Tutor - who is it, what kind of new position

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For Russia, tutoring is a fundamentally new type of pedagogy. Although there are many areas where it finds its example: social work with problem families, kindergartens, schools, colleges and universities, inclusive education and distance learning.

Tutoring in education means the maximum individualization of the educational process. How does this differ from an individual approach? The fact that an individual approach is a wonderful practice when a teacher or educator finds a special approach for each ward. Suppose some mathematical action is not given to the student, and the teacher finds a new way of explanation. And experts call individualization such work when the child is given knowledge and skills, based on his own interests.

If a traditional teacher can give up a hand at a negligent student in frustration, then a tutor and then a tutor to find this student an individual route for mastering knowledge. He helps him to form his educational interests, and in the end - to grope his vocation.

According to experts, the teacher works with answers, and the tutor with questions. This is a special skill.

In Europe and the USA, such a system in which everyone studies according to their own algorithm is widely used in universities. Such, for example, is the system at Cambridge University (England). In Russia, it also found application - primarily in schools. Although for now it looks like an experiment, because there are practically no graduates. Pedagogical universities began to prepare them recently.

"Special" children

In some cases, the presence of a tutor near the child is vital. This primarily concerns inclusive schools and kindergartens. The word “inclusive” as applied to kindergarten and school means that they are visited not only by practically healthy children, but also by those who require special conditions. These are children with so-called disabilities (HIA).

If a child does not see or hear well, if it is difficult for him to walk due to a trauma or cerebral palsy, if he has speech impairment or has noticeable intellectual problems, he can study among ordinary peers who do not have such problems. But for this he needs the help of a tutor-educator. Another name is the accompanying teacher.

First, the child needs physical help. The tutor helps the child with cerebral palsy to move around, to the deaf or hard of hearing - to absorb information using special equipment or sign language, etc. But the tutor is not a nanny. His work is not limited to every minute service. He communicates with his ward as much as is really necessary, and therefore can take care of several children in the classroom at once. Sometimes constant support is required, sometimes - from time to time, in certain lessons and classes. The main task of such a teacher is to support the child’s desire for independence so that in the future he can live an ordinary life among his peers.

The tutor helps the ward to establish contact with other children. And for healthy children, he shows by his own example how to relate to people with disabilities, how and how to help them.

The tutor also conducts additional classes with his wards, coordinates the work of all specialists of the escort group - speech therapists, psychologists, defectologists, exercise instructors.

If everything is organized correctly, joint study of healthy and “special” children is beneficial for both. Healthy children get used to not hiding from other people's problems, and in the future they will have no barriers in dealing with people with disabilities. Accordingly, children with disabilities grow up as full-fledged citizens who are ready to independently build their lives among people. After all, Russia should someday become a country of equal opportunities, comfortable for life, where relations between citizens are built on kindness and trust. And as long as the "ordinary" and "special" people are hiding from each other, this will not happen.

Today, at the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century, Russia is lagging behind the civilized world.

There are few qualified tutors, trained social educators, educators and even parents of children with disabilities work as accompanying teachers in schools. As well as volunteers - students, high school students - who do not rely on any benefits for themselves, but simply want to help or learn something new. But mother as a tutor is a risk of excessive custody, which inhibits the development of the baby. And the volunteer is also a volunteer that he cannot devote all his time to this noble cause. In addition, the role of volunteers usually comes down to the fact that they provide physical assistance and help (which is also very important) in communicating with classmates. And here we are not talking about professional pedagogical assistance.

So the need for professional tutors is obvious. And over time, it will only grow.

Who is a tutor

A tutor is a specialist in the field of education, accompanying a preschooler, schoolboy or student on the path of individual development. The tutor participates in the preparation of an individual program for the education and development of a child, adolescent, or youth. And then it helps the student move along the intended path. Individual training programs and personal support are in demand in all educational institutions, but tutoring is in high demand in institutions where children with special needs are trained.

The tutor not only leads the child along the intended path, but also helps him plan his educational activities on his own. The purpose of tutoring is the formation of the skill of self-education and self-development. In interaction with a tutor, the client learns to independently plan activities, build an individual path, according to personal interests, abilities and needs.

