ABSTRACT
Two approaches for helping older pupils are compared as to activities, satisfaction, impact, and difficulties. In the first, university students employed a mentoring approach in which they acted as ‘big brothers/sisters’ to children while focusing on enrichment and interpersonal relations. In the second, students served as tutors or ‘private teachers’, working with pupils on homework and test preparation. Results showed that participants in both groups were highly satisfied. Despite the differences in approach, all students reported having contributed greatly to the child’s desire to learn, and children in both groups felt that working with a university student had helped them most with their studies. Students who focused on academic work tended to encounter fewer difficulties during the year. There were indications from the data that the academic tutoring approach was more suitable for boys while mentoring which emphasizes enrichment was more appropriate for girls.
