Who is the teacher-tutor in the Polish school? How do the tutors see themselves? How do the pupils see them? What helps tutors and what hinders their work? What are the characteristics of a good tutor? Those questions, among others, were asked during our conversations with pupils and teachers. The results are presented in the „Let’s talk with class! Everyday tutoring – key issues for school tutors and pupils” report.
The qualitative study conducted in October 2021 by the School with Class Foundation included 20 participants: primary school tutors and pupils. Given this small scope, the report does not make it possible to make predictions on the subject. It is more of a collection of stories on the tutoring experience. We wanted to look at everyday strategies, good practices and obstacles, as well as at the pupils’ and tutors’ needs. The report includes two expert comments that put our conversations in the context of other studies on the subject.
The most important conclusions are summarised below.
Tutoring – complete teaching experience
In Poland, tutoring is assigned by the head teacher and, as reported by our interlocutors, teachers cannot really say no to such assignments. Tutoring involves great responsibility and dedication, not only in terms of time devoted to pupils, but also in terms of mental space necessary to analyse the discussed issues.
Although teachers complain that tutoring is an additional obligation that is not accompanied by appropriate remuneration, they admit that it is thanks to this experience that real bonds can be created with the pupils and the educator role of a teacher can be fully explored. Taking a closer look at one particular class can help understand young people, get closer to their problems, emotions and fascinations. Only then can we build trust and make children feel safe in the school. All of this is key to the pupils’ well-being.
Tutors are also those teachers that intervene when there is an emotional or psychological issue. They suggest that pupils go to the school counsellor or psychologist. They are also the ones who talk to the parents. Finally, they are the first adult confidants of the children. As one of the teachers aptly noticed, tutors are the pupils’ ‘primary care persons’.
Many tutors treat their pupils’ problems very seriously. They believe that getting to know their pupils is part and parcel of a tutor’s job. They know that their class is a group of peers who grow and learn together during their school years. However, only the lucky few have the knowledge necessary to accompany pupils on this path.
Relationships, understanding, support. How to hear one another?
Both pupils and teachers emphasise the need to build stronger, deeper relationships. All the participants feel that this is only possible at the human-to-human level instead of assuming the standard teacher-pupil roles. Such bonding requires conversations on topics outside the school curriculum.
Pupils would like to show who they really are and get to know the teachers. It’s not about getting the details of one’s private life, however. Rather, pupils would like to know something about their teachers’ personalities. Building relationships based on trust guarantees that the pupils will turn to their tutor with their problems and at the same time know where the boundaries are and respect their teacher’s privacy.
Teachers, on the other hand, see the need for a more individual approach and bonding with the pupils, although this is not easy in today’s schools. Not everyone is able to build a trusting bond with pupils (either due to the lack of time or skills). Large numbers of students per class certainly do not help. The pandemic has also made things more complicated. The study has shown that even small details – chance encounters, crossing paths with pupils on the school’s corridors – count as building blocks of the teacher-pupil relationship. Other ingredients that teachers need are time and consistency. They will help gain (or, after the pandemic, regain) trust and get students to open up.
Why do the small things matter in tutoring?
During our conversations, teachers and pupils alike emphasised that small things matter. This topic was further developed by professor Jacek Pyżalski from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. He pointed out that a series of small but important issues is directly connected with relationship building, usually both tutor-pupil and peer-to-peer relationships. Most examples provided by the study participants pointed to situations outside the school. Such events as school excursions (even short outings) contribute to better communication and give more opportunities of getting to know each other. The expert noted that seeing people outside the school makes for quality relationships. We see each other under different circumstances, our conversations are different and cover new topics, we can learn what’s important or difficult for us and the people around us. This type of experience is extremely important, as evidenced by the negative evaluation that pupils give to tutors who do not encourage or even forbid organising out-of-school events.
Meanwhile, it is worth encouraging teacher-pupil communication in situations other than the typical school environment. Teachers should try to observe pupils in such settings to gain knowledge on the ways young people act, feel and interact.
Why don’t students know how to learn?
Another topic that resulted essential is the pupils’ inability to organise themselves to study effectively, and the teachers’ failure to make pupils independent learners. Independence in the learning process is a competence that people need throughout their lives. It is also an important part of education and schooling.
Dr Magdalena Śniegulska from the SWPS University in Warsaw told us what conditions have to be ensured to make the learning process effective. As for the most part learning requires repetitive exercise, internal motivation, i.e. being aware of the challenge, readiness to take it up and taking pleasure in engaging with the challenge, is a key factor. However, for internal motivation to appear, three needs have to be satisfied: competence, autonomy and belonging. If a teacher creates an environment that helps satisfy certain basic needs, young people will be willing to perform even difficult tasks. When a pupil has trouble at school, hoverer, be it due to their misconduct or worse school performance, the school tends to increase the amount of control over that person. As a result the pupil feels less and less competent, which makes him/her even less autonomous. No reward will motivate the pupil to act if his/her relationship with the teacher is not based on trust.
The school, one’s class, and especially one’s teacher can play a crucial role in developing key learning competence. Usually, this is based on a good, safe and strong bond with the pupil, on empathy and respect for other people. Teachers can exert a great influence on their pupils’ mentality, often unknowingly. All types of messages that teachers get across, explicitly or implicitly, have an impact on how pupils feel among other children in class, and hence how they behave and learn.
As can be seen from this description, tutoring is a role that makes it possible to fully experience being a teacher and an educator. In our report, we managed to capture some of the more elusive aspects of tutoring and take a closer look at the tutor-pupil relation from both the teacher’s and the child’s perspective. It is especially worth listening to the pupils. They are really astute observers of the school reality. But only after hearing the voices from the two sides – children and teachers – are we able to get what is needed for fostering better interpersonal relations, and for improving the psychological well-being and everyday functioning of all the members of the school community.
The full report on the study (in Polish) can be found here.
The project is financed by the 2020 Relief Fund for NGOs and civic initiatives created by the Polish-American Freedom Foundation, and implemented by the Education for Democracy Foundation.