The majority of the students who enroll at the Walter Sisulu University (WSU) Education and Training (2013, p. 17), further states that "students' support is crucial to ensure that students adapt to the demands of college life and that they can meet the demands of college programmes". Particularly in South Africa, the school environment might also contribute to poor student performance as a result of insufficient student support, and a lack of facilities and resources.
In order to address this gap, a Peer-Assisted Learning (PAL) programme was implemented to provide support targeting high-risk subjects for at-risk students in Mechanical Engineering at WSU.The programme therefore is pro-active and student-driven in that senior students assist junior students with their academic work and learning processes. The programme is designed to encourage collaborative and cooperative learning approaches during group sessions and active student engagement to support student learning (Laal & Laal, 2012
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