The role of the personal tutor within
HE and FE, is an area of consideration as this can be linked to mentoring.
This aspect in a variety of institutions is used to ensure
students are on track, and if needed the correct amount of
support/guidance is provided. However should these personal tutors be
specific mentors or should it fall onto a member of teaching staff to provide
this support? Both have their merits and both have their downfalls.
But let’s review some previous studies, before I give a final thought...
Within further education colleges it could be argued that lecturers act as
mentors to a group of students throughout the academic year by supporting their
progress. A report developed by Coppla (2001) identifies the need of
mentors to help students uncover their dreams and realise their
potentials. I would agree with the idea of developing students to achieve
their dreams or potential, however this is a difficult process as the college
mentor does not chose the students within the mentoring or tutor group and the
students do not have an opinion in the process either. The students and
tutors are linked together by the level of study and the member of teaching
staff who happens to be identified to tutor a group at this level of
study. Thus conflict can occur due to different reasons including the
gender of student or tutor, the different areas of interest within the area of
study and personality differences. The mentoring relationship is forced
and means that neither the protégé or mentor develop from the experience of
working together. In addition the tutor could have to mentor from the
group a protégé who is considered as having a diverse background or disability
for example. As considered in research conducted by Britner et
al. (2006) mentoring programmes are well received as a support service
to diverse population but the programmes offered are not flexible enough to
meet the needs of these individuals
Within further and higher education institutes a process of mentoring is used
via a personal tutor system. According to a study completed by Stephen et
al. (2008) personal tutors play a vital role in embedding the students
within the institution and developing the students understanding of individual
learning. The personal tutor system is not only designed to prepare the
student for the next stage in their academic journey, but also as identified by
Stephen et al. (2008) students use the process as an
opportunity to discuss or highlight any personal issues and problems they are
experiencing. It was also noted in the research conducted by Stephen et
al. (2008) that the personal tutor system could be seen as an
inconvenience to the lecturer and students felt that gaining access to could be
difficult as they felt that lecturers did not always have time to meet and
discuss their needs. Lecturers identified they have more students than
ever but not all make use of the tutorial system that has been put in place at
the institution. I have a belief that a reason for students not making
use of the personal tutor system is that the student does not have an option
with who they are paired with, which could cause conflict or that the student
is uncomfortable approaching the personal tutor. Possible development of
a system in place where students have an opportunity to be involved in the
process of choosing a personal tutor could improve the process further, and
this would then allow this to become more of a mentoring experience where
students could decide on the tutor depending on area of interest or
personality. Although this could have its drawbacks with more popular
tutors having more students it might increase the opportunity for students to
progress further and possibly improve support within educational
institutes. A system being used by some further education colleges to
improve tutorial support is the aim higher programme. The purpose of the
aim higher programme according to Rogers (2009) is to improve aspirations of
young people and to encourage them to continue their educational journey.
It was originally designed for secondary schools but more further education
colleges are now using the system to help reduce student withdrawal figures
increasing. Although as stated by Rogers (2009) the aim higher schools
are identified due to background of students to gain additional funding, this
allows for a learning mentor to be identified to the aim higher students
targeted. The learning mentor provides both group and one to one support
in order to overcome such issues as non-attendance, falling motivation and low aspirations
to study after leaving school. Now further educational institutes provide
the same support to students in an alternative manner from the experience at
school but due to the fact it is different, students return to the learning
mentor at school, due to as discovered by Rogers (2009) the mentoring
relationship developed within the school environment. This is a
demonstration of significant commitment to securing best possible outcomes for
the student and due to developing strong effective relationships. It
could be identified that the learning mentor is providing incredible support in
order to give the students confidence to continue their educational journey,
but they are also failing the young person by not preparing them for a
different mentoring approach within a further education college. By
allowing the students to return to the learning mentor at school, is there a
focus of too much support provided or not enough consideration given into how
to transfer these individuals into the next phase of learning they are going to
experience. The learning mentors could provide information to the further
education institutes in order for them to develop a mentoring relationship and
gain more understanding of the individual they are now working with. In
addition the school learning mentors should be encouraging learner to be more
independent and not be reliant on the current system of mentoring. As
concluded within Rogers (2009) it is important that institutes create
structures of support that go beyond merely getting the student a qualification
on their educational journey but also create a supportive social environment,
in addition effective mentoring is needed to ensure student’s progress
into post 16 education and continue is essential. I agree with some of
the conclusions presented by Rogers (2009), that there is a need for effective
systems to be in place for students to develop and provide the support needed,
but this should be for all students not just ones who were given aim higher
support within school. The idea of all students needing support is
identified by Owen (2002) who states that all students need a personal tutor
even if they continue on an educational journey which is straight forward, but
maybe due to the personal tutor system in place this helps reduce the anxiety
of the student feeling they are alone even if they do not use the
process. Again Owen (2002) identifies the need not to just the focus of
support on academic work but also the welfare of students, as it was noted that
students will ask for support in numerous aspects which could include housing,
financial and emotional problems. Therefore further education institutes need
to ensure that the system developed is there not only to ensure that the
student completes their studies but also provides the social support in order
for the student to develop into higher education where there will be more focus
on the student being responsible for their own development and seek out the
support needed to help them develop. However for a successful system to
be developed it needs as stated by Black et al. (2004) for all
tutors to be willing to participate in the process and to be informed of the
responsibilities of it. I feel this could be the biggest challenge
in developing a system of mentoring, the tutors who are going to act as mentors
and for them to understand their responsibilities in supporting the students.
