Volunteer Tutors Research Articles

Non-Formal Education for the Inclusion of Unaccompanied Migrant Children in Italy

The number of unaccompanied migrant children (UMC) that landed in Italy on a daily basis was 14,044 in 2022 and 18,820 in 2023 (as stated by the Italian Ministry of Interior). This research study examines Law 47/2017, which implements the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). It ponders inclusive educational models other than formal learning by investigating non-formal education (NFE) that takes place outside formal learning settings, although in synergy with them, for personal and vocational fulfilment. By way of example, a particularly original case study on school children newly arrived in Italy from Ukraine in 2022 is reported herein. Thirty interviews were held in Italy for three years, from 2021 to 2023, with the people in charge of unaccompanied migrant children to investigate the integration actions implemented as well as the use of NFE. Novel data from the education and employment sectors were collected to fill some pre-existing gaps in the literature. The focus group conducted in 2023 with twelve volunteer tutors highlighted data and conclusions that can be cross-checked and generalised on the use of effective operating tools to identify European pathways to peace and democracy, which may be useful in forging new solidarity patterns.

CRAYON: Exploration on Community-based Relayed Online Education Approach for Rural Children in South Korean EFL Context

Rural children in South Korea exhibit higher foreign language anxiety and lower English competency. For such marginalized contexts where local communities cannot support children's learning, we propose and explore a new pedagogical approach, CRAYON (Community-based RelAY Online educatioN). In CRAYON, a pool of non-professional tutors take turns to meet and teach rural children in short relay sessions through mobile technologies. It uncovers and promotes volunteers' internal willingness to participate in community-based teaching, which could otherwise be fragmented and dormant in their tightly-woven daily lives. It greatly lessens the barriers to participation from multiple dimensions, i.e., time, space, and expertise, and encourages interested volunteers to easily join without taking much burden. As such, the approach can create new learning opportunities and help rural children overcome their motivational and environmental hurdles. Tutors could approach each child and share short but precious time with her; helping her experience repetitive and sufficient exposure to the language, each time with a newly met tutor. We conducted a short relay session-based English learning program for 5 rural children for 4 weeks in South Korea with 15 tutors. From the field deployment, we find that the rural children and the undergraduate tutors engaged in effective interactions and scaffolding, despite the constraints of partitioned short sessions. A particular pattern of interaction, i.e., continuous learner engagement support, emerged as they drew out the interactions over a short period of time. It was highly encouraging to observe that all children, including those who were disengaged in their classroom environments, actively participated in the CRAYON sessions. The findings elicited from the study have important implications in multiple dimensions. They suggest the possibility of extending the scope of learning environments to include first-met tutors and learners beyond re-established relationship. In a larger perspective, the findings imply a new direction to overcome the challenges of low childhood literacy in under-resourced areas. With adequate and sufficient support from educational institutions and CRAYON, this study argues that volunteer tutors with less experience can deliver effective instruction by sharing just a short period of time, and help a child who has been lagging behind the pace of the school catch up and re-engage.

Final Report of a Novel and Successful Online Pubic Health Capacity Building Experiment – Peoples-uni

The People’s Open Access Education Initiative (Peoples-uni) was established as an educational charity to help reduce inequalities in access to the higher education required to build Public Health capacity through workforce development for health professionals in low- to middle-income countries (LMICs). Online learning, using open source software, Open Educational Resources and an international cadre of volunteer tutors, underpinned a low cost programme which produced a number of successful outcomes including university validated master’s level awards, continuing professional development, positive feedback from students, and the application by alumni of skills learned. Peoples-uni closed in 2021, its programme taken over by another organisation, and this paper builds on previous reports to summarise the experience and draw lessons for others who may wish to contribute in a similar way.