The tutor's work is very popular in crisis, transitional stages in the life of a student or student:

school change
professional orientation
admission to first grade,
graduation,
admission to a technical school or university,
employment,
problems with assimilation of the program, loss of internal motivation, uncertainty in one’s desires,
transitional age and other crises, during which the student himself does not understand what is happening to him.

The tutor is not a teacher and not a psychologist, but he absorbed the features of both professions. However, the specialty belongs to the pedagogical sphere. In essence, tutoring is like coaching. In both cases, the client (student) is encouraged to self-understanding, self-knowledge, disclosure and efficient use of internal resources to achieve their goals.

Tutoring broadens the horizons of the client, contributes to further self-realization. Thanks to working with a tutor, clients listen to themselves, understand themselves, follow their needs and desires.

Tutor and parents

Tutors work not only in public and private educational institutions. They are engaged in individual activities, but the demand for private services is still low. Parents are still wary of the new position. Inertia and conservatism interfere with using the services of a tutor, and parents do not always understand the complexity of the educational environment for the child.

Meanwhile, an individual approach and taking into account the individual psychological characteristics of the child are the basic principles of education. All children need an individual development and socialization program, not just special students. And parents begin to understand this, the demand for tutors is constantly growing. The value of an individual, optimally selected and structured learning environment is gradually recognized not only by specialists, but also by parents.

Tutor Tasks

A tutor acts as an intermediary between a person and an educational institution, an educational environment.

help the student to learn their own characteristics, personality,
help a person to prove himself
teach informed choice and responsibility for actions, results of choice,
help the student to determine the goals, interests and their implementation,
help the client find the balance and harmony of the individual with the outside world,
to tell parents about the characteristics of the child and the specifics of the educational environment that suits him.

The tutor analyzes what is interesting to the client and what is not, what is easy and what is very difficult. Based on his observations, he unobtrusively leads the client to an independent choice. In addition, the tutor organizes meetings with important, useful and interesting specialists for the client. Together with the client, makes mental maps, collages, tables, diagrams, plans, etc.

A tutor often works with schoolchildren, but he can accompany people of all ages. Kindergarten, school, college, university, professional retraining, retraining - in all this, the tutor can participate.

Principles of tutoring

A tutor works not so much with the child himself as with his educational environment. She must be:

Variable in terms of solving problems, passing an exam, organizing activities, but at the same time, each option should be something close to the student. However, the choice is his.
Free: no rules, advice, requirements and instructions. The previous right of choice automatically assumes the method of “trial and error” - the student himself decides what means and results suit him.
Extensive: the student must see as many features of the world as possible, options for reactions and human behavior. He must know that all people are unique, and the world is very diverse.
Open. By this is meant feedback from students, focusing on their suggestions, interests, and wishes.
Unobtrusively provocative. Through introspection and constant choice, the student must determine what is closer to him.

On the shoulders of the tutor lies the involvement of the child in the educational process, the stimulation of motivation and interest in learning. He should be interested in truants, return to the lessons, again motivate the student to perform homework and class tasks. And for this you need to carefully study the psychological characteristics of the child. On the basis of observations, analysis of conversations, create an environment that will not only arouse interest, but will also reveal the child, will show what he himself did not know about.

The tutor monitors the student's activity, guides and supports. Thanks to the tutor's work, the educational chaos of a particular client is gradually turning into order. The student understands what he needs from education, how and where to achieve this. He becomes an independent and active participant in his life and society.

The results of tutoring also include the client’s ability to take care of themselves. What does this mean: bear responsibility, self-determination, take initiative. And this is true not only for individual work, but also for activities in the team. The child understands what exactly he has to do for the victory of the team, what his strength and uniqueness is, how to invest more correctly in the common cause in order to come to a collective goal. A person's understanding of his weaknesses and strengths, the ability to use them effectively to achieve life goals is the main result of tutoring.

