Staff Tutors Research Articles

Avaliação dos cursos de graduação da Universidade Federal da Bahia: a biblioteca universitária em foco, de 2010 a 2017

Este artigo, resultado parcial de pesquisa, tem como objetivos (1) conhecer a contribuição da biblioteca na avaliação, pelo INEP, dos cursos de graduação da Universidade Federal da Bahia, tendo como foco as bibliografias básicas e complementares e os periódicos especializados; (2) demonstrar o modus operandi dos avaliadores e seu impacto no resultado da avaliação dos cursos de graduação. Analisaram-se as notas atribuídas aos cursos de graduação da UFBA pelos avaliadores, nas visitas in loco, entre os anos de 2010 a 2017. O estudo se configura como uma pesquisa qualitativa e quantitativa, de caráter descritivo, baseada na literatura pertinente e em levantamento documental referente aos instrumentos do INEP e aos relatórios de avaliação dos cursos, elaborados pelos avaliadores. A análise dos dados, comparativamente à realidade conhecida e vivenciada pelas bibliotecas da UFBA, revelou que os critérios de avaliação registrados pelos avaliadores se apresentam muitas vezes subjetivos, não revelando com fidedignidade o estado real das bibliotecas. Conclui-se que ter como únicos indicadores de avaliação da biblioteca universitária as bibliografias básicas e complementares e os periódicos especializados não é uma medida suficiente para configurar se ela cumpre sua função junto à comunidade acadêmica. Ademais, o peso de sua contribuição no cômputo total da avaliação do curso é ínfimo, uma vez que ela integra um elenco de itens da dimensão Infraestrutura. Ante esse cenário, propõe-se que a biblioteca universitária seja transformada numa quarta dimensão a ser avaliada – ao lado da Organização Didático-pedagógica, Corpo Docente e Tutorial e Infraestrutura – na perspectiva que ela tenha representatividade no total da avaliação, por sua função de estrutura fundante da Instituição e para justificar os investimentos feitos.

Extent of ICT Facilities Utilization and Proficiency in the Colleges of Education in Ghana

This study was conducted with the Descriptive Survey design, to critically examine the extent of ICT facilities utilization and proficiency in the Colleges of Education in Ghana. The target population comprised of students (all departments) and staff (tutors and administrators) of the Colleges of Education selected through Purposive sampling. Total number of students and staff from the four Colleges of Education was 7626 and 246 respectively. The Taro Yamane formula was used to calculate the sample size of the study which gave 153 staff and 380 students. Simple random sampling technique was used to select respondents. The fundamental instruments for information collection for the study was questionnaires, observational guide and interview guide. The information gathered were analysed utilizing the Statistical Package of the Social Sciences (SPSS). Descriptive statistics, Tables, Percentages, Frequencies, means, Standard Deviations, and t-values were depended on to do the analysis. This study established that ICT proficiency among students and staff in Colleges of Education in Ghana is skewed; while proficiency in word processing and email use is high, proficiencies in the use of other ICT tools such as SPSS, Desktop Publishing, PowerPoint usage and search engines are low. This has been attributed to curriculum design and teaching methodology. The study also predicts that dissertations from these students may be poor due to the skewed proficiency in ICT. Without an effective policy intervention aimed at rectifying this skewedness Students and staff in Colleges of Education may not have adequate functional skills to work in the increasing sophisticated and ICT dominated environment. Based on our findings in this study, we may also postulate that a curriculum designed to develop enough ICT skills in staff and students while encouraging ICT use, together with changes in teaching methodology may help stem this skewedness.

Evaluation of the role of near-peer teaching in critical appraisal skills learning: a randomized crossover trial.

ObjectivesThe study sought to evaluate near-peer tutors’ teaching of critical appraisal skills to medical students as an aspect of Evidence-based Medicine. MethodsIn a randomized crossover trial, 241 students completing a Clinical Epidemiology and Evidence-based Medicine (CE-EBM) module in the Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia (FMUI) were randomly assigned to intervention or control groups. During tutorial sessions, intervention group participants were assigned to near-peer tutors, who were newly graduated doctors, and those in the control groups were assigned to staff tutors. After two tutorial sessions, intervention and control groups exchanged tutors for the next two sessions. Outcomes were measured using written knowledge and skills multiple choice questions (MCQ) test, the Evidence-based Practice Confidence Scale (EPIC) and a student attitude questionnaire, along with student evaluation of tutors to evaluate the process. ResultsOn completion of the module, the written test scores of intervention group students were similar to those of the control group (t(239) = 1.553, p=0.122), as well as overall Evidence-based Practice Confidence Scale scores (F(2/170) = 0.179, p = 0.673) and attitude scores (t(219) =-0.676, p = 0.085). In the tutor evaluations, the students rated their near-peer tutored sessions as better than those tutored by staff in most respects. ConclusionsNear-peer tutors were as effective as and more readily accepted than staff tutors in teaching critical appraisal skills. These findings support the broader implementation of peer-teaching in other areas of medical education.

