Education Blog

Tiina Tambaum: “Having a skill does not automatically mean that you can also teach that skill to others.”

Tiina Tambaum of the School of Educational Sciences at Tallinn University defended her doctoral thesis entitled ‘Teenage tutors facilitating the acquisition of e-skills by older learners’ on 13 September. We asked her how her research might change the world.

Tiina Tambaum

I hope that my thesis directs the attention of people and communities to the fact that we should not guide young people to take the role of e-skills instructors without first providing them with tutoring skills. This would be irresponsible both in regards to the young persons and those they will teach. Having a skill does not automatically mean that you can also teach that skill to others.

I also hope that the proposed models help communities conduct the short training of young e-skills tutors. In my research, I criticise the practice of telling young people about the particularities of older learners when beginning intergenerational learning. This only cements stereotypes instead of overcoming them, which is one of the aims of intergenerational learning. I demonstrated that if young people knew how to use interactive tutoring techniques, the special needs of older learners would be easily fulfilled without having to have a separate discussion about their learning particularities.