However as previously mentioned there are issues with the development of
personal tutor groups, as these groups and tutors are placed together by the
manager for a department on occasions without consideration for the skills and
qualities of the tutor who will act as a personal tutor for the students.
As identified by Cox (2005) that forced pairings can affect the relationship by
developing such emotions as anger, resentment and possibly suspicion with the
situation. This is of concern as the personal tutor is responsible for
developing the student’s confidence and help their learning experience.
Other considerations included within Cox’s (2005) study is that the age of the
mentor and mentee needs to be considered in order for a role model approach to
be utilised. However again this needs consideration as younger members of
the department could have a different outlook on how students should develop
which could have an impact on ensuring that the student is ready for the next
phase of development e.g. next level of course or employability. With
regards to age the researcher can identify how this could be an issue as some students
could use the argument ‘what do they know they are the same age as me’ again
this needs consideration ensuring that students feel that the person they are
discussing issues with has enough life experience to help them progress.
With the need to pair students with an individual that will help them develop
within a mentoring/personal tutor relationship correctly caution is needed
further with regards the member of staff understanding the role fully.
References
Britner, P., Balcazar, F., Blechman,
E., Blinn-Pike, Lynn. and Larose, S. (2006) Mentoring Special Youth
Populations. Journal of Community Psychology, 34 (6), 747-763.
Coppola, B. (2001) A Guidepost to
mentoring undergraduate science students. New Directions for Teaching
and Learning, 85, 57-73.
Cox, E. (2005) For better, for worse:
the matching process in formal mentoring schemes. Mentoring and Tutoring:
Partnership in Learning, 13 (3), 403-414.
Owen, M. (2002) ‘Sometimes you feel
you’re in niche time’ The personal tutor system, a case study. Active
Learning in higher education, 3 (1), 7-25.
Rogers, R. (2009) ‘No one helped out.
It was like, “Get on with it. You’re an adult now. It’s up to you”. You
don’t…..it’s like you reach 17 and suddenly you don’t need any help anymore’: a
study into post-16 pastoral support for ‘Aimhigher Students’. Pastoral
Care in Education: An International Journal of Personal, Social and Emotional
Development, 27 (2), 109-118.
Stephen, D., O’Connell, P. and Hall, M.
(2008) ‘Going the extra mile’, ‘fire-fighting’, or laissez? Re-evaluating
personal tutoring relationships within mass higher education. Teaching
in Higher Education, 13 (4), 449-460.
