RAPPORT
Issue 5 (August 2020)
experience positive and beneficial as
he explained the details of the Plan
and available support. [S5]
I had an input in the training plan. It
made me aware of my
responsibilities in this course. [S7]
I was fully involved in drawing the
individual learning plan as I am
compassionate about my study and
wanted to make sure that my
passion is articulated in my learning
plan. [S12]
S8 indicated that the action plan helped
him with his career decision:
I had a say in my action plan as I
was looking at my career path. It
helped me to engage better in my
study as I realised what the big
picture is in my study. It gave me
better understanding of the available
support system.
The main aims of this student-teacher
collaboration are twofold. The first is to
give the learners the chance to ask
questions that are of interest to them,
while the second is to ensure that they
have a say in decision-making as partners
in the learning process. Both are important
for motivating and engaging students, as
well as for the self-regulation of learning:
I felt I was in charge of my study. I
had an input in developing the action
plan. There are things that I need to
work on personally; like getting work
experience, volunteer work, 5-year
Plan for education and career, build
my networking of people. I try to
keep my study up, but I know that
sometimes I drift off. These issues
were clear to me in the tutorial
meetings with the support teacher.
[S1]
In this context, the partnership was
established by working with the students to
achieve their goals. S5 acknowledged this
concept of partnership in his comment:
I found the tutorial meetings good
because I had an action plan in place
and it gave me a place to fall back, if
I was overwhelmed by things there
was someone to go to and ask for
help. We talked about certain tasks
that I need to work on and
encouraged me to ask other
teachers for help and get the
answers that I need. It is the
reassurance of what we are doing
really helped. Even if the tutorial
support teacher is not expert in the
topic of study, I found it very useful to
have someone that I can go to who
knows the system and can guide me
to where I can get help from. Having
the tutorial meetings were beneficial
because they were to touch base of
how things are going and made sure
I am on track.
Conclusion
Tutorial meetings constitute an important
part of the educational process, although
they are only one of the numerous ways of
improving student engagement. Krull and
Duart (2018) contend that tutoring plays a
very critical role in the process of teaching
and learning and can be typified as a
strategy for improving the professional
goals and academic success of students.
The role of ILPs in promoting student
engagement is rather straightforward. The
use of this tool is founded on the
recognition that the curriculum must be
designed to respond to the specific needs
of every learner and, therefore, work
programs should meet the said needs. In
that regard, it can be said that an ILP
serves as an additional personalized way
for recording specific learning goals to
support the learning outcomes of students.
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