Case Study: Tutor and Student Role Change in Supported Self‐Study

SUMMARY

In this paper I examine changes in the traditionally accepted roles of teachers and students which face those working in a supported self‐study model. I begin by examining the initial adjustment that students make to their own new situation and that of their tutors. I then look at long‐term adjustment and suggest that, as students mature in their approach to learning, their need for tutorial support decreases. The benefits of an open learning system appear to grow as students mature in their learning skills. It would appear that able students know when to seek help, but less able students seem to lack this ability. I then turn to the matter of tutors and discuss the new attitudes they must adopt as they change from ‘teacher as authority’ to ‘tutor as supporter’, and examine some practical skills they must develop in the giving of small‐group tutorials and the supervision of learning centres. I suggest that we need not only to define the type of training necessary as tutors, but also to look at what is lost to them as ‘teachers’ in a self‐study system. I conclude by summarizing my findings and raising some questions for future investigation.