Medical Students\u2019 Views About Having Different Types of Problem-Based Learning Tutors

BackgroundAt Norwich Medical School, Year 3 or 4 medical students taking a year out of the 5-year undergraduate MBBS degree to do a master’s degree in clinical education worked as near-peer problem-based learning (PBL) tutors for students in Year 2. Peer-assisted learning has been shown to benefit both peer tutors and tutees; in this study, experiences of students with near-peer PBL tutors were compared to students with other types of PBL tutor.MethodsUsing existing student evaluation data, we compared student views about PBL tutor performance, PBL group functioning, and overall satisfaction with PBL learning experience according to whether their PBL tutor/s were (1) a single near-peer tutor (later-year MB BS student), (2) a single staff tutor, (3) multiple staff tutors, or (4) multiple newly qualified doctor tutors.ResultsResults indicated that students’ evaluation of tutor performance was more positive for near-peer PBL tutors compared to both groups of staff tutors for most areas evaluated. Additionally, students’ evaluation of overall satisfaction with PBL was more positive for near-peer PBL tutors compared to multiple staff tutors. Tutor performance for multiple staff tutors was evaluated less positively compared to both single staff and multiple newly qualified doctor groups. But there were no statistically significant differences between the four groups regarding PBL group functioning.ConclusionNear-peer PBL tutors perform comparably or better to staff PBL tutors in salient measures of tutor performance and group functioning. We conclude that medical students find near-peer PBL tutors to be an acceptable addition to the PBL tutor workforce.

Latinx Children’s Push and Pull of Spanish Literacy and Translanguaging

We explored 19 Latinx children’s literacies in Spanish and translanguaging by asking, “What are Latinx children’s experiences and beliefs regarding Spanish and translanguaging reading and writing? How do tutorial staff and teacher candidates (TCs) help the youth to resist hegemonic and bracketing practices of English-only?” This study took place in a South Texas tutorial agency, where children voluntarily attended for after-school homework help. Data sources consisted of questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, hobby essays, and newsletter articles. Most children reported negative school-related language experiences and expressed dislike and unease regarding Spanish and translanguaging reading and writing, although they lived less than 10 miles from the Mexico border. However, two tutorial staff and 15 TCs provided counter narratives and modeled that Spanish and translanguaged (hybrid) reading and writing are neither wrong nor difficult. Schools’ accountability pressures and the U.S. socio-political milieu move language to the center (centripetal forces), while forces that resist normalization are centrifugal. Implications relate to how neighborhood educational centers, TCs, and classroom teachers can help subaltern youth to resist centripetal language forces.

The challenges of incorporating ePortfolio into an undergraduate nursing programme

Registered nurses today are required to maintain a portfolio of evidence of their competence to practice. This evidence collection commences at undergraduate level with nursing programmes requiring portfolio’s as assessments, which are often submitted in hard copy. This paper describes the outcome when a small group of tutorial staff introduced ePortfolio’s into an undergraduate nursing degree. Evaluation of the effectiveness was collected through reflective conversations, which focused on issues that arise when implementing this change to a curriculum, along with improving understanding of ePortfolios and their use in practice. Routine student evaluations and the lessons learnt from tutorial staff reflections were used to inform the planning for wider implementation of ePortfolio’s.

Observational analysis of near-peer and faculty tutoring in problem-based learning groups

