Implications of the Sociotechnical Turn in Engineering Curricula for Tutoring Practices, the Tutor Role and Tutor Training

Engineering education has traditionally focused on content mastery, problem-solving techniques, and applied technical skills. In light of this, tutorial sessions have been positioned as sites for conceptual and technical consolidation, framing tutors as disciplinary experts with tutor training tending to assume conceptual knowledge and problem-solving skill and focusing basic group management and administrative processes. However, recent shifts in engineering education - the sociotechnical turn - challenge these conventional assumptions. This paper explores how a course, 'Engineer in Society', which focuses on the political, environmental and social context of engineering activity, offers a fresh perspective on changing tutoring practices. We established a research collective, bringing together perspective and interview data from discipline-based lecturers and data from an institutional tutor development programme (TDP) to explore how shifts towards sociotechnical engineering education transform tutoring practices, and what the implications of this are for tutor identities and development. Integrating a collaborative autoethnographic approach and collective method approach, we found changes in tutoring practices, including tutor recruitment, pedagogic practices in tutorials, and tutorial assessments, combined with changing student perceptions had implications for tutors' identities. Our findings highlight the tensions in tutor identity and reveal gaps in conventional tutor training in engineering. The findings from this case suggest that in response to the sociotechnical turn in engineering education, tutoring practices such as recruitment must change and tutor development must extend beyond technical proficiency to encompass pedagogical skills, interdisciplinary communication, feedback literacy, and socio-emotional support.