From England to Russia

Five years ago, the Agency for Strategic Initiatives and the Moscow School of Management Skolkovo presented the Atlas of New Professions. According to the developers, by 2030, a number of new specialties should appear in various fields of activity. Education is no exception. By 2020, professions such as a gamemaker, startup mentor, mind fitness trainer, tutor and several others should appear (that is, it is happening right here and now). Within the framework of the atlas, the tutor is given the following definition: “a teacher who accompanies the individual development of students in the disciplines that form the educational program, develops individual tasks, recommends a career development path”. A specialist should possess the following super-professional skills and abilities: customer focus, work with people, project management, intersectoral communication, systemic thinking.

Tutoring owes its birth to the prim British. In the XIV century, students of Oxford and Cambridge received an individual mentor, guide, tutor. These people were called to play the role of a third party, to be between professors and students. It was the tutors who helped in developing an individual training program for students of European universities to obtain the most useful information for them and the opportunity to pass all the necessary exams in the future.

In our country, the position of tutor appeared much later. It is officially approved by orders of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation of May 5, 2008 No. 216n and No. 217n. The duties and skills required for tutors, with the exception of specialists working in the field of higher and additional professional education, are prescribed in Order No. 761n of August 26, 2010, “A Unified Qualification Guide for the Positions of Leaders, Specialists and Employees”.

The requirements that apply to them:

higher professional education in the field of training "Education and Pedagogy",
experience in teaching for at least 2 years.

organize the process of individual work with students in identifying, forming and developing their cognitive interests,
organize personal support in the educational space of pre-profile training and profile training,
coordinate the search for information by students for self-education,
accompany the process of forming their personality (to help understand successes, failures, formulate a personal order for the learning process, build goals for the future).

Point of view

We turned to a professional tutor with extensive experience, Natalia Petropavlovskaya, to learn as much as possible about this profession of the future.

Tell, what work does the tutor do?

A tutor is a teacher who accompanies the development and implementation of individual educational programs. His activity is to discuss his educational request with a person (this may be a shortage, for example: “I want to prepare for the exam in physics” or a problem situation: “I can’t decide where to go after 9th grade”) and help select the necessary resources (courses, intensive schools, information sources, etc.). Thus, a person has his own set of practices that solve his personal educational request. This is what we call an individual educational program. When compiling, then realizing his program (and not proposed, for example, by a teacher for the whole class), a person gains experience of self-education, learns to select resources, choose the most optimal ones from them.

What qualities should a person who decides to follow this path have?

If a person decided to become a tutor, then the experience of self-education, the desire to develop, to navigate what is happening in education is mandatory. The second, of course, is the ability to interact with people, sociability, tolerance. Also important are organizational abilities, activity. The tutor often has to not only discuss the educational movement with the tutor, but also organize various events and attract other specialists.

Are there any specific features of the work of tutors providing assistance to preschool children, schoolchildren or students?

Specificity, of course, is. This is primarily due to age-related characteristics, with the level of independence of the tuturant. If they are preschool children, then the tutor, for example, can put more emphasis on organizing space for the child, on interacting with parents as the main customers for education, discussing individual characteristics, interests of the child with them, and also selecting various resources (programs, centers, events) . For schoolchildren, the tutor organizes the support of cognitive interests, includes children in project and research activities, discusses with the teenagers the image of the future and options for after-school education. In the case of students, this is support in vocational education: what kind of professional do I want to be? What do I need for this? What practices do I need to become so?

What was your path to tutoring: education, work experience before this type of activity?

My path began as a student. At the elementary school faculty, we had a practice in which we, senior students, accompanied freshmen, helped them navigate the educational space of the university. After graduating from the pedagogical university in Krasnoyarsk, I went to work in additional education for children, as well as in the regional center for career guidance. The ideas of tutoring helped me to start the practice of working with adolescents as a teacher and a psychologist. Затем я параллельно закончила магистратуру «Тьюторство в сфере образования» при МПГУ (руководитель – Ковалева Татьяна Михайловна) и в скором времени начала свою частную практику в качестве тьютора.

Нужны ли такие специалисты России в общем и каждому учебному заведению в частности?

Sure.A tutor is a position that allows you to make an educational space open, varied, interesting. In my opinion, each person needs his own individual educational program: in kindergarten, school, college, university. The world in which we live and will live does not offer ready-made solutions and models of life. Each of us has to somehow design his own path, including educational.

