ITAS tutors

Follow the Dream coordinators are required to apply to the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) for funding for tutors.

Go to the relevant page on the DEERW website...

Coordinators are responsible for the performance management of tutors. This includes tutor meetings, arranging professional development sessions, like cultural awareness training, and monitoring of progress against agreed outcomes.

Here is a sample tutor duty statement, developed by Girrawheen Follow the Dream coordinator, Lorraine Tunbridge:

Tutor Duty Statement

1. Assist with the completion of homework and assignments by providing:
• resources;
• skills; and
• strategies.

2. Ensure high levels of students engagement through:
• IEPs;
• cultural studies and perspectives;
• career education;
• development of study skills and strategies; and
• areas of interest for individual students.

3. Write, implement, evaluate and review IEPs for students that address academic areas of need.

4. Monitor, evaluate and report on student learning by using:
• anecdotal evidence on areas of need, improvement and behavioural issues;
• diagnostic testing including MSA [Monitoring Standards in Education] and other levelled tests; and
• data recorded in students’ record files on a weekly basis.

5. Ensure adequate duty of care, including the requirement that no student is to be left unsupervised.

6. Liaise with school staff.

7. Help students develop and instil strong, motivated work ethics through assistance with:
• formulation of goals;
• presentation of work; and
• organisational skills.

Here are some guidelines developed by Albany Follow the Dream coordinator, Dave Fitzpatrick:

Tutor Activity Guidelines

Primary and junior secondary students may have no set homework. Please practise basic skills and develop meta-cognitive skills. You can also negotiate and set projects of interest with individual students. These could be about a topic of interest, career pathway, family tree, family stories and so on.

Senior secondary students (Years 10, 11 and 12) will have more set homework, so we need to apply meta-cognitive skills wherever we get a window of opportunity.

Cognitive skills practice and development:

• Maths multiplication/division tables;
• vocabulary, sentence structure, paragraphing (some spelling, but don’t go overboard);
• survey reading, skim reading, close reading;
• literal comprehension, inferential comprehension etc; and
• syllabus concepts.

Meta-cognitive skills development:

• Skills for transforming information (not just memory);
• e.g. transforming prose text into mind maps or other retrieval charts; and
• e.g. transforming visual or kinaesthetic information into prose.
• Thinking tools such as: Brainstorms, de Bono’s six coloured hats, PMI [Plus/Minus/Interesting] charts, mind-mapping, etc;
• examination and test techniques;
• managing emotions;
• time management; and
• what kind of reading to use (and when).

Skills for sitting tests – especially the WALNA [West Australian Literacy and Numeracy Assessment] and MSE [Monitoring Standards in Education] tests

• (viz. the Sean Gorman brochure); and
• access the sample MSE/WALNA tests to practise with students.

Assist students to understand that different Learning Areas require different styles, registers and formats of writing.

Code-switching (Aboriginal English ↔ Standard Australian English) in listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Choose a few students to ‘special’
(This will be coordinated so that no students miss out.)

Frequently access the file with hard copies of students’ Individual Education Plans (IEP’s). If there is no IEP yet, then see the coordinator about negotiating one.

Frequently access the file with hard copies of students’ WALNA/MSE test results and individual profiles. Address areas of weakness with the students.

Frequently access the file with hard copies of students’ Multiple Intelligence (MI) graphs, and tailor activities to suit students’ strengths and weaknesses.

Encourage and monitor your ‘special’ students’ communications with their mentors.

Model some behaviours for students (e.g. reading, writing, numeracy)

Remember that traditionally, Aboriginal children often learned by being shown how to do something before they attempt to do it themselves.

Remember the 3 R’s of Aboriginal Education: Relationships, Relationships, Relationships

Have fun!