We can easily forget what it’s like for a first year student – no matter how well they got on at primary, they are going to be very apprehensive about the move to post-primary – will they got on with their new class? Will they be liked by their teachers? How am I going to be able to manage all the new subjects?...anything the school does to ease this burden is so very important…the Class Tutor can be a major player in this – being that point of contact that puts a face on the sometimes 10 or 12 teachers a new student has to deal with…

MAKING A DIFFERENCE TO ALL

Class Tutors are not in place because they are fashionable – an educational fad - but as a vital and much appreciated role. The Class Tutor is the somebody, somewhere that is the caring face of the school community. A caring that is visible and tangible – that impacts on the academic, behavioural and pastoral aspects of the school. An effective Class Tutor system not only benefits the students but hugely benefits all the staff. A Class Tutor who has a good relationship with their class can assist in dealing with difficulties at an early stage, can build a positive morale in the class, contribute to a good year group spirit ...

PRACTICAL AND CONCRETE IDEAS

In my work I have facilitated training and professional development for Tutors in hundreds of schools across the country. The great benefit of this approach of spending time in each school is that I can see for myself what is working, what are the challenges and work together to address them. This then allows me to share practical, concrete and workable ideas and strategies for other schools to amend or adapt to their particular context. It is the practical and concrete nature of this work that makes it so enjoyable as at the final session we are always figuring out what practically will occur as a result of the training – what do the staff feel will work, how,when…nailing it down…

INGREDIENTS OF AN EFFECTIVE TUTOR SYSTEM

Some of the ingredients that are nearly always present in such sessions are the challenges of time, resources, clarity, communication, information, meetings, behaviour, parental support, consistency…it is in the addressing of these real concerns that effective progress is made. One school I worked with recently have the following system in place – they are a 750 student school in a large town:

Tutors teach their Tutor class where at all possible – especially in first year to allow class and Tutor get to know each other well – they also get involved in the first year SPHE programme.

Tutors meet with their Year Head at least twice a term – for a class period that suits most – the Guidance Counsellor or other Pastoral Team member will attend where possible

Tutors have a registration time with their classes four days a week for 10minutes – the Year Head orother teacher takes the remaining morning by arrangement

Once a month a class period is set aside for the whole school where each class has a session with their class tutor – a different class period is used to spread the time. Tutors meet ahead of this session to prepare what they will focus on in the class – uniform, awards, academic, morale…

Tutors are encouraged to do at least one activity a term with their classes such as an outing, a guest speaker, dvd showing…

Birthdays in the Tutor group are marked and at least one fundraising activity is carried out each year. 

Tutors will usually be the first port of call when a difficulty arises academically or behaviourly – giving the student an opportunity to deal with the issue before it escalates

The Tutor/Year Head meetings are well planned so that items anyone wishes discussed are prepared for and action is seen to be taken

Tutors – recognising it is a voluntary role – are generally taken out for a meal once a year with their year head in addition to other informal acknowledgement approaches

Tutors have an opportunity at year group subject teacher level or full staff level to impart information relevant to their class

These are just a few features of how this school has developed its Tutor system and I have really enjoyed working with them over these last few years. Each school will decide on its own particular definition of the role. What has been a real benefit in the many contexts I have worked in is that staff have been significantly involved in the evolution of the role – they know what will work in their contexts – my and iapce’s role is to provide the range of options - the menu - from which to choose. Luke Monahan

PUBLICATION: For further information see the recent publication – already in its third printing: The Tutor’s Companion – by Siobhan Foster Ryan and Luke Monahan – a handbook that covers in a practical manner all the aspects of a Tutor’s role.

TRAINING: Tutor and Year Head training are the most requested programmes iapce offers. Over 300 schools have benefited from this training. With this Newsletter is an overview of the training programmes iapce continues to offer schools – new programmes have been developed to meet new demands from schools – all of the programmes will be refined to suit the particular needs of each school.