My experience within the tuition industry for a decade now has placed me in a huge range of scenarios through the matching of private tutors and students. Thousands of relationships and connections have been established and many young lives have been positively impacted. Today I share with you some advice on what to look for in a good private tutor for your child.
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Look at Character and Values
Even if your tutor has strong academic credentials, it may not mean they will be a good fit for your child or that they will also obtain similar results, although not to be belittled, of course. Qualities often overlooked during the recruitment process are the tutor’s reliability, level of empathy and honesty.
One must try to understand what place they are coming from. Service based positions does not necessarily necessitate a transactional one. Rather, being of significance and service to others; sincerity in all interactions are desirable attributes in a private tutor for your child.
2. Your Tutor’s Confidence
A tutor’s role is to instil belief in a child even if he or she does not believe in themselves. What we have found, is that a child can ‘borrow’ this belief and confidence from mentally strong individuals to move forward and take action that would otherwise not have been possible by themselves.
Being able to lead the way, with empathy, is something that should be considered a priority when engaging with a tutor. If we rely on what is strong, we ourselves will be strong. If we rely on what is weak, we ourselves will be weak.
3. Specificity
Just because a tutor has been a good fit for your friend does not necessarily mean they will be a good fit for your child.
Assess the nature of academia e.g. if your child is applying for the 11+ examinations for a specific school, ensure your tutor is familiar or has experience with this. There are many layers to a subject, too.
If your tutor is more specialised in a particular aspect / module or syllabus, for example, then he or she may not be compatible for all parts of the course. Attentiveness to detail is essential.
4. Commitment level
Many parents who have engaged with tutors directly have sometimes found their level of commitment may not be as strong as they had initially anticipated.
Always look at the long term vision and anticipate any foreseeable obstacles that may arise in the process. For example, holidays or other work / family commitments. This can sadly cause disruption in a child’s academic progression as well as for parents having to search all over again.
5. Track Progress
Look at how your tutor operates and whether their style of delivery is tailored towards progression and structured in a way that leads to development.
Sometimes we get caught up in the ‘doing’ we don’t actually assess whether the system is producing results. A good tutor will demonstrate clear records of lessons with a good level of communication with parents. Results and reports from schools should also give a good reflection on the work that has been carried out with your tutor too.
6. Relationships
Aside from the effectiveness of tuition delivery, how do you and your child feel when communicating with your tutor? A safe environment where a child feels understood and important are essential and we would never want to compromise a child’s mental well-being.
Many of our students have expressed how comfortable they feel around our tutors (not to be misunderstood by being too comfortable that results in lack of firmness in appropriate situations!) and have shared many beautiful and personal stories with them that they hadn’t even told their parents.
Many things shared are often very innocent in nature but so profound, too. For example, getting the highest in the class or being rewarded for the work that they have done. Sometimes students find it easier to speak with someone external and tutors often report this back to the parents, much to the parents pleasant surprise!
Need help with finding a good private tutor? Contact Us today.