Pax Populi: Empowering Afghans through Virtual Tutoring

I began tutoring two Afghan high school students through Pax Populi as a service-learning component of HONR 39900: Virtual Abroad Central Asia. This semester, I will be assisting Purdue students with developing successful tutoring partnerships with Afghan refugees through Pax Populi. The non-profit Pax Populi seeks to empower Afghans through virtual, one-on-one English tutoring. Originally, the program matched young people living in cities across Afghanistan with volunteer tutors, but in light of the Taliban’s rise to power, the organization is now working to provide virtual English lessons to newly arriving Afghan refugees. Many of the refugees speak little English. They will benefit from the help of volunteers to improve their speaking, reading, writing, and listening skills, so they can more easily find work and adjust to life in the United States. Since 2015, Purdue students have been involved in this tutoring project through a partnership between Dr. Liz Brite of the Purdue Honors College and Dr. Robert McNulty, director of Pax Populi. This year, Purdue students are having the opportunity to continue this work through a service-learning experience in HONR 39900: Beyond Afghanistan. This article seeks to inform others about the work Pax Populi has done to serve those in Afghanistan as well as Afghan refugees coming to the United States. This article also emphasizes the benefits volunteers gain from the program, including lasting friendships and a more complex understanding of the world.

Paired Reading with parent or volunteer tutors: Do implementation, process features, or tutor characteristics explain differential effects?

Within intervention research, there is still little attention paid to explaining effects. This paper intends to explain differential effects of a Paired Reading study (RCT) of third grade students struggling with reading (N = 129). The study showed differential effects on reading fluency, depending on whether volunteers or parents conducted the training. The mediating role of several implementation and process features, and the role of tutor characteristics, are investigated. Even though volunteers and parents differed in several aspects regarding implementation, process features and tutor characteristics, these differences cannot explain the differential effects. The difficulty uncovering the components responsible for the efficacy of the method is discussed, and implications for future research presented.

Тьюторское сопровождение как инструмент адаптации иностранных студентов в российских и зарубежных вузах

This study analyzed the Russian and foreign experience of foreign students tutor support. It is shown that the increasing the number of international students around the world showed that universities faced the problems of creating a favorable environment and adaptation for them. Tutor support is common in foreign universities, but its growth is also observed in Russia. The purpose of this study is to analyze the Russian and foreign experience of tutoring foreign students. The tasks include: to show an understanding of tutoring in domestic and foreign scientific discourse; to analyze foreign and Russian experience on the example of leading universities; to show the positive possibilities of tutor support of foreign students in the process of their adaptation. This work uses such research methods as analysis of domestic and foreign literature, analysis of websites of foreign universities, comparative analysis of the practices of tutor support of foreign students in Russian and foreign universities. The author analyzes the websites of leading foreign and Russian universities. The most successful practices of tutor support of foreign students abroad and in Russia have been identified. The author also describes the experience of conducting a School of Volunteer Tutors to work with students from among foreign citizens of the Siberian Institute of Management — the branch of RANEPA over the past three years. Recommendations on the organization of tutor support of foreign students at the university and its effectiveness in the adaptation process are given.

Build Back Better': Building School-Community Partnerships for Vulnerable Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many students around the world. The Indonesian government responded with school closures and the transition into distance learning. However, the Ministry of Communication and Information announced that there were 12,548 villages which did not have internet access and that electronic devices were unavailable for students from less well-off families. This study aimed to employ a non-empirical research methodology to highlight the importance of carrying out non-technological educational strategies by forming partnerships between schools and communities in vulnerable communities. The model of school-community partnership was carried out by forming small study groups in a neighborhood. Learning was assisted by teachers and volunteer tutors. This learning innovation was formed to provide equal opportunities for vulnerable students who were unable to perform online learning. Through such approaches we can rebuild education for those who were left behind as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
 Keywords: community engagement, COVID-19, school partnership, vulnerable student

STEM education in semi-virtual interactive environment

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced us to change the way we used to handle education in our homes, through sanitary restrictions that seek to prohibit or reduce physical contact, moving from the traditional way to a virtual methodology; reason for which we must look for new solutions to adapt to this new teaching strategy. In addition, the pandemic has accelerated the arrival of the 4.0 revolution or technological revolution, where new challenges arise for society. The above reasons serve to justify and encourage that STEM education cannot stop. However, given the crisis we are experiencing and the solutions provided, the excessive use of virtual environments can affect areas such as psychological, social, etc. Through this project, a learning model implemented through volunteers is proposed, based on an interactive semi-virtual environment, where the participant can interact synchronously with a volunteering model provided by the volunteer tutor, and the learning process is supported through workshops and the use of virtual tools.

