Abstract
The number of students with disabilities in higher education is increasing. Despite governmental and institutional support, students with disabilities often have poorer progression and are at a higher risk of dropping out than their non-disabled peers. Peer mentoring has been practiced in higher educational institutions to help students with disabilities in successful transition to higher education, participating social activities, enhancing retention, and achieving academic success. However, there is a lack of research concerning different stakeholders involved in peer-mentoring process and their experiences and challenges, particularly in different social contexts. In this study we have carried out interviews with support service personnel, mentors and mentees in the Norwegian context. The results show positive outcomes from the mentoring process as well as challenges that need to be addressed, particularly in the organization of the mentor program and the responsibilities of the different stakeholders. Further research should focus on a wider spectrum of social contexts in which the mentoring programs are organized.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Lov om universiteter og høyskoler (Act relating to universities and university colleges), §4-3c Individuell tilrettelegging ved funksjonsnedsettelse og særskilte behov, https://lovdata.no/lov/2005-04-01-15/§4-3c.
- 2.
Act relating to equality and a prohibition against discrimination (Equality and Anti-Discrimination Act) Section 21 Right to individual accommodation of pupils and students: https://lovdata.no/NLE/lov/2017-06-16-51/§21.
- 3.
Norwegian Ministries: Bærekraft og like muligheter – et universelt utformet Norge 2021–2025, https://www.regjeringen.no/contentassets/51369fe60a0240e4bbd554c54310048d/no/pdfs/handlingsplan-for-universell-utforming.pdf.
- 4.
Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research – SIKT, https://sikt.no/en/home.
References
United Nations. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Article 24 Education. https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities/article-24-education.html. Accessed 10 Feb 2023
United Nations, Sustainable Development Goal 4 Education, Target 4.3, https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal4. Accessed 10 Feb 2023
European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice. Towards equity and inclusion in higher education in Europe. Eurydice report. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg (2022)
European Commission. Commission Communication on a European strategy for universities, January 2022 (2022). https://education.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2022-01/communication-european-strategy-for-universities.pdf
Hauschildt, K., Gwosć, C., Schirmer, H., Wartenbergh-Cras, F.: Social and Economic Conditions of Student Life in Europe: Eurostudent VII 2018–2021 Synopsis of Indicators. wbv (2021)
National Center for Education Statistics. U.S. Department of Education: Digest of Education Statistics, 2017(2018–070) (2019)
Weedon, E.: The construction of under-representation in UK and Swedish higher education: Implications for disabled students. Educ. Citizenship Soc. Justice 12(1), 75–88 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1177/1746197916683470
Hubble, S., Bolton, P.: Support for disabled students in higher education in England. Commons Library Briefing, 28 July 2020 (2020)
Hillier, A., Goldstein, J., Tornatore, L., Byrne, E., Johnson, H.M.: Outcomes of a peer mentoring program for university students with disabilities. Mentor. Tutor. Partnership Learn. 27(5), 487–508 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1080/13611267.2019.1675850
Lucas, R., James, A.I.: An evaluation of specialist mentoring for university students with autism spectrum disorders and mental health conditions. J. Autism Dev. Disord. 48(3), 694–707 (2018)
Siew, C.T., Mazzucchelli, T.G., Rooney, R., Girdler, S.: A specialist peer mentoring program for university students on the autism spectrum: A pilot study. PLoS ONE 12(7), e0180854 (2017)
Hillier, A., Goldstein, J., Tornatore, L., Byrne, E., Ryan, J., Johnson, H.: Mentoring college students with disabilities: experiences of the mentors. Int. J. Mentor. Coach. Educ. 7(3), 202–218 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMCE-07-2017-0047
Collings, R., Swanson, V., Watkins, R.: The impact of peer mentoring on levels of student wellbeing, integration and retention: a controlled comparative evaluation of residential students in UK higher education. High. Educ. 68(6), 927–942 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-014-9752-y
Chester, A., Burton, L.J., Xenos, S., Elgar, K.: Peer mentoring: Supporting successful transition for first year undergraduate psychology students. Aust. J. Psychol. 65(1), 30–37 (2013)
Crisp, G., Cruz, I.: Mentoring college students: A critical review of the literature be-tween 1990 and 2007. Res. High. Educ. 50(6), 525–545 (2009)
Cardinot, A., Flynn, P.: Review of evidence-based mentoring programmes for students with disabilities from 2010 to 2021. Galway: Centre for Pedagogy and Public Engagement Research, School of Education, NUI Galway (2022). https://doi.org/10.13025/w9ta-9770
Roberts, N., Birmingham, E.: Mentoring university students with ASD: A mentee-centered approach. J. Autism Dev. Disord. 47(4), 1038–1050 (2017)
Ames, M.E., McMorris, C.A., Alli, L.N., Bebko, J.M.: Overview and evaluation of a mentorship program for university students with ASD. Focus Autism Other Develop. Disab. 31(1), 27–36 (2016)
Culnane, M., Eisenman, L.T., Murphy, A.: College peer mentoring and students with intellectual disability: Mentors’ perspectives on relationship dynamics. Inclusion 4(4), 257–269 (2016)
Krisi, M., Nagar, R.: The effect of peer mentoring on mentors themselves: A case study of college students. Int. J. Disab. Develop. Educ. 1–13 (2021)
Suciu, M.: Une mentoring program for students living with autism spectrum disorders (ASDS). JANZSSA 44, 55–59 (2014)
Tobajas, F., De Armas, V., Cabello, M.D., Grijalvo, F.: Supporting students with special needs at university through peer mentoring. In: 2014 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), pp. 701–705. IEEE (2014)
Hsieh, H.-F., Shannon, S.E.: Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qual. Health Res. 15(9), 1277–1288 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732305276687
Lindsay, S., Hartman, L. R., Fellin M.: A systematic review of mentorship programs to facilitate transition to post-secondary education and employment for youth and young adults with disabilities. Disab. Rehabilit. 38(14), 1329–1349 (2016). https://doi.org/10.3109/09638288.2015.1092174
Olaussen, E.J., Jørgensen, L.: Mentor for studenter med funksjonsnedsettelse: En kartlegging av nytteverdi og organisering av ordningen. Tungesvik, R. (ed.), Rapport nr. 14/2022, HK-Dir (2022). ISSN 2703-9102
Acknowledgement
We would like to thank the funding agency Firah and all partners in the PLE3SD project. Thanks also to all participants of the study for their valuable input.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Sanderson, N.C., Chen, W. (2023). Peer-Mentoring for Students with Disabilities – A Preliminary Study in Norwegian Higher Education. In: Antona, M., Stephanidis, C. (eds) Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. HCII 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14021. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35897-5_28
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35897-5_28
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-35896-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-35897-5
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)