The Formation of the Tutor’s Role in the School as an Indicator of Social Expectations from Educating Children in a Private School (on the Example of Horoshkola)

Abstract

Nowadays, attitude towards childhood is changing, the value of individual development of the child is intensifying. The demand for the construction and maintenance of individual educational path is increasing. This creates a demand for new professional duties, including support of the individual educational program delegated to the profession of a tutor. The study aims to identify the social roles of the tutor in the first year of formation of the educational community of a private school. The hypothesis of the study: within the process of active formation of social community of the new school tutor, while interacting with parents, teachers and administration, takes on a number of informal duties associated with individual work with the student in excess of educational tasks. The qualitative research strategy was applied due to the need for in-depth analysis and identification of cause-and-effect relationships and hidden meanings in the system of social interactions. The sample (21 people) included representatives of various social roles: tutors — 8 persons; parents of pupils — 5 persons; representatives of administration — 3 persons; subject teachers — 3 persons; psychologists — 2 persons. Data gathering was carried out by the method of in-depth semi-formalized interview based on the developed research program (40 initial questions). It was revealed that the role-based set of duties of the tutor in the new school is not a given characteristic of the profession in question, but is a product of contexts and interactions that form the content of a unique institution under conditions of emerging communications, events and school’s way of life. At the end of the first cycle of life of the educational community of the school a wide range of roles of the tutor was formed, which actualizes the task of professional self-determination of the tutor in the system of social interactions.