Maths and English are in my view the most important subjects to do well in at school.  There are many reasons for this but mainly because you will be barred from entry to University unless you have at least a grade 4 in both subjects, which is a very good incentive to do well in both subjects.

How to factorise and solve quadratic equations

Some students can be successful in English but often fail in Maths or vice versa. I have taught many students who have failed several attempts to pass Maths GCSE before contacting me.   Some students who are taking GCSE only make contact a few months before their exam in the last year of A level. Then their whole future rests on getting the grade 4 in Maths giving themselves only a short time to sort out problems.  An important lesson here is to book a maths tutor in good time!

My advice to parents is if your son or daughter shows any problems in Maths and their school report indicates failures in Maths then seek help from a personal tutor as early as possible.

Students may have problems in learning mathematics.  Rectifying this as soon as the problem arises pays the best dividends. A personal tutor can help students in their work by trying to improve confidence in the subject and then they can make progress in the more difficult areas.

7 ways to get the best results from private tutoring

I have taught many students privately in my time and I know what a difference it makes to have that one-to-one session with a tutor who can listen, recognise problematic areas, develop skills, and help students to become more confident in a subject they have never found easy to understand.

You can book a maths tutor for younger children too

Having taught many pupils from as young as 7,8,9 years old, it is my experience that if you can sort out any misconceptions from an early age via a personal tutor, then the child develops confidence and progress can be transferred to the classroom. A personal tutor can set solid foundations that will support mathematical pathways for future life.

In age 11 to 16 progress in Maths is like being on a conveyer belt where it feels as though you cannot get off to consider and absorb all the information being taught. The pace of lessons is rapid and students often start to struggle in class and especially when it comes to being alone with homework and revision. A personal tutor can teach the work again at the students’ pace and start to make progress with both classwork and revision.

Understanding Simultaneous Equations

A level students often benefit from maths tuition

Sometimes, as students start A level mathematics, they find difficulties with the work as there is a huge step up in the understanding of the subject. If, as a parent you identify there is a problem then you should get in touch with a personal tutor as soon as possible. A tutor will help your child gain more confidence, improve their understanding in the subject thus leading to better progress, and give you peace of mind as parent that they are best prepared for the future.

A Bit About Our Maths Tutors

We have a wide range of experienced, PGCE qualified teachers of mathematics.  Our tutors have taught maths in schools or colleges.

We specialise KS3, GCSE, A level maths including Pure Maths, Mechanics and Stats, but we also have Tutors who teach maths at university level and are standing by to help undergraduates and post-graduates.

Are you looking for a professional maths tutor to help your child reach their full potential?

You can contact a tutor here 

Or contact our friendly and knowledgeable office team to get a bespoke tutor match

For education videos, tips and news follow our Facebook Page

The post Why should you book a maths tutor? appeared first on The Tutor Team.

But within that general aspiration there are a whole number of personal stories and individual targets.  Whilst everyone is unique of course, after several years providing professional tutors for families, we can see that many clients fall into the following 3 groups.

Private Tutors when their child is struggling at School 

Parents who fall into this category are looking for support for their child from a private tutor.  In the main, this group of parents have children in the lower age groups, particularly Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3.  That’s primary and lower secondary.

Whilst there are not necessarily big exams lurking on the horizon, these parents have watched their child lose confidence at school and have seen them start to struggle.  They may be getting frustrated, they may have lost their enthusiasm for school, or they may be comparing themselves unfavourably with their peers.  It may be that their child is struggling with one subject – usually English or Maths – or they may be finding the curriculum in general more challenging.

At this point the parents will look for a private tutor (or tutors) who can instil confidence, explain things simply, build skills and encourage the child to enjoy learning.  The main task here is to support and encourage the student.  The tutor is the person who will answer all the child’s questions without ridicule and with the time to explore and explain thoroughly.  Trained tutors are creative and should be able to break things down into bite-sized pieces for the child, often introducing humour, games and a whole raft of resources and aids to learning.  