Socio-educational reception of UASCs and young adults at the time of the Covid-19 pandemic

The paper presented takes up the results of a first phase of research on UASC and volunteer Tutors, assuming the traumaticity determined by the experience of covid-19 as a necessary sensitizing concept (Blumer, 1969), reviewing the methodological system (methodological framework) and determining the development of tools and perspectives in progress. Through a case study that includes interview with volunteer guardians, UASC, recently of age, coordinators of communities and educators, it was intended to investigate how relational and institutional networks have developed strategies for the protection and prevention of educational poverty and deprivation socio-affective, in a time of emergency.

Paired Reading as a method of reading intervention in Irish primary schools: an evaluation

The use of individual tutoring as a method of educational instruction has been prevalent for several decades. One popular tutoring practice is Paired Reading, a reading support technique specifically designed for non-professionals. The accessible nature of Paired Reading makes it an attractive option for schools who wish to capitalise on support offered by community members. This paper reports a multi-faceted evaluation of a Paired Reading programme with primary school children experiencing reading fluency and comprehension difficulties as tutees and university students as volunteer tutors. Tutees engaged in one-on-one reading support sessions with tutors for either 5 or 8 weeks, with each session including 20 min of reading. Although there was no evidence to suggest that Paired Reading improved tutee's reading performance, feedback from tutees and tutors indicated the programme was an extremely positive experience. School staff also welcomed the subjective benefits of the programme. Parents of Paired Reading tutees reported a range of positive observed changes in the reading behaviours and attitudes of their children. This study builds on and contributes to work in the reading support literature, highlighting Paired Reading as a wide-ranging experience offering both tutees and tutors a variety of benefits spanning academic, social, and leisure domains.

Stories as Life Performances: Humanizing Research as Honoring, Respecting, Listening to, and Learning With Children, Youth, and Families From Refugee Backgrounds

In this personal perspective piece, I share my own refugee background and experiences, as well as stories about myself in the research context, in juxtaposition with stories about children, youth, and families from refugee backgrounds with whom I interacted as a volunteer tutor and researcher in an afterschool program. Drawing on San Pedro and Kinloch and Lee’s notions of humanizing research, I illuminate my work in an educational setting as honoring, respecting, listening to, and learning with study participants. In creating and sustaining relationships of care and dignity in an afterschool program, I extended and reinvigorated languages, cultures, and stories with children, youth, and families from refugee backgrounds.

Making sense of resistance in an afterschool tutoring program

The term resistance has been an evolving concept in literacy and composition studies. While much has been studied in terms of student resistance in high schools, first-year composition classrooms, and in university writing centers, little is known about how resistance occurs in afterschool tutoring programs between volunteer writing tutors and their tutees. Using an ethnographic case study approach, this paper examines how three adult volunteer writing tutors made sense of resistance in working with their adolescent tutees in an urban tutoring program. The findings showed that tutor attitudes, values, and reactions shaped their experience of resistance in a variety of ways including a) misreading tutee signals of engagement; b) masking expectations of cultural and linguistic compliance within a discourse of resistance; and c) embracing resistance as a bridge to tutor growth. The author uses these findings to inform current conceptions of student resistance and compliance and to provide implication for volunteer tutor training.

