topics covered and work done is extensive, and includes topics such as Disability Awareness and Inclusive Teaching, Gira – A Story of Resilience and Music and Health. In addition to this we have provided tools for e.g. study techniques, critical thinking, teamwork and planning and evaluation. After co-facilitating and participating in National Workshops, Educational Band Visits and Peer Educator Training Sessions, we have come to a point where it is time for the Peer Educators to really get to show and test all they have learned. Therefore, we conducted our P.E training session a little bit differently this time around.

The Peer Educators were given the task of planning and conducting a full day workshop in Witbank. They were asked to plan for sessions running from 08:30 to 16:00, and that the time will have to be allocated between Conducting, Practical Music Theory and Disability Awareness and Inclusive Teaching. They were also given goals they were to reach during the day. The goals for the PULSE topics included points such as:

“The participants should be enabled to include members living with disabilities through:

Understanding barriers that people living with disabilities might meet.
Understanding how attitudes and language can help inclusion, or hinder it.”

It was then up to the Peer Educators to choose appropriate content and method to reach these goals. The task required the P.Es to work closely and efficiently as a team, allocate responsibility and help each other prepare and get ready for the workshop. This model not only tells us how much they have learned so far in the programme, but it also shows the P.Es themselves how much they have become capable of doing, and leads to a sense of mastering and motivation. The Witbank workshop showed us a confident and highly skilled team able to independently plan and conduct a full workshop on PULSE and Field Band Education topics. The Peer Educator Pilot Programme will now be moving into its final stage. In the next few months, the Peer Educators will be working on their own on revising all content and writing a final written assignment. In November, they will be taking their final exams and present all they have learned to a panel consisting of external and internal examiners. We see that there are still big tasks ahead, but in these last few days the P.Es have shown that they are ready for this challenge. As this round of the PULSE programme is coming to an end, we in PULSE 4 would like to wish the Peer Educators good luck in their work, and say thank you for the time we have spent together. You have continually impressed us with your commitment, dedication and will to grow and learn. Thank you for all the hard work you have put into this programme – it has been a pleasure working with you.