Tutoring for personalization

Organisation and country where the good practice has been implemented: Cometa Formazione

Title: Tutoring for personalization

Main Theme/Area of intervention: Social Inclusion

Main objectives: Tutors are in charge of the personalization of learners’ educational pathway by supporting their social-emotional competences and life skills, aiming at their Integral Human Development.

Target groups addressed: All Cometa VET school learners receive this tutoring support, with a stronger focus on vulnerable ones.

Main activities necessary for its realisation: Personalization of learning pathways is a key driver for excellence in VET and a crucial condition for inclusion. Cometa tutors are enrolled in supporting every learner during their training pathway, through 3 main steps:

– Observation: during this stage, tutors deal with learners’ skills assessment (foundational, professional and non-cognitive skills).

– Planning (and re-planning): after the preliminary observation, as well as during the monitoring, a personalized project has to be planned (and adapted) for every learner. It is important to identify a frame for the project, which could be shared and discussed with relevant stakeholders (colleagues, parents, social services) and, of course, the learners themselves.

– Team Supervision: the success of a personalized project is related to the ability to include different points of view from the relevant stakeholders. The team of tutors play this role of sharing information and decisions.

Results achieved: Regular evaluation assessments are conducted every year. The last analysis (2020) shows a statistically significant impact of tutoring service on the growth of learners‘ emotional and productive skills.

Innovation: Tutoring is an essential function during training. The tutor plays a crucial role in defining the personalized pathway of each learner, including not only professional skills but also human development and soft skills. The basic method is the personalization: it consists of the definition of a flexible pathway for every learner, based on character, needs, capabilities and learning styles, in order to make them succeed in their program. Every educational project has to be continuously re-adapted according to the reaction of the learner. Tutor’s activity includes many non-formal moments: dialogues, socio-emotional support, in order to help the learner in building a self-trust beyond professional goals.

Transferability: The tutor is a function required by the Regional regulations and is represented in each vocational training school in Italy. However the way this role has been developed by Cometa VET school makes their activity quite original. Transferability is possible and includes first of all the adoption of specific tools and methods, as they have been developed thanks to the Erasmus+ project “Instruction”. Transferability however requires some conditions, including:

– economic sustainability of the model, as the presence of a tutor every 40 learners requires enough fundings;

– specific training of the trainers and teachers in those educational methods as applied at Cometa.

Impact: Local