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High quality tutoring is the best support that the teacher can give to students. When it is done well it can achieve things that are rarely possible in class teaching.
The first choice is between tutoring the individual student, tutoring in small groups and tutoring the whole class.
The Individual
Tutoring the individual student seems attractive at first because it should be possible to adjust accurately to the individual's needs and abilities. But there are weaknesses:
The student is under great psychological pressure in this one-to-one relationship and may fail to respond in the way that the teacher hopes
The student will be deprived of the stimulus of fellow students
There will be severe pressures on the teacher's time
The teacher will have to conduct so many tutorials that the students will have to sustain very long periods of self-study between them. This will not work for many younger and less experienced students
The Whole Class
Tutoring the whole class at once seems attractive to the teacher who is concerned about the economic use of own time. But again there are weaknesses:
Feedback is difficult and unreliable. How much have they been able to participate? Have they really understood what they have to do?
Much time has to be spent on organisation and 'business' and discipline instead of the substance of the learning.
Small Groups
So tutoring in small groups (of about five students) seems to be the best arrangement:
The group is big enough to be intellectually stimulating and socially supportive.
The group is small enough to enable each individual to feel important and responsible. In groups of this size it is fairly easy to ensure that no one individual gets left out or is allowed to opt out of the group's thinking and effort.
The teacher can concentrate on the action so that a very high proportion of the time is spent on the substance of the learning ('on task').
The teacher can be reasonably economical in the use of his/her own time and effort.
The Objectives of the Tutorial
The objectives are in four domains: intellectual, affective, social and managerial.
Intellectual
'Learning how to learn' is a broad aim. A good tutorial goes beyond the individual skills into the strategic approach to studying. Students are encouraged to think about their own thought processes and to become more analytical. They learn how to combine the individual skills into longer term strategies in order to achieve their goals. They learn the benefits of flexibility in thinking and the use of imagination.
Affective
Good tutoring is supportive in the personal sense. It helps students to organise themselves and get the best out of their school work. It helps them to see the relevance and the meaning for them. It helps them to integrate their school work with their lives outside the school. It recognises that learning is an intensely personal thing.
Social
The tutorial contributes to the social development of the students. They get the benefits of sharing, mutually supporting, collaborating and competing. These are in their own right but they also enhance the quality of the learning itself.
Managerial
The tutorial is an experience of firm intention, of discipline and of a systematic approach to getting things done. It has the 'bias towards action' which is a hallmark of success in all walks of life. The good tutorial is like a well-conducted business meeting.
The Agenda of the Tutorial
If it is to be like a well-conducted business meeting, it will need to work on an agenda. The students should know the agenda (why not have a standard agenda and agree its adoption or modification at the beginning of each tutorial?). The suggestions below are for the main headings of such an agenda:
Review the work completed during the last study phase. This includes factual reporting on work done, problems encountered, interesting achievements and possibilities discovered for future work.
Make assessments of the same work. Hopefully some kind of profile records are being kept and the tutorial creates exactly the right conditions for this.
Give a briefing for the next phase of study. This requires clear definitions of objectives and scope of the work; identification of resources to be used; clear descriptions of tasks, problems and issues; guidance on the scope and style of the presentation.
Let the briefing develop as a negotiation. Students need to learn through experience that negotiation is an attempt to balance their own needs and interests against the perceptions of the tutor and against the demands of the external world. It is not an invitation to be purely self-willed.
Bring the tutorial to a close through the making of a contract with each student. This is easily done if they are encouraged to make notes during the briefing stage; the notes can then be adopted as the contract - the 'minutes of the meeting'.
An agenda provides a disciplined way of working.
Techniques to Encourage Participation:
When using questions remember to wait for the answer!
Praise good answers but also preserve the self-esteem of those who give wrong answers
Prompt and encourage but unobtrusively
all involved
Create a climate which delights in the bold and imaginative answer and warmly accepts the personal response
Promote mutual respect. Condemn sarcasm and destructive criticism.
Adapted from Supported Self Study by Philip Waterhouse, published by CET (now out of print)
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