Unplugged Computing for Children

The number of women in technical and computing roles in the High Energy Physics (HEP) community hovers at around 15%. At the same time there is a growing body of research to suggest that diversity, in all its forms, brings positive impact on productivity and well-being. These aspects are directly in line with many organisations’ values and missions, including CERN. Although proactive efforts to recruit more women in our organisations and institutes may help, the percentage of female applicants in candidate pools is similarly low and limits the potential for change. Factors influencing the career choice of girls have been identified to start as early as primary school and are closely tied to encouragement and exposure. It is the hope of various groups in the HEP community that, by intervening early, there may be a change in demographics over the years to come. During 2019, the Women in Technology Community at CERN developed two workshops for 6-9 year olds, which make the fundamental concepts of ICT and Computer Science accessible to young people with no prior experience and minimal assumed background knowledge. The immediate objectives were to demystify computer science, and to allow the children to meet a diverse set of role models from technical fields through our volunteer tutors. The workshops were run multiple times over 2019. This paper contains an overview of our motivation, describes the content of the workshops, results, lessons learnt and the future evolution of such activities.

Online Education for Public Health Capacity Building in Low- to Middle-Income Countries: The Peoples-Uni Experience.

People’s Open Access Education Initiative (Peoples-uni, http://peoples-uni.org) aims to contribute to improvements in the health of populations in low- to middle-income countries by building public health capacity via e-learning at affordable cost. We describe experience over nine years of the initiative, including the development and delivery of a Master of Public Health (MPH) programme in public health and collaboration with a UK University. Courses rely on Open Educational Resources and volunteer tutors from over 50 countries to date. During 18 semesters since 2008, 1619 students from 92 countries (71% from Africa) enrolled. Of 128 students accepted on an MPH programme accredited by a UK University, 94 earned an MPH (73%) and a further 18 (14%) achieved a postgraduate diploma or certificate. Other developments include continuing involvement with Alumni, and a sister site for Open Online Courses to include topics not often found in MPH courses. We offer insights for further development of this and similar online capacity building programmes within low-resource environments. Our experience shows the feasibility of affordable, high quality online education and that there is scope for accelerating capacity building programmes through partnerships with higher education institutions and health(care) organisations.

Online Education for Public Health Capacity Building in Low- to Middle-Income Countries

People’s Open Access Education Initiative (Peoples-uni, http://peoples-uni.org) aims to contribute to improvements in the health of populations in low- to middle-income countries by building public health capacity via e-learning at affordable cost. We describe experience over nine years of the initiative, including the development and delivery of a Master of Public Health (MPH) programme in public health and collaboration with a UK University. Courses rely on Open Educational Resources and volunteer tutors from over 50 countries to date. During 18 semesters since 2008, 1619 students from 92 countries (71% from Africa) enrolled. Of 128 students accepted on an MPH programme accredited by a UK University, 94 earned an MPH (73%) and a further 18 (14%) achieved a postgraduate diploma or certificate. Other developments include continuing involvement with Alumni, and a sister site for Open Online Courses to include topics not often found in MPH courses. We offer insights for further development of this and similar online capacity building programmes within low-resource environments. Our experience shows the feasibility of affordable, high quality online education and that there is scope for accelerating capacity building programmes through partnerships with higher education institutions and health(care) organisations.

Effectiveness of an extracurricular program for struggling readers: A comparative study with parent tutors and volunteer tutors

This study reviews the effectiveness of an extracurricular paired reading program to enhance the reading of struggling readers. For the first time, two program conditions are compared within one study: parent tutors and volunteer tutors. The program was implemented within a randomized controlled field trial; its effects on reading fluency and reading ability were investigated on a sample of 198 Swiss third graders with reading difficulties. The findings revealed that volunteers outperformed parents: Children who trained with volunteers developed significantly better reading fluency after 20 weeks (d = .21). However, the main effects on reading fluency did not last at follow-up and no effects on general reading ability were found. Children with higher reading fluency at the pretest benefitted significantly more than very poor readers (post-test: d = .47; 5 month FU: d = .39). The study highlights the benefit of volunteer tutoring and the necessity of ongoing, adaptive support for very poor readers.

