Tutor group
A tutor group is a term used in schools in the United Kingdom, broadly equivalent to the United States term "homeroom". The term is most frequently used in secondary schools where students may be taught in a number of different groupings throughout the day. Tutor groups are usually the group with which a student is registered at the beginning or end of each school session.
In many schools, a tutor group is assigned a tutor who will remain with that group for several years - possibly throughout their time at that school. Such groupings may also be used for the teaching of some subjects in school, while others will be taught in ability groups, or in smaller mixed sets, for example practical technology subjects. Tutor groups are commonly given names, however the names they are given depend on the specific system chosen by the school.
Horizontal and vertical tutoring
The traditional way of organising a secondary school in the UK is "horizontal tutoring", also known as the "Year System". A Year 7 student joins a tutor group of about 25-30 fellow students all from the same Year. In the US this is sometimes called a home group. A form tutor, the person (usually a teacher) assigned to the tutor group, has oversight of tutees' pastoral and academic needs and usually stays with their form group throughout the students' time at the school. Tutor time (the time that the tutor and tutees actually spend together) is usually at the start of the day. Schools see this as a settling in time and an opportunity to get basic school administration done. The tutor task in the UK is to form a learning relationship with each tutee and act as a guide and mentor through the complexities of school life.
An alternative arrangement is vertical tutoring, which has been adopted by some schools since the 2000s. This is when schools have smaller tutor groups populated by pupils of all ages, rather than by groups of the same age. This is intended to improve relations between different year groups and reduce bullying. However, the main intentions of schools reported in Barnard's book on Vertical Tutoring, is to improve learning relationships and raise standards. Vertical Tutoring requires a change to house systems as the main organisational culture of the school rather than Year Systems.
References
- ″Vertical Tutoring″, by Barnard, P.A. (2010) published by Grosvenor House, Guildford. This book on school management gives further background to Vertical Tutoring as a key driver of school improvement and the management necessary for implementation.
- ″A New Shape for Schooling″, (2006) by D. Hargreaves et al.: series of pamphlets published by SSAT. These pamphlets bring together some of the latest trends in school management.
- “Service Operations Management”, (2001)by Johnston, R., and Clarke, G.: published by Prentice Hall
See also Jonathan Haidt's talk on Liberals and group behaviour set against theory of moral psychology at www.Ted.com