Developing The Role of the Form Tutor

Aims of the Session: To reflect on the different pastoral duties of the effective form tutor To develop practical strategies to manage and enhance the role of the form tutor

By the end of this session we should have answers to these questions: Key Questions: What is tutoring all about? What roles does an effective tutor take on? How do we develop the skills we need? How could we work with other stakeholders more effectively? Is it really that important? What practical strategies can I take out of this session and implement in my form to be a more effective form tutor?

Connecting Our Experiences: PAIRED TASK: (5 minutes) What approach did your form tutor take? How did you feel supported? What ideas can you use from your own experiences as a tutee in your role as a form tutor? Spend 5 minutes discussing these prompts with a partner.

What The Research Says: The duties of the form tutor include: Making and maintaining personal contact Handling individuals and groups Monitoring progress Providing administrative functions Statutory duties (e.g. attendance) Dealing with incidents Liaising with parents and external agencies (Griffiths and Sherman, 1991)

The Role of The Form Tutor: One of the roles a form tutor must take on is that of a good listener. What are the other roles of an effective form tutor? GROUP TASK: In your groups, spend 5 minutes writing down 5 other roles a form tutor must take on and try to think of an example for each role. The person in your group nearest me will record your information and report back.

The Roles of a Form Tutor: Listener Disciplinarian Observer Fountain of Knowledge In Loco Parentis Conflict resolver Problem Solver Team builder Motivator Confidant(e) (Huxley, 2003)

Educational Triangle STUDENT Subject Teachers Pastoral Team Parents/carers

A Juggling Act: So how do you manage to be all of these with all the other stuff I have to do at school like planning my lessons, actually teaching and the mountains of marking I have? We are going to watch a short film where an NQT discusses experiences with his form and explores strategies to juggle being an effective form tutor and a subject teacher. After this we will complete a short group task, aimed at finding practical strategies we can use to become a more effective form tutor.

Teachers TV Video http://www.teachers.tv/video/3236

Developing Practical Strategies: GROUP TASK: (5 minutes) How can we manage and organise our duties effectively? How can we maintain the discipline of students in our form? How can we build and extend successful relationships between us and our forms? Spend 5 minutes in your groups trying to develop practical strategies in your assigned focus area. The person furthest from me in your group will record your thoughts and share them with us.

How Can We Fit In Our Duties? Have a system Have an explicit routine for your form Think ahead IDEAS: Let responsible students lighten your load by giving them specific roles. Create an easy-access ‘Form Folder’ that centralises all information about your form. Design and make a ‘Tutor Time Timetable’ for yourself and your students.

How Should Discipline Work in Relation To My Tutees? Always uphold whole-school rules and have clear sanctions Maintain a strong home-school link for reward and discipline Take time to monitor classroom performance and work within your year team structure to communicate this. IDEAS: When completing afternoon registration on E-Portal, check for Student Events and take immediate action Display your sanctions on the Noticeboard Take 20 minutes to call the homes of selected students on a regular basis Know who your tutees subject teachers are and where ‘Targeted Students’ are when you are free – you could drop in on them! Each Friday, complete a ‘Form Monitoring Grid’ and keep a copy for yourself and give another to your Learning Manager.

How Can We Build and Extend Successful Relationships With Our Form? Create a ‘team’ environment/ethos Promote a relationship based around mutual trust and respect setting clear guidelines and rules Have rewards and accentuate the positive IDEAS: Give your form an identity by creating an online platform Create and promote a form motto! Give rewards at the end of the week based on monitoring

Personal Philosophy “We are not merely teachers of our chosen subjects. We are teachers of children. We enable these children to learn and fulfil their potential. We prepare them for responsible adulthood and a role in society. Regardless of how PSHE is taught in a school, the form tutor has the task of delivering the social aspect of education within a microcosm; the mortar to the bricks of academic learning that students achieve at school. Demotivation, demoralisation and despondency are all possible outcomes that effective tutoring can help avoid. Outstanding tutoring can make a child’s experience of school, while ineffective tutoring can break it, failing to equip them for an active role in 21st century society.” All resources can be found at: Q:Drive Form Teacher Resources

We Now Have Answers! Key Questions: What is tutoring all about? What roles does an effective tutor take on? How do we develop the skills we need? How could we work with other stakeholders more effectively? Is it really that important? What practical strategies can I take out of this session and implement in my form to be a more effective form tutor?

Review Use your post-it note to write down two practical ideas you will take from this session and use in your role as a form tutor in the future. Stick it to the board in the Review Box as this will enable me to see how valuable the session has been for YOU much more effectively than getting you to fill in an ‘evaluation form’ where you tick boxes about me!!!