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Listening to Learners: Consultation with Learners about Adult Literacy Education in Scotland

5 Support and guidance

Given the level of fear and nervousness that accompanies enrolling in a literacy and numeracy class, what makes learners feel included? Where do they get the support needed? Two main factors emerge from the focus group discussions: the tutor's role in making learners feel comfortable and at ease, and the role of other learners in the class.

a) Tutor's role

Learners in most of the kinds of programmes talked about how important their tutor was in making them feel at ease in a difficult situation. They recognise that having the right person as tutor is crucial. One learner in an FE college contrasted the progress she was making in subjects she had taken at school but never enjoyed then: 'It's the tutors. They are really, really helpful and they're so friendly and they never treat you the way a teacher would. They treat you as a human being and if you need help they'll take the time to try and help you.' [Lothian, Other Adult Learner]

There are several characteristics that learners used to describe good tutors:

• Friendly and welcoming - making the class feel like 'one big family', breaking the ice and getting people talking to one another
• Reassuring - understanding the fears and concerns of adult learner, and assuring them that they will be able to manage the work. 'I listened quite carefully to the things that you were saying and I knew by the end of it you would never put anybody in a spot, you would just let people take their time about anything.' [Glasgow, Other Adult Learner]
• Treating everyone as an individual - helping them find things they want to work on, finding the right level for them (not too difficult but not too easy)
• Patient and non-judgemental
• Leading without dominating
• Above all, treating people as 'adults, not weans' [Glasgow, Other Adult Learner].

One focus group teased apart the elements in good tutoring in this exchange:

'I've heard of people going to courses and they've walked in the door and they've taken one look at the tutor and gone, oh no. It does happen, we were really lucky. [Tutor]'s style of tutoring is good and she's got a good sense of humour.'

'Yes, I think a tutor has a lot to do with whether you enjoy the course or not.'

'She was very informal but we got done what we were supposed to do, but in a nice way.'

'That's quite a hard thing to do, to be the tutor without taking a head role, to actually integrate yourself in with the students.'

'Instead of saying you will do this, you will do it that way, as a teacher.'

'[Tutor] kept control of the situation, actually led you to where you were supposed to be without being dominant.' [Highlands, Other Adult Learners]

b) Other learners' roles

The tutor may set the tone for the class, but other learners are also crucial to the sense of comfort that keeps learners there. One group talked about a woman who had been in their class but left because she felt others were laughing at her (even though they said they weren't). In several of the groups, learners talked about helping each other and working together.

Other learners in the group have an important role in helping new members feel welcome and at home -in creating a sense of 'family' or making new friends. 'I look forward to coming here, it's a social event as well as an educational event.' [Fife, ALN Learner]

This may be especially important for people who don't have a large family or circle of friends outside. 'I thought I wouldn't be able to do it when I got into my 60s, but it's easier now. I meet more friends instead of staying at home and doing housework all the time and taking the dog for a walk.' [Fife, ALN Learner]

The sense that everyone is in the same boat makes it easier for ALN learners, as well as for those who are going back to learning after many years away from it. 'You feel that everyone's here for the same reason as you, so you don't feel put down.' [Lothian, ALN Learner]

However, a few learners talked about experiences they had had in earlier classes that were not as positive, where they didn't feel that they could fit into the group as well.

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