Near-peer and faculty staff tutors may facilitate problem-based learning (PBL) through different means. Near-peer tutors are thought to compensate for their lack of subject matter expertise with greater adeptness at group facilitation and a better understanding of their learners. However, theoretical explanations of tutor effectiveness have been developed largely from recollections of tutor practices gathered through student evaluation surveys, focus groups and interviews. A closer look at what happens during PBL sessions tutored by near-peers and faculty members seems warranted to augment theory from a grounded perspective. We conducted an observational study to explore interactional practices during PBL tutorials at our medical school, at which near-peer tutoring of Year2 students is an established practice. Between October 2014 and May 2015, video-recordings were made of nine purposively sampled tutor groups using three tutor types (near-peer, clinical faculty and basic science faculty staff) across three systems-based units. An investigator team comprising a Year2 student, a Year4 student and a behavioural scientist independently analysed the videos until their observations reached saturation and then met face to face to discuss their detailed field notes. Through constant comparison, narratives of tutor practices and group dynamics were generated for each of the nine tutor groups, representing the collective impressions of the members of the investigator team. Variation was greater within than across tutor types. Tutors' practices idiosyncratically and sometimes substantially diverged from PBL principles, yetall tutors attempted to convey authority or 'insider' status with respect to the short- and long-term goals of medical education. Students prompted these status demonstrations by expressing gratitude, asking questions and exhibiting analogous status demonstrations themselves. Understanding the socio-cognitive nature of tutoring from a grounded perspective may provide a means to develop faculty staff of all types to better meet learner needs in a principled fashion.

Improving Scientific Voice in the Science Communication Center at UT Knoxville

Many science students believe that scientific writing is most impressive (and most professionally acceptable) when impersonal, dense, complex, and packed with jargon. In particular, they have the idea that legitimate scientific writing must suppress the subjectivity of the human voice. But science students can mature into excellent writers whose voices are clear, interesting, unburdensome, efficient, and accurate. To do this, they must abandon their ponderous scientific voices and use techniques that produce good style. When I teach for the Science Communication Center at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, I focus on helping students improve their scientific voice. I use workshop-style instruction, review of student writing, tutorial staff, and free online tutorials that I have developed. This article meditates upon the nature of good scientific voice as it analyzes examples of student writing to show improvements made through specific stylistic techniques.

The development of, and response to, an academic writing module for electrical engineers at the University of Bath

The academic writing module for electrical engineering students, offered at the University of Bath, is the result of collaboration between the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering (EEE) and the English Language Centre (ELC) and is currently designed to deliver academic writing support to undergraduate students embarking on their engineering studies at Bath. The need for the course arose from subject tutor recognition of the students’ lack of awareness of the genre within which they were expected to write, suggesting that not only the subject content but also the expression of that content needed input and support. This paper presents details of the academic writing input provided by the University of Bath English Language Centre, the background to the module and ongoing development based on feedback from students, academic staff and EAP (English for Academic Purposes) tutors. Feedback indicates that the course succeeds in supporting students in their writing. The principal direction for future development lies in tailoring the course to fit the modular nature of students’ degrees, addressing issues connected to language proficiency and the nature of assessment.

“What made me stay?” A review of the reasons student nurses enrolled in a Bachelor of Nursing programme completed their studies: A descriptive phenomenological study

Schools of nursing in New Zealand are now being asked for data on retention and completition rates for inclusion within their Tertiary Institution's performance. A continuing issue facing Schools of Nursing in their Bachelor of Nursing degree level studies are the struggles that some students face during their studies. Some overcome these difficulties and may complete the programme within the three year plan of study. Others take up to the five years allowed by the Nursing Council of New Zealand. This study, using a qualitative phenomenological research methodology, aimed to determine common themes that emerged as to why students stayed and completed their programme of study to become a Registered Nurse. The initial thematic analysis indicated that the greatest reason that students stayed related to the broad theme of "support". There were secondary themes under this related to family, friends and peers, and the tutorial staff. A second broad determinant of the decision to stay and complete their study related to the impact of financial costs on themselves and their families. Although support from family, friends, peers, and the education provider were important, participants stated that their goal setting and desire to achieve were critical to their completition of the programme. For us in the Faculty we believe that a major indicated theme is that we need to be more involved in the pastoral care of our students.

Knowledge transfer of spinal manipulation skills by student-teachers: a randomised controlled trial

To assess the use of peer-assisted learning (PAL) of complex manipulative motor skills with respect to gender in medical students. In 2007-2010, 292 students in their 3rd and 4th years of medical school were randomly assigned to two groups [Staff group (SG), PAL group (PG)] led by either staff tutors or student-teachers (ST). The students were taught bimanual practical and diagnostic skills (course education module of eight separate lessons) as well as a general introduction to the theory of spinal manipulative therapy. In addition to qualitative data collection (Likert scale), evaluation was performed using a multiple-choice questionnaire in addition to an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). Complex motor skills as well as palpatory diagnostic competencies could in fact be better taught through professionals than through ST (manipulative OSCE grades/diagnostic OSCE score; SG vs. PG; male: P = 0.017/P < 0.001, female: P < 0.001/P < 0.001). The registration of theoretical knowledge showed equal results in students taught by staff or ST. In both teaching groups (SG: n = 147, PG: n = 145), no significant differences were observed between male and female students in matters of manipulative skills or theoretical knowledge. Diagnostic competencies were better in females than in males in the staff group (P = 0.041) Overall, students were more satisfied with the environment provided by professional teachers than by ST, though male students regarded the PAL system more suspiciously than their female counterparts. The peer-assisted learning system does not seem to be generally qualified to transfer such complex spatiotemporal demands as spinal manipulative procedures.