What do you think, the formation of tutoring in our country was due to the adoption of the law on inclusive education?

In my opinion, the formation of tutoring just happened due to the fact that the world has changed, there are a lot of educational offers in which you need to be able to navigate, choose from them that meets personal interests, preferences, and features. In my opinion, the Interregional Tutoring Association played a special role in its formation. The law on inclusive education only accelerated this process.

Is tutoring equal to coaching in a way?

Tutoring and coaching are practices that help people. They are similar in separate methods and are ultimately aimed at human growth, its development. But the content of the practice is different. Tutoring is the support of a person in his education (what is important for me to learn? What resources will I use for this?), Coaching - achieving goals in a professional, personal life.

Do you work as a private tutor? Are you aware of educational institutions staffed by tutors (Moscow, Moscow region, other Russian cities)? Can you name some of them?

Yes, I work as a private tutor. In Russia every year there are more and more of these organizations, which have a staff of tutors. This is Khoroshkola, the New School in Moscow, "Eureka Development" in Tomsk.

To each tutor

A tutor is a teacher, mentor, psychologist. This profession has the widest possible scope of application - kindergartens, schools, colleges and universities, inclusive education, home schooling.

No wonder they say that the teacher uses the answers in the work, and the tutor uses the questions. Tutoring is as different as possible from the classical school approach, where the child as an individual unit is practically not considered. The approach to group training and an individual approach is a huge difference. A tutor can build an individual route for the development of new knowledge, knowing the abilities of a particular child, based on his interests. Thus, even the student who was given the cross, the specialist will be able to interest in learning, give him an idea of his future profession.

Of particular importance is the profession of tutor in the system of support and support for children with disabilities. In some cases, such a specialist is also called an escort teacher, curator, maintainer, adapter, and freed class teacher. The mission of this person is the successful inclusion of a special child in school society. And his main task is to be a guide between such children with special needs and teachers, parents, school friends.

While tutoring in our country is more like an experiment. While in Europe and the USA, a system built over centuries is used as widely as possible. If you look at the differences between our and foreign approaches, the difference is clearly visible. In Russia, tutors more often work in educational centers, schools and kindergartens with inclusive and distance education, while abroad this profession is more common in universities. Alas, there are very few graduates in our country. But the need for this profession of the future is obvious.

So, a tutor is a guide through the world of either knowledge, or professions, or a hobby that tells you what internal and external resources you can use or create for a person to choose or change a profession, to develop further. In the information society, it is necessary, as well as the Internet and other modern means of communication. The difference is that he connects a person with himself, with his and / or other people's experience.

The tutor can come to the aid of the parents of the preschooler in choosing a kindergarten (Waldorf, Montessori and others) or developing activities, begin to teach the child to listen to himself, value his own characteristics, reinforce his assessments with deeds. The tutor serves as a support to the student in the desire to learn and choose extracurricular and school activities, teaches to formulate needs, to value his experience. A tutor helps a high school student draw up an individual educational and practical trajectory, teach them to distinguish between internal and external influences on a person and confirm self-esteem with practical tasks. A tutor promotes vocational guidance, but rather focuses on universities and undergraduate studies, because in the modern dynamic world it is difficult to predict which specialty will arise in 4-6 years and how the tutor will change in practice. Therefore, it is more important to imagine all the ways of entering a university: the exam, the olympiad, the benefits. The tutor will assist in choosing a master's program and identify different ways of entering - exams, competitions, conferences, grants. The tutor will lead out of difficulty when a specialist begins his professional path or changes it at any stage of life. A tutor can support people of silver age who are thinking of a new job or hobby, encouraging them to remember dreams and unfulfilled abilities.

Who are those smart, kind, experienced, subtly sensitive, educated people who can become tutors and serve a specific person, and as a result, the younger generation and the whole people? Which tutor are we ready to entrust our fate to?

