Students as scholars: evaluating student-led learning and teaching during fieldwork

Student-led teaching and learning is an innovative form of active learning that empowers students with direct ownership of the learning experience. Reporting on a final-year undergraduate field trip to Barcelona, Spain, peer-to-peer teaching is used to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge and uncover the processes that help create a sense of place. Students experience the issues that academics face when leading activities in the field. This paper explores the benefits and limitations of this approach which can potentially challenge the power relationship between student and tutor to the extent that the student is elevated to that of scholar.