Within further education colleges it could be argued that lecturers act as mentors to a group of students throughout the academic year by supporting their progress. A report developed by Coppla (2001) identifies the need of mentors to help students uncover their dreams and realise their potentials. I would agree with the idea of developing students to achieve their dreams or potential, however this is a difficult process as the college mentor does not chose the students within the mentoring or tutor group and the students do not have an opinion in the process either. The students and tutors are linked together by the level of study and the member of teaching staff who happens to be identified to tutor a group at this level of study. Thus conflict can occur due to different reasons including the gender of student or tutor, the different areas of interest within the area of study and personality differences. The mentoring relationship is forced and means that neither the protégé or mentor develop from the experience of working together. In addition the tutor could have to mentor from the group a protégé who is considered as having a diverse background or disability for example. As considered in research conducted by Britner et al. (2006) mentoring programmes are well received as a support service to diverse population but the programmes offered are not flexible enough to meet the needs of these individuals
Within further and higher education institutes a process of mentoring is used via a personal tutor system. According to a study completed by Stephen et al. (2008) personal tutors play a vital role in embedding the students within the institution and developing the students understanding of individual learning. The personal tutor system is not only designed to prepare the student for the next stage in their academic journey, but also as identified by Stephen et al. (2008) students use the process as an opportunity to discuss or highlight any personal issues and problems they are experiencing. It was also noted in the research conducted by Stephen et al. (2008) that the personal tutor system could be seen as an inconvenience to the lecturer and students felt that gaining access to could be difficult as they felt that lecturers did not always have time to meet and discuss their needs. Lecturers identified they have more students than ever but not all make use of the tutorial system that has been put in place at the institution. I have a belief that a reason for students not making use of the personal tutor system is that the student does not have an option with who they are paired with, which could cause conflict or that the student is uncomfortable approaching the personal tutor. Possible development of a system in place where students have an opportunity to be involved in the process of choosing a personal tutor could improve the process further, and this would then allow this to become more of a mentoring experience where students could decide on the tutor depending on area of interest or personality. Although this could have its drawbacks with more popular tutors having more students it might increase the opportunity for students to progress further and possibly improve support within educational institutes. A system being used by some further education colleges to improve tutorial support is the aim higher programme. The purpose of the aim higher programme according to Rogers (2009) is to improve aspirations of young people and to encourage them to continue their educational journey. It was originally designed for secondary schools but more further education colleges are now using the system to help reduce student withdrawal figures increasing. Although as stated by Rogers (2009) the aim higher schools are identified due to background of students to gain additional funding, this allows for a learning mentor to be identified to the aim higher students targeted. The learning mentor provides both group and one to one support in order to overcome such issues as non-attendance, falling motivation and low aspirations to study after leaving school. Now further educational institutes provide the same support to students in an alternative manner from the experience at school but due to the fact it is different, students return to the learning mentor at school, due to as discovered by Rogers (2009) the mentoring relationship developed within the school environment. This is a demonstration of significant commitment to securing best possible outcomes for the student and due to developing strong effective relationships. It could be identified that the learning mentor is providing incredible support in order to give the students confidence to continue their educational journey, but they are also failing the young person by not preparing them for a different mentoring approach within a further education college. By allowing the students to return to the learning mentor at school, is there a focus of too much support provided or not enough consideration given into how to transfer these individuals into the next phase of learning they are going to experience. The learning mentors could provide information to the further education institutes in order for them to develop a mentoring relationship and gain more understanding of the individual they are now working with. In addition the school learning mentors should be encouraging learner to be more independent and not be reliant on the current system of mentoring. As concluded within Rogers (2009) it is important that institutes create structures of support that go beyond merely getting the student a qualification on their educational journey but also create a supportive social environment, in addition effective mentoring is needed to ensure student’s progress into post 16 education and continue is essential. I agree with some of the conclusions presented by Rogers (2009), that there is a need for effective systems to be in place for students to develop and provide the support needed, but this should be for all students not just ones who were given aim higher support within school. The idea of all students needing support is identified by Owen (2002) who states that all students need a personal tutor even if they continue on an educational journey which is straight forward, but maybe due to the personal tutor system in place this helps reduce the anxiety of the student feeling they are alone even if they do not use the process. Again Owen (2002) identifies the need not to just the focus of support on academic work but also the welfare of students, as it was noted that students will ask for support in numerous aspects which could include housing, financial and emotional problems. Therefore further education institutes need to ensure that the system developed is there not only to ensure that the student completes their studies but also provides the social support in order for the student to develop into higher education where there will be more focus on the student being responsible for their own development and seek out the support needed to help them develop. However for a successful system to be developed it needs as stated by Black et al. (2004) for all tutors to be willing to participate in the process and to be informed of the responsibilities of it. I feel this could be the biggest challenge in developing a system of mentoring, the tutors who are going to act as mentors and for them to understand their responsibilities in supporting the students.
However as previously mentioned there are issues with the development of personal tutor groups, as these groups and tutors are placed together by the manager for a department on occasions without consideration for the skills and qualities of the tutor who will act as a personal tutor for the students. As identified by Cox (2005) that forced pairings can affect the relationship by developing such emotions as anger, resentment and possibly suspicion with the situation. This is of concern as the personal tutor is responsible for developing the student’s confidence and help their learning experience. Other considerations included within Cox’s (2005) study is that the age of the mentor and mentee needs to be considered in order for a role model approach to be utilised. However again this needs consideration as younger members of the department could have a different outlook on how students should develop which could have an impact on ensuring that the student is ready for the next phase of development e.g. next level of course or employability. With regards to age the researcher can identify how this could be an issue as some students could use the argument ‘what do they know they are the same age as me’ again this needs consideration ensuring that students feel that the person they are discussing issues with has enough life experience to help them progress. With the need to pair students with an individual that will help them develop within a mentoring/personal tutor relationship correctly caution is needed further with regards the member of staff understanding the role fully.
References
