Discussion of the first aspect of findings from the
unpublished research –
Williams M, 1999, ‘Exploring the Role of the Personal Tutor
in Nurse Education, Department of Education, University of Surrey, unpublished.
Generally, at the onset of the course, students are
allocated a personal tutor. This allocation is done on the basis of tutor
workload, that is, the number of personal students a tutor has and the Branch
speciality chosen by the student. Majority of students and tutors indicate that
there needs to be a freedom of choice given to the students regarding their
personal tutor. A small group of students do identify that they were offered a
choice of personal tutor, but this could be for those individuals who have made
specific requests or changed their Branch program speciality.
The tutors in favour of providing the students with this
choice reason that there is a need for development of a good relationship,
which will allow the student to avail support from a tutor they perceive as
approachable. The tutors within nurse education are familiar with the
principles of adult education (Knowles 1984) as it forms the basis or the
educational philosophy and is seen to be the preferred method of teaching
within the institution (as found by Akinsanya 1998). As discussed in the earlier
blog, the foundation of this type of support is a good relationship, under
the circumstances, it is logical that students would need to be given a choice
of their personal tutor. These are the very reasons pointed out by the tutors
when explaining why students may wish to change their personal tutor. This is
elaborated by identifying problems like personality clash, lack of support,
poor access and availability, and that the student knows and has a better relationship
with another tutor.
The students are in agreement of this. They see their need
for choosing their personal tutor stemming from problems of relationship,
access and availability of their personal tutor. However more tutors than students
point out that age, gender, race / culture could be factors influencing the
relationship between the student and the personal tutor. The lack of understanding
of the student’s background can, not only hamper the forming of a relationship
but can also create misunderstanding and breakdown of existing relationship
(Earwaker 1992). Very few students stated that the personal tutor could be of
the same gender. Tutors also indicate an awareness of need to change personal
tutor when student changes Branch program, as it is beneficial to the student.
This is not highlighted by the student, which is indicative of the fact, that
generally there are very few students who change branch and when they do so, a
change of personal tutor has been arranged.
Another point addressed by the tutors and not the students,
is that the tutor should also have a choice in stating that particular student
should be given another personal tutor. This may be necessary when a tutor
becomes aware of the needs of the student and an existing lack of good
relationship, so a change would benefit the student. This choice for the
personal tutor is however not available so unless the student demands a change,
nothing happens. Since the onus of seeking out the personal tutor and thereby
the responsibility of forming a relationship is more on the student, they need
to request a change if they want it. Nevertheless, if there are problems, the
tutor needs to discuss these with the student and work out a solution, before
the step of changing the personal tutor is taken. This is not always possible
as the student may not visit the personal tutor or lack self-awareness
regarding need for support. It can be a time consuming process when there are
other pressing demands on both student and tutor time.
The few tutors, who have been of the opinion that students
should not be offered a choice, reasoned that it could lead to an imbalance of
workload, that is, in the student tutor ratio. It would also be impractical to
wait for the student to make a choice at the onset of the course. Still, this
problem can be overcome by initially allocating a personal tutor and giving a
choice at a later time. Students would prefer to be offered a choice within
three to six months of the onset of the course, as they would have had time to
get to know different tutors. The second most identified time for being offered
this change is at the time of change from Common Foundation Program to Branch
Program. Lastly the choice should be available to students whenever there are
difficulties, academic problems and communication breakdown.
Tutors from one site specifically identified the problem
with lack of continuity of support to the student, if the tutor was changed,
which could affect record keeping and student profiling, the very advantages
pointed out by Hitchcock (1990). However, at present only personal tutorial
records are maintained by the tutor, as other academic records are maintained
centrally by field administration, along with attendance and clinical placement
records. Therefore, if there is a change of personal tutor, only tutorial
records and records of any communication with the student, are to be handed to
the new personal tutor. Since the student tends to choose a personal tutor who
she has developed a relationship with, it is not likely that there will be a
break in continuity of support, a factor more important than maintaining of
records and student profiling.
These detailed findings regarding allocation of a personal
tutor can be applied to most professional courses as well as other
qualifications, especially long courses as the issue is about when to allocate and
how to allocate personal tutor.
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