Tutoring: The Development of Helping and Tutoring Skills in Children

I’m sure that, like me, most of you share a view of the learning process and the design of effective learning environments in which the learner is active, selec-tive, and constructive. For me, learning is also an inherently social process. The learner may want to dispute, to contest, to discuss, or to coordinate and recon-cile different points of view. When in difficulty, it’s often wise to look for help, and in a good learning environment, that help is available. My topic for today is tutoring and learning. I will put most of my effort in this first presentation into discussing the analytical and technical questions about the what, when, and how of tutoring, but I would like to concentrate first on the why. Why tutor? Like all why questions, it essentially forces you back to your values: it’s not about evidence so much as ethics, values, and moral stance. So, I’m going to start by saying a little bit about why I am involved, interested, and fascinated by the very complex human activity we call tutoring. THE WHY OF TUTORING In a nutshell, the argument I’m going to try to persuade you to accept run