Statement 4
Tutors defend their volunteer activities based on perceived needs rather than demonstrable progress and results.

• Having someone taught more slowly or not focused on the perfect path is better than nothing at all.

• The work can be useless sometimes...but I don't think there can be a major screw-up, which is perhaps what these people are afraid of...I think from certain matches no one gets anything out of it and that happens, but I don't think there's too much damage that can be done.

• It's not doing any harm but I'm sure a trained person would have much better progress.

• I think tutoring is like medicine. First of all, you should do no harm, and there's a lot of teachers out there doing harm...So I think if you have the right heart, and you at least do no harm, then it doesn't necessarily make you a good teacher but at least, like I said, you're doing no harm.

• You would lose everyone [if tutors could only work as teacher's aids]; [there are] not enough good-well-trained teachers. That would reduce manpower.

• It's needed, so why not provide it?

• There are no teachers volunteering-- the club wants to help and is doing it.

• People come to volunteer organizations because there's not enough out there.

• You can't come down on everything that isn't done with years of experience or nothing will get done.

Tutors recognize that although they do their best, the learners may not make large improvements, or the learners may learn at a slower rate than if a better-trained person was with them. Nevertheless, they believe that some help is better than no help. This belief works in conjunction with the tutors' assurance that although they may do little or no good, they are at least doing no harm.

Why then do tutors continue? Tutors remain in matches because they believe that they are meeting needs not met by the education. This belief is the most pervasive of the four. The tutor comments in this section show how the tutors delineate their actions within an area of high demand and unmet needs. They believe their actions– even if they don't help much–are necessary because without the volunteer sector, no one would be there to help.

The effect of this belief, however, can work against the desired outcomes. When tutors feel that their help is ‘better than nothing’, the focus of the match is more easily lost. An adult learner may not be willing to invest time in an endeavour where visible results and outcomes are unclear. Complacency towards progress should not be part of an organization committed to learning.