To Provide Basic Tutoring Skills and to Develop Interpersonal Skills As a starting point, I will discuss giving feedback as a component of providing

tutors with basic tutoring skills. My findings reveal that the training on giving feedback was not as effective as it should have been. This was because although tutors did come away from the training with an understanding of the theories

underpinning feedback, they did not feel they had been given enough practice of feedback to really handle it with confidence. In fact several tutors said that they had to have individual counsel with me to help them improve their feedback and that because giving feedback was central to tutoring the module, it needed to be extended in training and development.

Thus, to some extent, my study aligns with the literature (Falchikov, 2001; Watson- Todd, 2004) on training tutors to give effective feedback in that I included feedback in my training as many tutor training programmes do. However, I focused only on the theories underpinning feedback and especially that of diverting tutors from focusing not only on technical or surface feature correction but rather on how the student had engaged with the task at hand. The literature (Falchikov, 2001:16) offers several ways in which feedback can be practised for example: by dividing tutors into pairs and allowing them to feedback on each other’s writing.

Hence, upon reflection I concede that this is an area of change that I need to make to my initial training with a view to making feedback more tangible by, for example, including samples of student writing for commentary and review. I could also consider offering additional training workshops on feedback throughout the year. I could use these to discuss the progress tutors are making with providing effective feedback.

Another feature of the training that tutors felt warranted improvement, based on the findings, is that of classroom management. Like feedback, tutors commented that classroom management needed to be presented in a more practical, tangible way. Interestingly, the tutors offered ways in which this could be done that resonate with suggestions from the literature for example: tutors thought about using role-play exercises to demonstrate good classroom management practice which is advocated by Falchikov (2001:164). Another suggestion by Falchikov (2001:166) is to allow new tutors to be paired with experienced tutors to either observe them or to team tutor with them. In my findings the tutors noted that the experienced tutors could be used for effectively to “teach” new tutors. Thus upon reflection I realize that I have been under utilizing the expertise of experienced tutors and will attempt to involve them more in developing new tutors by acting as mentors and as demonstrators of good practice. This would probably alleviate some of the recurring classroom management challenges that I tried to address after the classroom visits.

Closely linked to classroom management is managing diversity. In LES the tutors were dealing with mixed level ability diversity as well as diversity of race, religion, gender and culture in the student body. The unique tensions possible in the UJ context had to be included in the tutor training and involved tutors devising, through discussion, ways in which mock possible scenarios could be averted. My findings illustrated that the tutors consistently made use of their training on diversity, framed by conflict management, as it enabled them to manage diversity with professionalism and sensitivity in the classroom. However as diversity management is such a multifaceted and challenging aspect of tutoring, it seems there needed to be more input in that area of training. Thus, I concede that this is another area of the training that warrants change. To this end drawing on the “real experiences” of experienced tutors could offer a way for tutors to work through problem and solution scenarios.

Inextricable from managing diversity and conflict resolution is establishing a good rapport with students and then maintaining that rapport framed by trust and open- mindedness to foster cooperativeness in the classroom (Watson-Todd, 2004:108; Goodlad, 1999:13). The literature (Falchikov, 2001; Goodlad, 1999; Topping, 2000) describes that managing conflict is a key component of training. However, in my study this manifests as diversity management. Where my training dovetails with the literature is with the ideas of Watson-Todd (2004:108) who asserts that in order for good relations to ensue, tutors need to establish a relationship of trust and open- mindedness in the classroom. Thus my findings align with the literature in that the tutors recognized the need to establish a good rapport with their students in the form of a bounded professional relationship.

However, where my study attempts to add to the literature on this issue is that given the context and nature of the LES module, the tutors also saw how attending to the holistic development of the students was pivotal to their success in the module. Central to my tutor development programme was the notion that tutors needed to have empathy for their students, particularly because of some students’ backgrounds and home lives. Thus tutors were guided as to how to encourage and empower students.

This notion of empowerment was illustrated overtly and not dependant only on the idea that tutors may act as role models to students as offered by the literature (Clark, 1998). Whilst LES tutors did act as role models because many of them did not have English as a first language and had themselves been access students, they also had to be very clear about, and conscious of, the example of empowerment that they were setting for the students. Moreover, their role in developing student confidence in the midst of the marginalization and the stigmatization of the LES module was vital. As a result, this aspect needed to be stressed in the training and development of the tutors.