The effect of parent and community volunteerism on early literacy development

ABSTRACT The findings of a community-wide effort to improve K-3rd-grade literacy engagement in an urban community in the United States are reported. Four elementary schools were chosen as data sites to collect assessment scores at three points in the year based on reading and literacy scores on the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) assessment to determine the impact of the programme. Student participants (n = 282) who were below benchmark were assigned a literacy volunteer tutor one to two days per week while other students (n = 129) who were below benchmark did not receive tutoring and received whole-class instruction. Findings suggested only slight increases in literacy development among students when parent and community volunteers were used as tutors. In addition, the lack of formal literacy training among volunteers is suggested as a potential reason for the limited impact of these volunteers. An analysis of the data from the three strategic collection points is discussed with implications for classroom parent and literacy volunteers.

The Evidence Base for Peer Assisted Learning in Undergraduate Medical Education: a Scoping Study

This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. Peer-assisted learning (PAL) is increasing in popularity in medical education. While PAL has been used informally for generations, more formal use of it as a tool to teach and consolidate information and practical skills has been shown to be beneficial to both tutors and those being taught. This scoping study aimed to garnish a clearer understanding of the concept of PAL in undergraduate medical education and its benefits to both tutors and students alike.A five-stage methodology was performed as follows. The research question and aim of the scoping study were identified, and relevant studies were identified on a search of the literature. Screening took place to select a smaller number of studies by measurement against inclusion (e.g. referring to medical students) and exclusion (e.g. qualified doctors acting as tutors) criteria. Data was extracted and charted by two reviewers. Finally, results were collated, summarised and reported upon.Fifty-six papers met inclusion criteria and were included in the study. Many related to clinical examination, though students had identified medical sciences, mock examinations and epidemiology/statistics as subjects of interest. Organisation varied from mandatory involvement as part of a core curriculum to sporadic or once off teaching with volunteer tutors and participants. Training from tutors ranged from six weeks to nil documented. Numerous benefits for students and tutors were identified, including some within the "Hidden Cirriculum".This scoping study includes suggestions for future PAL research projects including evaluation of the degree of formal training required for tutor success; use of this practice in the teaching of basic clinical sciences (specifically statistics and epidemiology) and patient management and prospective studies into whether PAL as an undergraduate inspires future involvement in medical education for both students and tutors.

Volunteer Tutors: Agents of Change or Reproduction? An Examination of Consciousness, Ideology and Praxis

Volunteer tutors play a significant role in delivering adult literacy programs. It is estimated that up to 60% of all instructors in adult literacy programs in the United States are volunteers (Ziegler, McCallum, & Bell, 2009). However, volunteer tutors’ work or experience are rarely the subjects of research. Volunteer tutors’ contributions to adult literacy are significant because they have personal relationships with learners while being expected to deliver ministry guidelines. In this paper, we examine the narratives of three volunteer tutors from a program in Ontario, Canada, to understand whether and how volunteer tutors act as agents of change or reproduction. Using a Marxist analysis, we review the consciousness, ideology, and praxis of the volunteer tutors in this study. We delve critically into the work of volunteer tutors to illustrate the potential and the limitations of volunteer tutors’ role in bringing about social transformation in the field of adult literacy.

Building public health capacity through online global learning

Rising disease burden and health inequalities remain global concerns, highlighting the need for health systems strengthening with a sufficient and appropriately trained workforce. The current models for developing such a workforce are inadequate and newer approaches are needed. In this paper we describe a model for public health capacity building through online Global Learning, defined as “innovative, integrated, global opportunities for capacity building through online learning and shared experiences between and within Low- to Middle-Income Countries and High-Income Countries, in a continuous process that helps health care workers learn as they progress through their careers”. We demonstrate how two programmes, Peoples-uni and NextGenU.org, have implemented this model using a mix of low-cost and free online learning courses, a global community of volunteer tutors, mentors and peers, and appropriate high quality competence-based content.