“Guerrillas in the Trenches”: Nettleford on Extra-Mural Studies at the UWI

Introduction: Guerrillas in the trenchesGUERRILLAS IN THE TRENCHES: that is how Professor Rex Nettleford described the cadre of resident tutors, staff tutors and tutor/coordinators who created the link between the University of the West Indies (UWI) and its supporting countries within the framework of the social and economic development of those countries. Indeed, they were guerrillas in the trenches, for they were a small, intellectually mobile band of academics, educators and administrators, strategists and tacticians held together by unity of purpose and a determination to effect change through long, hard struggles against the regular forces of elitism, and on the terrain of education. It was on this terrain that Caribbean people would acquire consciousness of their social position, their history and their need to confront new challenges and embrace opportunities with confidence in order to ensure for themselves a future of social and economic well-being. In addition, this small band of extra-mural activists - for that is what they were, afflicted by the tyranny of distance1 - was called upon to perform multiple tasks: academic, administrative, advisory, bursarial and 'registrarial', in countries connected, but at the same time separated, by over two thousand miles of the same body of water, and in an institution bent on bringing a radicalised higher education to a people born and bred in the crucible of colonial ideology, attitudes, behaviours and social thought. Extra-mural studies, therefore, were a critical component of the UWI's project to liberate the descendants of slaves from the damning consequences of their history of dismemberment, discontinuity and continuity.Nettleford shared the view held by Paulo Freire that the social exclusion of the poor, blacks and the disadvantaged resulted directly from the whole experience of social, economic and political domination, consequences of colonialism, slavery and capitalism, which had reduced them to 'things' and mere objects of exploitation within a climate of oppression. It was an experience which had also pacified their critical reason by keeping them submerged in ignorance and a culture of silence.2 Nettleford's emphasis on extra-mural education, therefore, was but a first step in assisting these women and men to regain and reaffirm their humanity and to awaken their critical reason through the right kind of education. As Nettleford noted,Even the Department's early commitment to so-called courses did not fail to address the question, enrichment for what? Clearly it was to help its clientele (many of them without the benefit of high school education but with innate intelligence and talents) to make sense of their personal and social existence.3Nettleford continues:One only needs to remember that the knowledge economy bequeathed to the twenty-first century has little use for the sort of knowledge transmission that, according to Paulo Freire, is disconnected from life, centred on words, emptied of reality and lacking in concrete activity. For is this not the very idea that has guided The UWI's outreach (extra-mural) vision, mission and activity for all of sixty years?4This very idea that knowledge and its transmission are not an abstraction would urge the small, but effective, band of freedom fighters and liberators throughout the anglophone Caribbean to work towards unlocking the creativity and the potential of those women and men who entered the Extra Mural Department/Department of Extra-Mural Studies/School of Continuing Studies5 seeking self-dignity, a new awareness of self and the means to create a pathway to a new and worthwhile future.If we were guerrillas, then Professor Nettleford was the commandante who directed activity in the trenches, and the general to whom we all looked for guidance in an extra-mural experience which was rooted in the educational construct of the UWI from as early as 1947. …

Rigorously selected and well trained senior student tutors in problem based learning: student perceptions and study achievements

We compared effects of tutoring by students and by staff. In four courses in each of two consecutive first years of an undergraduate problem-based law curriculum we examined the achievements and perceptions of tutors of students taught by student and staff tutors. Achievements were measured by the results on the regular end-of-course tests. After the end-of-course tests students’ perceptions were obtained by an online questionnaire and by a semi-structured focus group interview. The aim of the focus groups was to gain more in-depth insight into students’ perceptions. No significant differences in achievement and perceptions of tutors were found. Students’ perceptions of both staff and student tutors were generally positive. The results suggest that students that are carefully selected and well trained can be effective as tutors in the first year of an undergraduate problem-based curriculum.