No way. We do not trust our destiny to the Internet or Facebook. After all, the same high requirements can be presented to many professions - teacher, nanny, driver, president. We are accustomed only to other specialties and sometimes we are even ready to come to terms with overt unprofessionalism. We ourselves are responsible for our fate and can choose what information we need in a particular situation. If we need a psychologist to understand ourselves, a tutor who even has psychological knowledge will tell you options: read it yourself, choose a methodology, collective or individual lessons. For example, for admission to Moscow State University, you need the sum of the points of three USE and DVI - an additional internal test. But if an applicant takes a prize at the Lomonosov Olympiad, he does not write an internal exam and receives 100 points for him. This is exactly what happened to my student this year. And although she greatly underestimated herself, she decided to try her hand at the Olympics, took second place and entered the budget department of Moscow State University. Other students are betting on a 100-point exam. The tutor removes the fear of the “main step”, the “important choice”, organizes the experience of making and implementing decisions, the realization that everything is fixable.

And just as there is home schooling, there are parents who, after reading the necessary literature, will become excellent tutors for their child, introduce their friends to different professions, and will not deter from the experience of the army, for example. And just as the whole world was surprised to find out to whom Steve Jobs entrusted his treatment, there will be people who independently build familiarity with the topic and real steps. Inevitably, non-specialists build their own homes for themselves, give birth outside hospitals, i.e. repel from someone else's experience with different results. And even if the tutor suits us, we can decide not to follow a specific advice ourselves.

On the contrary, the tutor’s excessive credulity in tutor advice can be assessed as a failure of the tutor, a professional mistake. In the book of Tatyana Mikhailovna Kovaleva and her colleagues, “Profession Tutor”, it is clearly stated that the tutor cannot work without control. The supervisor captures the advice of the tutor and makes sure that the tutor offers a variety of trajectories of the situation and overcome the messianic complex. And the criteria for success of a tutor at different stages are different, but the final, according to Tatyana Mikhailovna, is self-actualization of a tutor. One of the most striking examples of people whom I had the honor to accompany a certain part of their life is a young man who was unjustly registered in the children's room of the police in the 8th grade, got carried away with the right in 9th, won in Moscow in 10th grade, and in 11th - at the All-Russian Olympiad by right, he was enrolled at Moscow State University regardless of the exam and DVI - and became a lawyer. Man overcame the role imposed on him.

How can I get a specialty tutor in Moscow? At the Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences (Shaninka), as part of the undergraduate course, there is a course by Vera Vladimirovna Pchelinova "Career counseling and vocational guidance." In the 2016-2017 academic year, a new specialization "Career and career counseling" opens at the Faculty of Practical Psychology. Vera Vladimirovna shares her techniques for working with people of different ages. It was she who said that in Moscow, for some children, the role of the tutor is played by the driver of the car hired by the parents, who spends the whole day with the child, choosing not only music. Vera Vladimirovna develops the scientific school of academician E.A. Klimov, on whose approaches T.M. Kovaleva’s book also relies.

Full-time budgetary master's program "Tutoring in the field of education" is at the Moscow State Pedagogical University, where Tatyana Mikhailovna Kovaleva, president of the Interregional Tutoring Association, is in charge of the Department of Individualization and Tutoring. And besides, from October 18 to December 25, there will be held 100 hours for practical tutors courses of two specializations: a tutor for children's group tutorial programs and a tutor that provides individual tutoring services for children (from 5 to 18 years old) in an open educational space. The operating mode - two hours of theory on Tuesdays and five hours of training on Sundays - immerses you in the specialty, the need for which is becoming more and more obvious.

Thus, the formation of a new creative profession of the information society - the tutor. Since, as a result of the interaction between the tutor and the tutor, each time a unique way of cognition and practical testing of knowledge about oneself and the world arises, both sides are the creators of themselves and each other. In terms of the scale of changes in society, this process is comparable to the emergence of the IT sphere. If thirty years ago someone had asked where the specialists in software and system units, PR and analytics, Internet sales and venture business would come from, we would be very surprised at the questions themselves. But technical communications have earned. And now we ourselves or with the help of navigators (one of which is a tutor) can fill them with individual creative content, a lot of random and systemic connections, but we can ignore it. Really can?