Tutoring
The Aimhigher tutoring scheme recruits and trains University students to work alongside qualified teachers in local secondary schools. Student tutors help out in the classroom in much the same way as a learning support assistant, dedicating three hours a week to their work in school.
The aims of the tutoring scheme are:
- to offer a positive role model for learning;
- to bring enthusiasm for a subject into the classroom;
- to make links between a subject and the outside world;
- to raise achievement among tutees;
- to raise aspirations.
Tutors are not trainee teachers. Instead they are in a unique role where their experience and independence helps them to earn the respect of younger students and to break down barriers to learning.
Tutors work under the guidance of a classroom teacher to ensure that they provide the best possible support in each lesson. Students benefit from having another person who can answer their questions and encourage them to look at their subject in a new way. Teachers benefit from having an extra person in the classroom who can answer students' questions, help explain concepts and work with individuals and small groups.
Other tasks that student tutors may undertake include helping individuals and groups with study skills and exam preparation; developing wall displays; helping out with lunchtime or after-school clubs; creating materials to be used in the classroom (eg worksheets/games); running competitions (eg design competition in Art, Design and Technology or Information Communication Technology); helping groups of pupils with a specific piece of coursework; and setting up mock practicals (eg Modern Foreign Languages/Science).
Tutors work in schools which have low progression rates to further and higher education and provide positive role models for learning. Their primary focus is on supporting attainment and encouraging young people to achieve their potential.
Tutors usually work in their degree subject or in a subject that they have studied to at least A-Level standard. This means they have up-to-date knowledge of their subject and fresh ways of explaining things. Their main value, however, comes from the energy and enthusiasm that they bring to the classroom and their ability to help young people look at their school work in different ways.
For more information, please contact the Mentoring and Tutoring Coordinator, Zoë Pither, email zoe.pither@bristol.ac.uk or telephone (0117) 331 7550.