PEER GROUP TUTORING TO IMPROVE READING

This paper describes an attempt to deal with a very common problem enc ountered in secondary schools today, namely the inability of some stud ents to cope efficiently with the texts they are asked to read for the ir specialist subjects. The problem here was exacerbated by the fact t hat many of the students in this girls' school came from homes where E nglish is not commonly spoken. The paper describes a scheme in which c hildren who were able to read well and enjoyed their reading volunteer ed to help those who were having problems. This had very positive effe cts not only for the tutees, but also for the tutors. The scheme was n ot easy to set up nor to maintain and called for a high level of commi tment and collaboration from all staff members. No decision had been m ade at the outset for formal evaluation of the programme so the attemp t to evaluate post hoc meant that it could be done on only a superfici al level. Better information about its effect upon tutors, tutees and staff would have made the development of the scheme more purposeful.