The PASS Scheme
PASS (Peer Assisted Study Sessions) is a scheme designed to provide pastoral and academic support for all first year students. PASS is run by students (peer assisted) with the support of the School and a dedicated staff co-ordinator: Dr Maggy Fostier.
Each first year student is assigned to a group of about 15 students of the same or similar degree programme and two PASS Leaders. PASS Leaders are Year 2, Year 3 or Final Year students who have volunteered to be involved. They have undergone training in group management, facilitation and mentoring techniques, and are there to share their experience with the students and organise the study sessions. PASS Leaders will facilitate and encourage; they won’t lecture or give answers; they have been trained to ask the right questions to help the group discover a solution together, or to advise on the best approach to get to the answer.
You will have one PASS session of about 50 min at the same time every week. In week 1, you will have an induction session, in week 2, a ‘Meet & Greet’ session where you can ask any question and get advice/tips from leaders, from week 3, you will have sessions with your group and two leaders only, and the programme will be tailored to your needs. The PASS sessions are informal, flexible and interactive. The aim of the sessions is to give students the opportunity to discuss their understanding of subjects and share ideas, enabling them to find answers to problems amongst themselves and consolidate their understanding. The sessions are structured around discussions or activities designed to promote active learning, organised by the leaders. In this setting, the students benefit from the experience of the PASS Leaders and from talking to other students in the same position. The sessions are also designed to help with transition to University life, and PASS Leaders are there to provide advice on study skills such as note-taking, revision and exam techniques, as well as general advice on other University matters.
To find out when and where the PASS sessions are and the members of the groups:
- Access the BIOL10000 unit site in Blackboard
- Select the Course Content Area
- Select the PASS folder
- Within the folder there will be documents related to the PASS programme.
If you have any questions about PASS, if the timing of your session is inconvenient, or if you feel strongly about changing group, you should contact Holly Knight (Holly.Knight@manchester.ac.uk) and Dr. Maggy Fostier (maggy.fostier@manchester.ac.uk). Please email both with your problem/query.