The tutorial becomes a safe space for the child to learn.   When I have a first session with a new student, I always say that no question is a silly question, so ask away and I will do my very best to answer.  I also tell them, hand on heart, that if they are worried it’s a daft question then please don’t, because at some time in my long educational journey I promise I will have asked far dafter ones – usually in front of a whole room full of people.  Sadly, this is entirely true.

Private Tutors for High Academic Aspirations

The Tutor Team specialises in high-quality tutors who have an impressive academic background.  Our USP is that our tutors are academic high achievers.   That means that we attract as clients parents who have high academic aspirations for their children.  

These students are intelligent and ambitious young people who are looking for high grades at GCSE, IGCSE, A Level and IB.  They are aiming to go to university – often a very good university – and they need the grades to get in.  They have a clear target and they are determined to achieve it.

The parents in this group will look for private tutors (most commonly they book more than one tutor) to help with the subject/s where that grade looks doubtful.  Often they search for a private tutor after a disappointing test result, or when their child expresses concern about a subject.  

At this age, young people are usually excellent judges of their own performance.  They tend to know not only which subject or subjects are letting them down, but exactly where the challenges are within the syllabus.  They tend to know what they don’t understand and what they cannot do well.  With this group, when I begin tutoring, I ask them for their assessment of their own needs.  Where do they think the problem lies?  I will of course make my own assessment, but it is rare they are wildly off target.  They tend to know what is wrong but not how to fix it.

Of course, that is the job of the private tutor for this group of students.  Having assessed where the problems lie, we set about fixing them in a very specific and targeted manner.  A trained and experienced tutor will know the syllabus and exactly what the exam is going to test.  We won’t know the questions of course, but we will know the skills that need to be demonstrated in the exam, we know what the examiners are looking for from the candidate and we know how to get up from one grade boundary to the next.  Measures of success for this group are all about the grades.

Private Tutors for School Entrance Exams

A third reason parents book a private tutor for their child is for school entrance exams.  This is either for entrance to an independent school or to a grammar school.  Of course this links closely to number two on this short list; high academic aspirations.  The family will have aspirations for their child or children, and they want professional help to achieve those aspirations.

Over the past couple of years we have seen demand for this type of tutoring grow, and have also noticed that parents are booking the tutors much earlier.  Instead of waiting until the 11+, 13+, 16+ is in sight, parents are now booking at least a year in advance to get as much preparation time as possible.  We also have families who have booked two years in advance, building up the skills, knowledge and confidence slowly but surely over time.

At the same time, tutors who specialise in this type of work are growing their businesses and frequently charging higher prices.  Many of them are booking up quickly.  They understand that if parents want a real specialist with a high success rate of school entrance, they are providing a premium service.  

This type of tutoring is target led.  The target is to pass the exams with a sufficiently high score to secure a place at the chosen school.  There is a target date when the student will sit the exams.  It takes some real skill, therefore, for the tutor to work to targets without allowing the student to become overly stressed or anxious.  It is a fine balancing act.  The tutor will make an assessment, then focus on building exactly the skills needed for the exams and practicing past exam questions.  The specialist tutors tend to have a big bank of past questions and specimen questions to use with students.  Confidence remains key of course – the aim is for the student to have all the skills and knowledge to pass the exams, to understand exactly what they will have to do in the exams, to have practiced papers under timed conditions and to be sure to hit the key points on the day.

Are you looking for a professional private tutor to help your child reach their full potential?

You can contact a tutor here 

Or contact our friendly and knowledgeable office team to get a bespoke tutor match

A Bit About Me 

I am Dr Janet Rose, an Oxford University Graduate and a trained teacher.  As well as being a mum, grandmother and education blogger, I am the Founder & Managing Partner of The Tutor Team

You can find me and connect with me on LinkedIn here

Based in beautiful, rural Wiltshire, our offices are in an old converted water mill.  We are a family business, where I work with my daughter Tess, my son Anthony and my daughter-in-law Anita.  I am also ably assisted by Lisa, my wonderful PA.   We understand parents’ concerns about their children’s education, because we are all parents ourselves.  That’s why we set extremely high standards for our tutors and are very proud to have a team of 81 qualified, experienced teachers and university lecturers offering high-quality private tuition.

