{"id":68461,"date":"2023-06-06T00:05:28","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T04:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=68461"},"modified":"2023-06-06T00:05:28","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T04:05:28","slug":"distance-education-tutors-dont-need-any-formal-qualifications-we-should-make-this-role-a-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/distance-education-tutors-dont-need-any-formal-qualifications-we-should-make-this-role-a-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Distance education tutors don\u2019t need any formal qualifications \u2013 we should make this role a career"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

There are an estimated\u00a024,000-plus<\/a>\u00a0students who study by distance education in Australia.<\/p>\n

While their lessons are delivered remotely, by law, all of these students still need to be supervised by somebody in person. This is the role of the \u201cremote education tutor\u201d, who is thelink between<\/a>the student and the teacher.<\/p>\n

Despite the vital work they do, there is no prerequisite or formal qualification for this role, and no precise data on their number, as their work is often misrepresented as parenting, childcare or nannying.<\/p>\n

We need to start recognising this key educational role as a career.<\/p>\n

Who are remote tutors and what do they do?<\/h4>\n

For students who are unable to attend mainstream schooling, it is the tutor\u2019s job to facilitate everyday classroom learning. The student will be provided instruction and given materials by their school, but the tutor needs to organise and supervise the completion of tasks and lessons.<\/p>\n

It is a vital role in the child\u2019s education.<\/p>\n

We know remote education tutors are\u00a0mostly women<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They are either a family member (typically the mother) or an externally employed person. If it is a non-family member, these tutors come from a wide range of backgrounds, including young people on a gap year, university students who want to work while studying, and domestic and international travellers.<\/p>\n

It is hard to find and keep a tutor<\/strong><\/h4>\n

We also know remote tutors are\u00a0hard to recruit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The position has\u00a0complex demands and responsibilities<\/a>, but wages are unregulated and there are\u00a0no targeted qualifications<\/a>\u00a0required or available to advance people\u2019s careers.<\/p>\n

This is not helped by a\u00a0lack of government incentives<\/a>\u00a0for, say, teaching students to spend a \u201cyear in the bush\u201d, or visa provisions to allow overseas-qualified teachers to stay for longer periods in these roles.<\/p>\n

So there is a high turnover. Most are only in the job with the one family for\u00a0one to two years<\/a>\u00a0before leaving the role altogether.<\/p>\n

There is a federal government\u00a0allowance<\/a>\u00a0for families doing distance education and some minor\u00a0state government subsidies<\/a>\u00a0for internet access and computer hardware. But families say these are\u00a0not enough<\/a>\u00a0to help parents recruit and retain a supervisor.<\/p>\n

Why should we recognise tutors?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

If there is formal recognition of remote educator tutors\u2019 knowledge and skills, this provides status and makes the job a more attractive career pathway.<\/p>\n

Tutors would not have to do a full education degree, like school teachers. Instead, they could be trained in specific components of a degree through microcredentials, or smaller courses of learning.<\/p>\n

They could start with specific skills for setting up and managing a learning space, and strategies for teaching reading, spelling and basic numeracy. These examples are core to the remote educator tutor qualifications, which could also be later used as part of other qualifications, if they wanted to do future study.<\/p>\n

This could go beyond distance education<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Dedicated, targeted training for remote education tutors could be applied beyond this workforce as well. We know there are many school students studying at home for reasons other than being too far from the nearest school.<\/p>\n

Growing\u00a0numbers of students<\/a>\u00a0either study online at private schools or are home-schooled. They also need to be supervised (most often by parents).<\/p>\n

Other groups who would benefit from these training opportunities include:<\/p>\n