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The Personal Tutor and Tutees' Encounters of the Personal Tutor Role- Their Lived Experiences

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The Personal Tutor and Tutees' Encounters of the Personal Tutor Role- Their Lived Experiences The Personal Tutor and Tutees' Encounters of the Personal Tutor Role- Their lived Experiences A Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Anjoti Harrington School of Sport & Education BruneI University September 2004 Book one Abstract The study investigated the relationship between personal tutor and tutee, perceptions of support encounters and their lived experiences within an undergraduate pre­ registration nurse education programme. The personal tutoring system plays a vital role in sustaining nurse learners by being an anchor for their professional and personal development. The tutors monitor progress, support, intervene on the tutees' behalf and act as a confidante. The need for support is especially acute in university based nurse education when the tutees face challenges in clinical practice due to the vocational and professional nature of the course they are undertaking. Yet the meaning of the personal tutoring role is often confusing and serious misunderstandings may exist between tutors and tutees. The aim of this study is to search for the meamng of personal tutoring by illuminating their lived expenences and encounters. An 'Husserlian' phenomenological approach was taken. A purposive sample of 36 tutors and 44 tutees (9 tutors and 10 tutees were from a Northern university and 27 tutors and 34 tutees from a London university) took part in the study. Each of their experiences were recorded in a 30-45 minutes open-ended taped interview. The findings were analysed by Colaizzi's (1978); Van Manen's (1990) and Cortazzi's (1993) data analysis methods. The findings revealed a wide variation of encounters on the nature of support and practice. The tutees varied in their readiness to learn, define, discuss and negotiate support. Often they lacked the powers of effective communication skills or the ability to think about their role in the process of negotiating access and support. They then found themselves experiencing a 'sink or swim' phenomenon. They reported a 'parent and child relationship' and attributed problems to a shortfall in the quality of their tutors' interpersonal interactions. Tutees reported positive encounters \\'hen they got and felt supported by their tutors. The tutors' data showed that they had an overwhelming feeling of frustration when tutees lacked study skills and presented their personal problems. Some tutors indicated a high level of empathic understanding for their tutees and showed that they would often 'go an extra mile' to support their tutees. A few other tutors offered very little support or guidance. The essences that were found to be important in the tutor-tutee relationship were: mutual trust, engagement, respect and accepting responsibilities. The study illuminated the complexity and skill required to be a tutee and a tutor. Tutors individual support styles echoed with the tutees to varying degrees. A positive experience by tutees and tutors was perceived when each had a shared understanding of the support concept. Therefore, the study has highlighted the need for greater (and arguably formal) guidance to learners on the premises of learning and personal tutor support in the Higher Education context. Conversely, it suggests that benefit might accrue from skill training in personal tutor work for nurse teachers to enable them to better understand students learning needs and skill training for tutees to enable them to be more self-aware of their learning needs., thereby ensuring a more sophisticated support relationship between both tutor and tutee. 2 Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude and heartfelt thanks to all the people who assisted and encouraged me during my research journey. First and foremost, I express my sincere thanks to my academic supervisor Professor Roy Evans and Dr Bob Price for acting as critical readers, advisers, mentors and confidantes. Dr Bob Price's unfailing support kept me afloat from September 2003 when I badly needed academic debate and an independent judge to assist me with the mass of data that I had gathered. I could not see 'the wood for the trees' and Bob helped and encouraged me to find my way and stay on the journey. I am indebted to all the nurse lecturers and nursing students at the London and Northern universities (pseudonyums) who voluntarily participated in this research, who are not named here for reasons of confidentiality and anonymity. They generously and enthusiastically shared their experiences and encounters, thereby making the study both possible and enjoyable and gave me the opportunity to understand the meaning of being a personal tutor and personal tutee. Particular thanks are