Models of Leadership in Youth Near-Peer STEM Teaching Organizations

Organizations that create opportunities for youth (14–21 years old) to be near-peer educators empower youth leadership through relational and community-oriented commitments. In this study, we describe how youth, employed to teach others STEM subjects, understand leadership, including what good leadership looks like and how the organizations they work for support their development as leaders. We include in-depth interviews with six youth community STEM educators. Participants in our study characterized youth leadership in side-by-side or dialogic leadership styles which catalyzed a sense of responsibility and a focus on giving back to their self-identified communities. Leadership in youth near-peer teaching settings is not individual, rather participants see themselves as part of a leadership team. Organizations supported leadership by creating family like structures and distributing opportunities for leadership to everyone. To disrupt educational inequities, young people need, and can excel in, authentic opportunities to lead.