Literacy Corner: What about Professional Learning for Tutors?

What About Professional Learning for Tutors?

 Literacy Corner

By Carrie Cannella



                                   Priscilla Du Preez via Unsplash


Tutors are our primary adult literacy educators. When we think about them in that way, we remember not only how very important their contributions are, but also how important offering professional development is for them, just as we do for paid instructors.


Most tutors are volunteers, but that is not to say that a staff member, adjunct faculty member, or contract employee can’t do small group tutoring, be the point person for consistent drop-in programs, create learning opportunities, and provide materials and support to volunteer tutors. In fact, a staff member focused on education would take a significant burden from coordinators who are consistently overtaxed with their many duties. 


Tutors grow as they go and have differing professional learning needs throughout their experiences, so providing ongoing opportunities to gain new knowledge and skills and learn from each other beyond initial tutor training is a significant part of supporting them in their roles. Some programs may divide up that initial training so that it is not given all at once, as tutors may get overwhelmed or not know what to do with certain knowledge before they have worked with a student. Others provide the initial training and then follow up with periodic workshops that are selected based on tutor feedback or necessary topics not covered in the initial training. If yours is a tiny program, there is no reason to recreate the wheel. As long as you’re creating opportunities for tutors to come together to share ideas and challenges, the other pieces of learning can come from the many resources we have available to us. 


Many Opportunities Exist 


Did you know that all of the opportunities that Propel provides for instructors are also available to tutors? Trainings like Motivational Coaching, Teaching Skills That Matter (TSTM), Training from the BACK of the Room (TBR), Color Vowel Training, and Google Intensive are all applicable to one-to-one or small group tutoring, depending on the tutor and student needs. In addition, tutors are welcome to join the Adult Educators’ Institutes and NMAEA and MPAEA conferences.


Of course, we know that volunteer tutors are often not able to commit to this kind of training. In that case, there are also many free, shorter-term asynchronous opportunities from Propel, Literacy Minnesota, Literacy Works, and Proliteracy. For instance, Propel will hold a virtual seminar with Jeff Fantine in April 2025 on Tutor Troubleshooting Tips and Tricks. Are there topics your tutors would like to see, but you’re too swamped to offer them? Just let us know!


A couple of webinars Literacy Minnesota has coming up include Intermediate Comprehension Strategies and Racial Equity 201, with many other recorded webinars that are free to anyone. Literacy Works is offering an upcoming session on Plain Language for Teachers and Tutors. (Tutors just need to use “PropelNM” as the member organization.) There are also many recorded webinars in the members-only section on instructional strategies like Teaching Adult English Learners Who Are Emergent Readers and Beyond the Basics: Resources and Tips for Teaching Online (email Carrie Cannella if you need the password). Proliteracy’s Teacher Training Plus includes strands on Basic Literacy, English Language Learning, High School Equivalency, Math Instruction, Using Published Materials, and Workplace Literacy. 


Be sure your tutors are aware of these free, key resources! We know it doesn’t necessarily always work to simply send tutors to websites, but what if your group agreed on a webinar and then gathered together to watch, allowing time at the beginning and end for sharing, discussion, and planning? Why not?


If you do have time to create other opportunities for tutors, consider what else you could offer beyond workshops. What about holding book discussion groups with topics related to tutoring, scheduling tutor circles led by experienced volunteers, or asking tutors to do a little research on a topic and write a newsletter article to share with others?

Getting Volunteers to Participate


It’s certainly not easy to ask people volunteering their time to do more; we get it. Here are some strategies to try to encourage tutors to attend a gathering:


  1. Ask what tutors need and want to see and offer that!

  2. Offer a variety of types, lengths, times, and online/ in-person options.

  3. Provide food and drinks! 

  4. Offer other incentives, like gift cards, certificates, and tutoring-friendly prizes.

  5. Keep workshops active and informal but professional.

  6. Let tutors lead and share their own expertise.

  7. Bring in guest speakers.

  8. Be clear about the “why” and the benefits for both tutors and students.

  9. Make it about establishing a learning and sharing community and making connections with other tutors.

  10. Return to the idea that tutors are the primary educators of adult literacy students.


There will always be some tutors who are so invested that you will see them a lot more than others, but the goal is to also bring in those other tutors who are not so visible, as tutoring (particularly away from a central space) can be isolating work. A simple phone call to ask them personally what they need and what might bring them in can do more than any of the above.


Establishing a Tutor Network


We know that tutors can also benefit from more focused, short, “just-in-time” learning. Propel is 

working on establishing a Tutor Network that would include tutor tips and microlearning in different formats that will allow tutors to skim a quick email or social media post, read a blog article, or watch a short video. Want to share topic ideas or a resource that you have recently discovered and love? Want to share your knowledge and help build the network? Get in touch! 


Grotika via Unsplash


Offering ways for tutors to come together is a critical strategy for providing support, and building community awareness that they are educators in their own right is a central piece of our work. As we create professional learning for tutors, of course, we must always be mindful of their time and what they are (usually) doing for free. Yet, the benefits of volunteering are well-known, as are the benefits of establishing community. If we take that message and focus on it, perhaps we will start to see more engagement.   


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