I've been having lots of conversations recently with parents exploring the idea of tuition for their children. Where I start this discussion is with why they have started this exploration. For some it might be to boost grades, for others it might be trying to build confidence for their child. But I have had a few conversations with parents recently where they didn't actually need a tutor; they were looking for something else, they just didn't know where to look and ended up talking to me as a tuition business.
So let's look at some of the reasons you might want to engage a tutor for your child.
If your child feels like they are struggling - if they're coming home telling you that school is hard, that they're not understanding what's being taught, that they don't know how to complete the work. A tutor can help students by re-teaching topics so that the student can understand it better, or for some students a tutor can pre-teach the topics so that when the student is in school they've already got a head start and feel more confident completing the work in class.
If your child is working hard but not seeing results or progress - so this might be that your child is spending hours and hours and hours practising their work but it's either still not clicking for them, or then not seeing any progress in their test results, or then not remembering what they're doing. A tutor can work with students to make sure that the practice they're doing is effective and works for them. It might not be necessarily looking at the content of a subject but it might be working on study skills and finding strategies for that individual.
If your child is losing interest in a subject - we all have ups and downs when it comes to learning and times where we love learning and times where it's a little bit more tricky. However, if you're seeing a decline in your child's motivation for a particular subject, a tutor might be able to reignite that flame and find ways to make the subject more engaging again for your child.
If your child doesn't know how to revise - this isn't just about exams; often in schools, students are asked to revise for end of topic tests or end of year tests - how many students struggle to know what that looks like or know what good revision looks like? I'll let you into a little secret; it's not just reading through notes, that's not going to work. So a tutor can work with your child to break down the content, show them how to plan their revision, and then show them what type of revision activities are going to be effective.
If your child doesn't know how to achieve their target - this one's more for the exam
students. If they are seemingly stuck on a grade and they're not sure how to make those gaps smaller, how to get those extra marks. A tutor can spend time looking at mark schemes, breaking things down, showing students exactly what they need to do to achieve that magic grade - whether that's a four, a six, a nine, it doesn't matter. It's about the individual's goals and helping them get there.
If your child is aiming for a selective school (whether that's a grammar school or a private school) - the entrance exams for these types of schools are very different to the work that students do in the classroom. Tutors will be able to guide you in the content of these exams and help your child access the practice that they wouldn't get in school.
If your child has additional needs and isn't able to access the learning in the classroom all of the time - as a society we are more aware of additional needs when it comes to education, and while teachers are striving to accommodate these the reality of this is that in a class of 34 or 36 students it's not always possible. A tutor can provide that additional support; it is in partnership with what the child is receiving in school. There are tutors out there that can help you if you make the decision to remove your child from school, but that is a discussion for another blog.
If your student is lacking confidence - now this is the big one! This is why most of our students come to us. It's more than they're just struggling in class, it's that they have a belief that they just can't do it. Tutors, whether one to one or in a small group, can build a student’s confidence and resilience, which in turn will have a positive impact on all of the above. This year, I had one particular student who came to me feeling quite anxious about the exams and feeling like no matter what happens she's going to fail. Now yes, a pass is important but what is more important, and to me completely magical, is that she sat with me yesterday and said I feel calm about these exams. I know that I might not pass everything but that's okay. The confidence in that statement and the resilience in that statement sets her up for a far better future, and talking to her mum she said her daughter was like a completely different person because of the tuition.
If you're not sure if tuition is right for you and your family then drop us an email at info@coreplustuition.com and we'll be happy to have a chat and help you decide if you need a tutor or not.
Comments