RAPPORT
Issue 5 (August 2020)
The International Journal for
Recording Achievement,
Planning and Portfolios
Abstract
Academic support in face-to-face tutorials: participation and
performance
Cathy Malone
Independent Consultant
This paper examines reflective accounts of tutorial practice which focused on provision
of academic support. The sample of case studies were examined using a simple
thematic analysis. Results revealed significant features included the context of tutorials,
the sensitivity of dialogic management by tutors to establish environments conducive to
learning and to assist students manage threat and anxiety that appear common
experience of higher education. The findings of this analysis of experienced university
tutors has implications for the support and ongoing training for academic tutors.
Introduction
Across the UK Higher Education sector
there has been recent renewed interest in
academic tutoring, driven by research that
recognises the key role academic tutors
play in supporting academic engagement:
‘Relationships between students and
teaching staff seem to be
fundamental to attitudes towards
learning and coping with academic
difficulties’ (Thomas, 2010: 32).
This resurgence of interest in tutoring is
evident in institutional commitments to
offering academic tutorials. In a review of
twenty publicly available institutional
policy papers on student support all
institutions examined claimed that
‘tutoring provides academic support’,
tutors help you engage with your course
and ‘support your academic progress’
(Malone 2018: 4).
However, the terms used here remain
poorly defined and there is still less clarity
about what academic tutors do precisely
and what it means to provide academic
support, or the nature of the boundary
between disciplinary academic tutors and
academic support services. This paper
will explore these questions in a grounded
approach to research through examining
a sample of staff accounts of tutorial
support focused on providing detailed
subject focused academic support.
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