RAPPORT
Issue 5 (August 2020)
additional services. However, we can note
the tension between the accounts of
learning with the student and the
sensitivity that is accorded and parallel
accounts of managing student learning.
Conclusion
These tutorial accounts appear to meet
Thomas’ definition of effective academic
support that fosters a sense of belonging
in the way they offer
• meaningful interactions between staff
and students;
• opportunities for students to develop
knowledge, confidence and identity;
• encouragement for students to foster
and in-depth engagement with their
learning (Thomas, 2012: 6).
They demonstrate experienced personal
tutors investing time, care and energy in
managing the tutorial relationship. From
close examination a number of themes
emerged around the complexity of the
context tutor and student were engaged
in, the quality of the dialogue, and the
deficit-driven nature of the tutorial.
The embedded nature of these accounts
simply reflects that this is an ongoing
relationship between tutor and tutee, who
have met and are known to each other.
The frequency of staff-student contact has
been identified as valuable in a range of
student experience research dating back
to Chickering and Gamson (1987) who
asserted it ‘helps students through rough
times and to keep on working’. In meeting
tutees regularly academic tutors begin to
occupy the role of ‘trusted adult’, a group
who appear particularly influential in
supporting transition to adulthood and
influential in maintaining engagement in
education (Meltzer et al., 2016).
The relational quality of interaction is
evident in these tutorial accounts
presented here, and this quality appears
key to tutors being able to integrate
different aspects of the university
experience. The case studies capture
elements of personal dialogue where staff
appear to engage with students in a more
human and humane way that is possible
in a large group environment. These
snatches of dialogue create ‘affiliative
moments’ (Schvidko, 2018) that attempt
to level the acknowledged power
difference, creating spaces for learning. It
is in this way that tutors demonstrate their
role in supporting academic engagement,
a feature of tutoring that is evidenced in a
wide range of research (Klem & Connell
2009, Kandiko & Mawer, 2013, Yale,
2017).
The nuance of these conversations is
poorly represented in institutional
accounts which suggest tutorials are
driven by a crude process of problem
identification and onward referral. In
contrast the accounts presented here
reveal much more complex interactions
requiring significantly more care, attention
and skill from tutors. Acknowledging the
richness of these conversations and
practices has a number of important
practical implications if institutions want to
accrue the academic benefits of tutorial
support.
Firstly, it suggests a need to reintegrate
the personal and academic functions of
tutorial work rather than separating these
for different personnel to address. From
this sample the relational and academic
are closely entwined, and sensitive
attention to both functions in a tutorial
allows the tutor to create conditions for
learning. Trees et al. (2009: 397) label
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