The dichotomy that faces nursing tutorial staff

There is a requirement for tutorial staff teaching on a degree programme to be engaged in research activity on a continuing basis. This is often in conflict with the demands that tutors in the Bachelor of Nursing programme are required to have academic ability and clinical skills whilst at the same time, engage in meaningful research activity. This does not occur. A study of the literature finds a commonality of this dichotomy throughout the world. A question is raised as to the impact of the increasing age of the nursing workforce; does this have an impact on the develop-ment of a research culture? It is suggested that the joint project approach adopted by the WITT (Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki) School of Nursing will assist in overcoming some of the identi-fied issues and begin the development of a research culture within the School that will be ongoing.

General physicians graduated from a PBL undergraduate medical curriculum: How well do they perform as PBL tutors?

Background: A study was conducted on the effectiveness of general physicians recently graduated from a medical school with Problem-Based Learning (PBL) curriculum as PBL tutors to expand the school's tutor pool.Aims: This study aims to investigate these non-staff tutors’ effectiveness in terms of student satisfaction and learning outcomes.Method: An experimental study was conducted of 12 PBL groups of second-year medical students (n = 40). Four PBL groups were led by non-staff tutors; the other eight groups were led by staff tutors during the two PBL units. Tutor evaluation and student satisfaction questionnaires were administered and student performance scores were analysed to compare between groups led by staff tutors and non-staff tutors.Results: The students’ overall satisfaction with the non-staff tutors on a five-point Likert-scale was high (M = 4.5 ±.638). Additionally, the student scores on written tests were comparable between groups. Yet, in one unit, the groups led by staff tutors received significantly higher scores on the group evaluation than those led by non-staff tutors.Conclusions: The results of this study show that the non-staff tutors performed as effectively as the staff tutors did with regard to student achievement in written exams. Still, the findings of this study suggest that different tutor backgrounds and experiences might affect student performance beyond the written exam scores.

Sir Philip Sherlock: Founder and First Editor of Caribbean Quarterly

Almost anything that 1 say about Sir Philip Sherlock would be to gild the anthurium - the anthurium being the gift of a life of hope and fulfillment creatively crafted and deftly lived as part of a process of transformation, growth and development of an entire society in quest of itself, of its reason for being, for over half a century. Philip Manderson Sherlock had been at the beginning, since the late Thirties, of all the great challenges facing the people of our groping West Indies whether it be the call for self-government followed the birth-pangs of a society in protracted labour or the halting courtship leading to an attempt at union, or the bringing forth, complete with primal screams, of so many Independent nations starting with his own native Jamaica and her sister twin-island state of Trinidad and Tobago in 1962. A persistent advocate of West Indian integration even in the face of the ill-fated Federation of 1958-61, Sir Philip has lived to see the light rekindled and the hope restored in the hearts of a new generation which remains the legatee of the vision he had for our Caribbean people in the surge towards a definitive civilisation. For him, as for other founding fathers, the twilight of colonialism was to herald a light rising from the West. Oriens ex Occidente Lux. Everywhere else it rises from the East. Trust us in our determination to be different, special and unique! Lord Milverton who, as Sir Arthur Richards the British Governor who detained trade unionist Alexander Bustamante and other radicals in 1939/1940. told me while I was researching the early self-goverment movement in Jamaica, that on being instructed by savingram from the British Colonial Office to proceed to Jamaica and restore Order, he arrived in the island with characteristic gubernatorial ardour intent on teaching the troublemakers a lesson. To his amazement he found alongside the fiery and remarkable Bustamante and a few egg-heads like Dick Hart and Frank Hill, a highly sophisticated society with people like the renowned lawyer N. W. Manley and young community leaders. Among these he singled out a bright young man named Phillip Manderson Sherlock. That young man had progressed to being the Vice Chancellor of the independent University of the West Indies at the time Lord Milverton was relating this story. None of this should be surprising, for Sir Philip was a great spirit, the avatar of all that gives force, purpose, life, hope and meaning to the turbulence, contradictions and chaosof our multi-sourced existence. He belonged to the chosen few the West Indies was lucky to have had at the helm of its social revolution - the chosen few who believed that the intractable problems of underdevelopment and the attendant immiseration of the mass of the population had to be met the empowerment of our people through the exercise of their intellect and their creative imagination. So he himself has been poet as well as historian, policy-determiner as well as classroom teacher, social worker and philosopher as well as administrator and man of public affairs. It is this call for texture rooted in a deep understanding of the need to inform intellectual pursuits with the arts of the imagination, which enriched the operation of the University of the West Indies from its fledgeling years. As a founding father, he actually helped to establish and administer the institution as its first Vice Principal and Director of Extra Mural Studies. By the time he became Vice Chancellor, after tending the establishment of the St. Augustine branch of the UWI, the Sherlock vision of the creative arts and the humanities acting as catalyst for intellectual pursuits and remaining handmaiden to the science and technology branches of knowledge, was well established. He institutionalised the vision partly through the introduction of a creative arts plank in the outreach work of his Extra Mural Department with the appointment of Staff Tutors in Drama along with counterparts in Social Work, Trade Union Education and Radio Education laying the foundations for degree programmes in Sociology and Social work, in Industrial Relations and related Social Science studies and in Mass Communications. …

