Talking with volunteers about various learning scenarios lets them know what they might encounter, and lets me see their reactions. Tutor attitudes towards learners with difficulties, different ways of learning and teaching, and learning itself all affect the tutoring situation. I need to know each student and each tutor before deciding who to pair as a team.

Once students are matched with tutors, it's important that I stay in touch and encourage both student and tutor to do the same. If appointments are missed or other problems creep in, we need to know the reason. It's easy for a tutor to think the student isn't interested or motivated or that there is some fault with their tutoring. If those things happen, we can lose both student and tutor. A coordinator needs to be available, understanding the high degree of stress and risk involved in learning for many adult students. During this research I learned firsthand that genuine stress can cause genuine illness. Information on how emotions affect learning is now an important part of our tutor training thanks to the VALTA Project.

New Ways of Learning, New Ways of Teaching

Through literacy work, people who thought they couldn't learn become readers or learn to write, and often learn to value themselves more highly in the process. My own confidence increased from learning in areas other than the academic, and students showed increased confidence after learning in the academic area, which was new for them. Another participant in the VALTA Project, Genevieve Fox, said, "because I could make a buckskin dress, I could go to university." I think I know what she means—because I could learn to play a tin whistle and do yoga, I could complete this project.