extended to my employer the London university for part funding my PhD and for allowing me to have 12 weeks sabbatical leave; Mary Hegarty for obtaining for me several journal articles and books from the inter-loans library; Denise Kennedy for her expert skills in enhancing my power-point 3 presentation and figures, Penny Watts, my husband's P A, who assisted with the formatting of the thesis, Dr Cathy Tissot, Helen Holgate, Liz Collins and Dr Anthi Vakali who were and are PhD students, at BruneI University, who acted as additional critical readers and shared their experiences with me. Last but not least my deepest gratitude goes to my husband John and our son James who allowed me time, space to think, cry and finish the writing of this thesis. * London and Northern Universities are pseudonyms to preserve the confidentiality and anonymity of the two Higher Education Institutions where data were collected from. A little note to our son, James, .. Well James, Mummy has at last finished her book, so you can talk with me now and I'll not ask you not to speak with me for 2 hours because I'm trying to write my book. Thank you James" Mum x Special Dedications This thesis is dedicated to the memones of a few people who taught me that education is the key to personal development and meaning in life. They showed me that without education my growth and development would have been stunted and I would not have ever achieved my full potential. They made me a great believer in supporting anyone who desires to learn. Special dedication belongs to my mum. She has been the most influential and encouraging person in my life and sadly she died on 28 May 2002 before I could complete my research journey. A special thanks goes to my eldest brother Iswardev for his selfless brotherly love and the sacrifices that he made in order to allow me to go to secondary education. Finally, I have sweet memories of my primary school teacher, when I was 5 years of age, Miss Bouquet who treated me with love, respect and often praised me when I studied. My valuing of tutees is modelled on her and whose memory I still dearly treasure. 5 The Author Anjoti (Anne) Harrington. MBA, MA, Dip Ed, RNT, RN I am also known as Anne Dobinson. I have been in Nurse Education for 15 years. During my time in educating student nurses I found that tutees often speak highly of their personal tutors when they had been well supported, whilst others who felt inadequately supported would meekly seek our support from other tutors rather than their own personal tutor when needing help with an academic or personal problem. "What is the nature of the tutor - tutee relationship had been a topic that I needed to understand and share with tutors and tutees?" The research findings will be shared with them in order to enable them to understand each other's role and responsibilities. 6 THESIS CONTENTS Page Chapter 1 Introduction and background to the research 29 1.1 The subject of the study: Personal Tutoring 29 1.2 The Context of the study: Factors that 31 influence Nurse Education Curriculum. 1.3 Origin and background to the study 32 1.4 Human Relationship - a collaboration 33 between two individuals 1.5 Qualities necessary for the prOVISIOn of 35 personal tutoring 1.5:1 Teaching and caring relationship 37 1.6 The Nursing Curriculum 38 1.7 From a Nurse to Nurse Tutor 39 1.8 My rationale for the studying 42 1.9 The search for the meaning of the tutorial encounters - the aim of the study 43 1.9:1 The complexity of the personal tutor role 44 1.10 Some literature into students' support 46 1.11 Research Methodology a brief justification for Husserlian Phenomenology 48 1.12 Husserlian Phenomenology 49 1.13 Data Collection 51 1.14 The Structure of the Thesis 53 7 Chapter 2 Literature Review 57 2.1 Personal tutor - Documentary search 58 2.1:1 Personal tutors work 60 2.2 Nursing Context and Nursing Students 62 2.3 Historical background of nursing education 63 2.3:1 Nursing Education and personal tutoring 67 2.4 Historical Development of the Personal 70 Tutor Role 2.5 The important role of the Personal Tutor 73 2.6 The current context of student support 75 2.6:1 Alternative forms of students support 77 2.6:2 Models of personal tutoring 80 2.7 The personal tutor role as specific to nurse 81 education 2.7:1 Previous research into the personal tutor 83 role 2.8 Personal tutors perception of their role 87 2.8:1 No clear guidelines on how to support the 91 students who leave 2.8:2 Overlapping of role 93 2.9 Theories of learning 93 2.9:1 Behavioural theories of learning 94 2.9:2 Classical conditions of learning 95 2.9:3 Cognitive theories of learning 97 2.9:3.1 Cognitive style of learning 99 8 2.9:3.2 Argument on the cognitive development of the learner 100 2.9:3.3 The intellectual development - how it develops from early childhood 102 2.9:3.4 Learning in practice 104 2.9:3.5 A planned process of action and outcome
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