Anita manages The Tutor Team Facebook page, and our Instagram, where you can get study tips, educational videos and posts every week.

The post 3 reasons why parents book private tutors appeared first on The Tutor Team.

This is the most important thing to check before you let a private tutor work with your child.  Have they passed a police check recently?  This is the DBS that checks for criminal records and if a person has been barred from working with children.

Let’s just think about that for a moment.  Could the person you have hired to teach your child have a criminal record?  Could they be barred from working with children due to gross misconduct?  Worst case scenario, have they been charged with offences against children or vulnerable adults?  Are you happy to have a person like this alone with your child either in a room or online?

There is often an assumption that because tutoring is teaching, the industry operates like a school and has protections in place.  It does not.  Private tutoring in the UK is completely unregulated.  Anyone can set themselves up as a tutor, without qualifications, training, experience or a police check.   Most of us in education find this very scary – but those are currently the rules.  Reputable, professional tutors will absolutely have a DBS and they will be happy to show it to you.   If you are booking an independent private tutor – ask to see it.  If you are using an agency ask them to confirm their tutors have a DBS.

7 Ways to Get the Most out of Online Tutorials

What qualifications do you have to teach my child?

If you see a tutor advertising to teach your child something, be it English, Maths, or any subject, you will be assuming they are qualified to teach it.  But are they?  In a totally unregulated industry there is nothing to stop anyone taking your money to teach your child without having a qualification to their name.  Are you happy to pay good money for that?

Do not be afraid to ask what qualifies them to teach this subject.  Having a degree in the subject or a closely-associated subject is a very good indicator that they can teach it and will have the knowledge required.  However, you may also want someone with a teaching qualification.  You will certainly want someone who has experience teaching the subject and is familiar with the qualification.  If you are not sure – ask them or the agency to confirm it.

We have a client who only wants tutors with a Post Graduate Certificate in Education or an Education Degree.  That is absolutely their prerogative and we can always help.  We have another client who is clear that he only wants tutors who are Examiners in their subject to tutor his children.  This is a big ask, but luckily we have a number of Examiners on our books, so we have been able to help.  The key message here is to decide what level of qualification you are looking for when you approach someone to work with your child.

How many years experience as a private tutor do you have?

Qualifications are great, but does the private tutor have any teaching experience?  If not, if they are a student for example, are you happy with that?  Any form of teaching is a skill, and good teachers get better with experience.  Over time we build up our teaching techniques, we learn what tends to work and what doesn’t usually work with a student.  We become proficient with using different software packages to teach.  We see the same student challenges over and over again – and we learn how to deal with them.  We know which parts of the course are likely to cause the most problems.  We know how to spot and tackle gaps in understanding and we know how to teach essential skills as well as the course content.

Experienced teachers build up a bank of resources to use with our students and in a one-to-one situation we become expert at judging mood, voice and facial expression to gauge if the student is understanding.  And yes – that is entirely possible in online lessons.

An experienced private tutor will be able to change things up quickly for your child.  They will have gone into the tutorial with a plan, but if your child needs something different, or if the plan isn’t really working, an experienced private tutor will be able to adapt quickly.  The confidence it takes to do this comes with experience.

That is why it is more expensive to engage a skilled teacher to work with your child than it is to work with an unqualified student.

Are you a member of a professional body with a code of conduct?

 Whist the industry is unregulated, we do have our own professional body The Tutors’ Association which is always working to raise standards in the industry.  Is the tutor you are considering a member?  Or is the agency you are considering a corporate member? Members of the association agree to a professional code of conduct – The Tutors’ Association Code of Professional Conduct

How to Revise: 5 study tips that really work

What is your teaching style as a private tutor?

