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The person-centred approach in maths skills development: examining a case of good practice

Delderfield, Russell
; 
McHattie, Helen
Publication Date
2018-04
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Keywords
Learning developer, Maths support, Person-centred, Maths advice, One-to-one, Academic skills, Congruence, Unconditional positive regard, Empathy
Rights
© 2018 The Authors. This is an Open Access article distributed under the Creative Commons CC-BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
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Peer-Reviewed
Yes
Open Access status
openAccess
Accepted for publication
2018
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Social Sciences Publications
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Abstract
The development of students’ mathematics skills in higher education is often the topic of professional debate in learning development circles. Less prevalent are discussions taking place around the interpersonal dynamics that occur during one-to-one (tutorial) sessions. This case study explores these dynamics. It arose from the continuing professional development activities of an adviser (learning developer) at a UK university. As a result of recording one-to-one mathematics sessions it was found that the adviser was unconsciously competent and that, although she was adept at identifying her areas for development, she struggled to articulate the considerable strengths of her practice. We wanted to find a way of describing, analysing and evaluating her competence, and alighted upon the person-centred approach. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to present the synthesis of maths skills practice with this approach in the hope of stimulating further research and professional conversation in the learning development community. The report offers novel idiographic findings through the application of person-centred theory to one practitioner’s experience of delivering maths skills development. We conclude by suggesting that focusing on the relationship between adviser and student can help to create conditions conducive to successful one-to-one education.
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10454/17189
Version
Published version
Citation
Delderfield R and McHattie H (2018) The person-centred approach in math skills development: examining a case of good practice. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. 13.
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Link to Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.v0i13.447
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Article
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