Focus on the uniqueness of the person
Personal care (cura personalis) embrace the fundamental attention to the unique path of the pupil; guides the teacher’s attitude who, in tune with the student, welcomes him, encourages him, accompanies him according to his rhythms, finds educational strategies suitable to his needs and personal talents.
In the educational path for the realization of the Ignatian student profile all the teachers are guides of the student’s path. They accompany them with disciplines, experiences and witness.
A particular task of this accompaniment it is up to the tutor, who helps the student to grow in the academic/human/emotional/existential and spiritual field.
The tutor follows the path, promotes the internalization/personalization of the path and enhances the best resources of the pupil, so that the latter can be the protagonist. In the sequence of the Ignatian pedagogy, his role is connected to the moment of reflection: the tutor is, indeed, essentially a figure that promotes reflection and awareness of experiences, both intellectual and not, that the student has during his years of school.
Tutoring is present in all the campus schools: from Kindergarten to High School, while presenting some differences in relation to the age of the students.
In the pre-school and primary, both Italian and International, the tutor’s role is up to the teacher, together with other teachers of the pedagogical team.
Tutoring in the Primary school – also carried out by the main teacher, assisted by the psychologist – is particularly focused on the following needs for the child’s growth:
- To increase self-awareness and of the world around them;
- To develop observation skills, attention skills and creativity;
- To gradually develop a self-sufficiency ability;
- To internalize thoughts, attitudes and habits of coexistence, that make the group life and communication easy.
In the middle school the class tutor accompanies each student in the reflection on their own growth path, addresses with the class the main topics of the integral formation, projects experiences and training retreats in teams, listens to the students during individual interviews, guides the orienteering activities. The purpose is to promote an environment of friendship in class and to help the students during their path of self-discovery, and to figure their desires for the future out.
The tutor takes particularly care of the metacognition and takes charge of guiding the class in educational issues. During the class activities, especially in the first year, the tutor promotes an environment of integration among the classmates. In the first year of middle school, more and more often, the tutor, in collaboration with the support teacher, promotes inclusive dynamics. During the second year, in collaboration with the pastoral priest, the tutor takes care of the affective issues related to the growth (this topic is also part of the “Continuity” path with the classes of the fifth primary school year, with the involvement of some second-year students), while at the third year the tutor, together with the whole team (also composed by the didactic coordinator and the school psychologist), takes care of the orienteering activities (including the withdrawal of orientation that involves teachers of all disciplines and high school students who are involved to tell their experience in high school).
In the so-called individual tutoring, the one-on-one interview, the tutor gives indications on the method and time-management. At the same time, this interview is an opportunity for pupils to open up with an adult they can trust. In this sense the tutor’s opinion in the behavioural evaluation aims to give the class council a complete vision of the student. Tutors in the middle school willingly and freely donate their time and commitment to the staff coordinated by Mr. Giuseppe Mannino.
At the High School, both Italian and International, students are guided by a tutor (called coach) that leads them in the selection of priorities in the study and in the optimal use of time, so that they can develop autonomy and a sense of responsibility, that becomes protagonist of their learning process.
In the wider plan of renewal of the teaching of the Gonzaga Campus High Schools, with the aim to enhance the personal care and the integral formation of the person, a qualified group of teachers and trainers together with the principal, the responsible for the pastoral care of the Institute, and with the technical advice of the Campus Psychopedagogical Office, has started a path of research, deepening and improvement of the tutorial methodology, by taking care of updating the implementation to current times.
Coaching activities are divided in three categories: personal, directed between the coach and the student; in group, between the coach and a small group of coachee; seminar in group, among experts of national importance and all the students; workshops school-families, with the coach, students and families.