Something That Can Be Learnt but Not Taught: Teaching Theological Reflection through Enquiry-based Learning

In the summer of 2006 a group of predominantly final year ordinands undertook a module in practical theology at a residential summer school in Cardiff. The module had been taught on two previous occasions in a traditional manner, lectures, seminars and some group work. For the 2006 module it was decided to teach the subject utilizing ideas taken from problem-based learning pedagogies. This was inspired by a conversation between tutorial staff and a student on the course who worked in an HE context and employed problem-based learning methodologies. However, by the end of the module we realized it would be more accurate to describe our pedagogy as enquiry-based learning. This paper describes and critically reflects upon the experience of teaching the module. We begin with a brief analysis of what we mean by problem-based and enquiry-based learning. We then look at the way we employed these methodologies in the classroom.

A learner support model based on peer tutor selection

Abstract The introduction of elearning often leads to an increase in the time staff spends on tutoring. To alleviate the workload of staff tutors, we developed a model for organizing and supporting learner‐related interactions in elearning systems. It makes use of the knowledge and experience of peers and builds on the assumption that (lifelong) learners, when instructed and assisted carefully, should be able to assist each other. The model operates at two levels. At level 1, prospective peer tutors are identified, based on a combination of workload and competency indicators. At level 2, the thus identified prospective peer tutors become the actual tutors; this is performed by empowering them with tools and guidelines for the task at hand. The article will situate the model in networks for lifelong learning. For one kind of interactions, answering content‐related questions, we will review a set of existing approaches and emerging technologies and describe our model. Finally, we will describe and discuss the results of a simulation of a prototype of the model and discuss to what extent it matches our requirements.

Tutoring in problem-based learning medical curricula: the influence of tutor background and style on effectiveness

BackgroundEvidence for the superiority of particular characteristics in PBL tutors in medical curricula is generally inconclusive. Most studies have investigated the effectiveness of content experts compared with that of non-experts as measured either by student satisfaction or academic achievement. A few have compared academic staff tutors with student tutors. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between students' perception of overall tutor effectiveness, particular tutor behaviours, clinical qualifications and academic appointment.MethodA questionnaire designed to evaluate particular aspects of PBL tutoring technique, related either to subject-matter knowledge or to process-facilitation skill, as well as overall effectiveness, was distributed to students in first year of a PBL medical program at the end of each of three tutor terms. A total of 76 tutor terms were included in the study. Data analysis compared clinical with non-clinical tutors, and staff with non-staff tutors.ResultsClinically qualified tutors used their subject-matter knowledge significantly more than non-clinical tutors and were seen as being more empathic with their students. Staff tutors placed more emphasis on assessment than non-staff tutors and were seen as having greater skill in establishing and maintaining an environment of cooperation within their PBL groups than non-staff tutors.ConclusionThese results suggest that both subject-matter knowledge and process-facilitation skills are necessary but not individually sufficient characteristics of effective tutors.

Best practice researched: teachers' expectations of the impact of doing research in their classrooms and schools

This article will draw on an investigation of teachers' research in a small-scale project involving 19 schools in the North West region of England. The teachers engaged in the research were funded by a government initiative, the Best Practice Research Scholarships Programme, and were mentored and tutored by university staff. The sample is very small and the teachers elected to participate in the data collection. From analyses of questionnaires and semi-structured interview data emerge teachers' expectations and reports of the impact of doing research in classrooms and schools. Common themes in investigating good classroom practice and professional development can be explored and identified. Issues discussed include the development of teaching strategies, pupil achievement, teacher collaboration and school improvement, mentoring and support roles undertaken by tutorial staff in the university in support of teachers' research. Finally, a number of issues will be discussed which have implications for the current debate about teachers' research and raise questions for the future. The authors' comments relate only to a limited part of the professional development activity of a small group of teachers engaging in classroom-based research, but hopefully they are both illustrative and indicative.