We know that schools can sometimes have difficulty finding teachers, relief staff and support teachers, especially our small rural schools. We are here to help.
Kōtui Ako VLN's purpose is about supporting schools to provide a rich curriculum for their learners. Stepping into tutoring support is an extension of this kaupapa. We have tutors available for Literacy and Numeracy Years 7 - 9; NCEA English and possibly other subject areas by request.
We have supported a number of schools through the MoE funded 'Loss of Learning' initiative.
Through our evaluation of this mahi we have found that:
- A collaborative approach between the school and eteacher is required to ensure a targeted approach and support for each learner.
- Learners are not 'offloaded' to us but there is regular communication with the school on planning, assessment and approaches.
- As far as practicable we work within a school's own maths or literacy programmes and use their resources to align with learners' classroom programmes.
- There is a lot more time involved with etutoring compared to eteaching. For every hour of contact time, at least two hours is needed to plan and prepare, and communicate with students.
- We use the MoE guidelines (attached below) regarding group sizes, and duration of tutoring times.
Although face to face may be preferred by students and teachers (according to MoE referenced research on online tuition), it was also found that:
"Pupils enjoyed the tuition and there were perceived benefits for learning, with improvements in learners’ confidence, engagement with education and preparedness for the new school year reported. The overwhelming majority (87%) of learners said that, if they had the opportunity, they would like to carry on with their tutoring. Three-quarters (76%) said they enjoyed learning more than they did before."
If you would like support for tutoring in your school please get in touch with Rachel.