INTERPERSONAL EDUCATION THROUGH TUTORIAL WORK

Spencer, Richard Michael (1984). INTERPERSONAL EDUCATION THROUGH TUTORIAL WORK. BPhil thesis The Open University.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21954/ou.ro.0000f801

Abstract

This thesis describes the development of two curriculum innovations in the sphere of personal and social education - Developmental Group Work and Active Tutorial Work. Developmental Group Work was devised by Dr. Leslie Button for work with adolescents, mainly in small groups. Active Tutorial Work is a programme devised by a curriculum development team in Lancashire for work with students in secondary schools, and was strongly influenced by the work of Button.

The thesis places these two innovations in a general context of personal and social education before going on to examine them in closer detail. A consideration of the processes, methods and materials reveals that there are both distinct similarities and distinct differences between the two projects. In particular the thesis looks at the way in which Active Tutorial Work evolved in Lancashire from courses in Education for Personal Relationships and from outside influences including Button's work. The complexion of each of the projects is also looked at from a wider educational perspective.

Both innovations developed dissemination strategies workingprimarily through publication and the establishment of a trainingframework. The thesis examines their dissemination strategies inthe context of dissemination theory and the experience of othercurriculum projects.

Training plays a major part in the dissemination of both projects and a number of general issues arise in connection with training and the implementation of a new curriculum innovation. The courses which have been run in Buckinghamshire, in both Developmental Group Work and Active Tutorial Work, are described in some detail, in terms of objectives and in terms of the impact made on the people who attended them. To some extent the nature of the innovations is further reflected in the nature of the training programmes and the thesis explores some of these features and characteristics.