Your Tutor Ecosystem

“The aim of teaching is not to produce learning but to produce the conditions for learning, that is the focal point, the quality of learning”

- Loris Malaguzzi

How do we create the conditions in which students most effectively learn? To be a professional tutor, whether it is one-on-one tuition, or being an online tutor, you should understanding your student’s world. Learning does not take place in isolation but is affected by a number of variables.

Urie Bronfenbrenner, a Russian psychologist developed an interesting ecosystems theory that will help us understand how to locate your student within their larger world and how to understand the influences these different systems (or levels within their world) have on the learning style of your student. This will enable you to develop the most optimal learning environment for your student, to recognise the knowledge and skills your student already brings to the table, as well as the support system your student has (or doesn’t have), and any barriers to learning which may need to be confronted. This is important even if you plan to teach online.

Understanding Your Student’s World of Influence

A student typically finds themselves simultaneously enmeshed in different ecosystems, from the most intimate home ecological system moving outward to the larger school system and the most expansive system which is society and culture. Each of these systems inevitably interact with and influence each other in every aspect of the child’s life. The Urie Bronfenbrenner model organizes contexts of development into five levels of external influence.

1. The MICRO system

The microsystem is the smallest and most immediate environment in which the student lives. The microsystem is made up of the daily home, school or daycare, peer group or community environment of the student. Interactions within the microsystem typically involve personal relationships with family members, classmates, teachers and caregivers, in which influences go back and forth.

How these groups or individuals interact with the student will affect how the student grows and learns. Similarly, how the student reacts to people in her microsystem will also influence how they treat the student in return. More nurturing and more supportive interactions and relationships will understandably foster the student’s improved development.

2. The MESO system

The mesosystem encompasses the interaction(s) of the different microsystems which the developing student finds herself in. It is, in essence, a system of microsystems and as such, involves linkages between home and school, between peer group and family, or between family and church.

An example: Look at engagements between parents and teachers, parents and extended family, and so forth. Conflicting messages from parents and teachers can affect learning; as a tutor it is important to have some understanding of these engagements and ensure that your engagement with these systems in a student's environment are harmonious and complementary to the best of your ability.

3. The EXO system

The exosystem pertains to the linkages that may exist between two or more settings, one of which may not contain the student, but affects her indirectly nonetheless. I.e. Other people and places which the student may not directly interact with but may still have an effect on the student. Such places and people may include the parents’ workplaces, the larger neighborhood, and extended family members.

Stress between the micro family and extended family, between parents workplaces and the home environment can all affect how students view the world, view and approach learning, as well as the level of importance they assign to learning. As the tutor begins to understand the student’s exosystem, they can better understand what motivates and dissuades a student. Do their experiences of their families working environments make them appreciate the value of learning or does it make them despondent about their prospects? Do their parents model a healthy work ethic?

4. The MACRO system

The macrosystem is the largest and most distant collection of people and places to the student that still exercises significant influence on the student’s development. It is composed of the student’s cultural patterns and values, specifically the student’s dominant beliefs and ideas, as well as political and economic systems.

Understanding and respecting the cultural norms and expectations of a student is important for the tutor to facilitate an appropriate and positive learning relationship.

5. The CHRONO system

The chronosystem adds the useful dimension of time, which demonstrates the influence of both change and constancy in the student’s environment. The chronosystem may thus include a change in family structure, address, parent’s employment status, in addition to immense society.

This can also be linked to the Life Cycle perspective, in which a student will enter various life stages with specific outcomes, needs and challenges.

By studying the different systems that simultaneously influence a child, the Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory is able to demonstrate the diversity of interrelated influences on the child’s development. Awareness of contexts can sensitize us to variations in the way a child may act in different settings.

For example, a child who frequently bullies smaller children at school may portray the role of a terrified victim at home. Due to these variations, adults concerned with the care of a particular child should pay close attention to behavior in different settings or contexts and to the quality and type of connections that exist between these contexts.

Source: This article is adapted from What is Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory?