The impact of a tutorship development programme on tutors' professional transformation: A case of a university in South Africa
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.38140/ijer-2025.vol7.1.20Keywords:
Tutorship development programme, professional growth, teaching competence, translanguaging, Kegan’s theory, higher educationAbstract
Tutorship development programmes play a pivotal role in enhancing professional competencies and pedagogical skills among tutors in higher education. This study seeks to explore the professional transformation of tutors participating in a tutorship development programme, with a particular focus on their development in classroom management, leadership, teaching competence, and inclusive practices. Guided by Kegan’s Theory of Adult Development, the study interprets tutors’ progression from the Socialised Mind, characterised by reliance on external authority, to the Self-Authoring Mind, marked by independent pedagogical reasoning and decision-making. Anchored in the interpretivist paradigm and employing a case study design, the study adopted a qualitative approach. Data were generated through reflections from ten purposively selected tutors within a Faculty of Education at a selected university in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Thematic analysis was utilised to analyse the data. Findings reveal three key themes of professional transformation: (1) enhanced professional growth through leadership development, reflective practice, and classroom management; (2) increased teaching competence in areas such as lesson planning, learner engagement, assessment strategies, and technological integration; and (3) the deliberate use of translanguaging as an inclusive pedagogical strategy to address linguistic diversity in multilingual classrooms. These findings illustrate the tutors’ evolving pedagogical identities, autonomy, and responsiveness to learner needs. This study contributes to the discourse on tutor development by highlighting how structured, practice-based training programmes can facilitate profound professional transformation. It advocates for the expansion of such programmes to provide systematic opportunities for inclusive pedagogical training, peer collaboration, and critical reflection aligned with developmental growth.
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