 If you are paying for private lessons, then it makes sense to find a tutor who will be a good fit with your child.  Every tutor is slightly different.  For example, some have a more relaxed teaching style, whilst others are more formal, some like to use interactive whiteboards, others PowerPoint, some use games, others use the Oxbridge tutorial/supervisions style.  You can take your choice.  But think about what your child responds to best and try to match their needs to the right tutor.

This bespoke choice is one of the very best things about having a private tutor.  If you go to a reputable agency, they will be able to offer an alternative if your first choice doesn’t turn out to be a perfect fit.  At The Tutor Team we find this happens only rarely, but sometimes a students’ needs might change, and we offer another option.

Will you be supplying my child with resources?

Professional tutors build up a bank of resources over time that they can use to teach and support your child.  This includes materials like worksheets, PowerPoints, quizzes, games, practice exam papers, plans, mind maps, revision aids, word banks, timelines, essay guides, mathematical shapes etc. These can be invaluable to your child and add value to the service you are receiving.

Find your tutor

Will you give me a lesson report afterwards?

If not, how will I be kept informed of my child’s progress and problem areas?  Some agencies use a management software like TutorCruncher which asks the tutor for a lesson report at the end of the lesson.  At The Tutor Team we have this set up so the tutor must make the report before you can be charged for the lesson.

But what if you are using a smaller agency with a different system or you have found an individual tutor?  Will they give you 10 minutes at the end of a lesson to fill you in?  Remember they will probably be straight into another lesson so won’t have time to hang around too long.  Can you book a parents’ session to received detailed feedback?  If so be prepared to pay for it as tutors usually charge by the hour.

What is your cancellation policy?

This is important, because this is a really easy way to damage your working relationship or potentially lose your tutor.  It is best to get this cleared up right at the beginning.  What if you cancel the tutor?  Do you still pay?  Is there a deadline before which you can cancel for free, but if you cancel late you will still be charged?  The most common timeframe is probably 24 hours – if you cancel outside 24 hours before the lesson you will not be charged, but within 24 hours you will still be charged.

Professional tutors will use their discretion.  For example, for a good client whose child comes home from school ill, I suspect most tutors will waive the fee.   But if you keep cancelling them for spurious reasons, or worse just don’t show up, you are very likely to be charged.  Remember that a good, professional tutor will be in demand and may even have a waiting list with a student ready to go straight into your slot.  Remember also that this is their income to pay their mortgage, bills etc.   This is especially true of full-time tutors who will be relying on this money.  Therefore, it is very sensible to get this sorted out before it becomes an issue.

Learning Style: which style is your child?

How do I pay you? 

Another thing to get sorted out right at the beginning is how you are going to pay.  What are they expecting?  If you have an independent face-to-face tutor, they may well be expecting you to have the cash to hand them at the end of the lesson.  It will be a bit embarrassing if they are standing there waiting to be paid and you haven’t been to the cash point.

They may want a BACS transfer.  Is there a deadline?  Do you pay the same day or will they give you a few days to pay?  What happens if you don’t pay on time?  Will they levy an administration charge if they have to keep reminding you?

If you are using an agency they should have this well and truly organized.  In the case of The Tutor Team and others using TutorCruncher, you may get an electronic invoice with a button to pay.  It will be very fast as you will have already registered your card on the encrypted system.  Another option with agencies, and one we now use, is automated payment where your card is simply debited once the tutor has sent you your lesson report, and you get an electronic receipt.

Are you looking for a professional private tutor to help your child reach their full potential?

You can contact a tutor here 

Or contact our friendly and knowledgeable office team to get a bespoke tutor match

A Bit About Me 

I am Dr Janet Rose, an Oxford University Graduate and a trained teacher.  As well as being a mum, grandmother and education blogger, I am the Founder & Managing Partner of The Tutor Team

You can find me and connect with me on LinkedIn here

Based in beautiful, rural Wiltshire, our offices are in an old converted water mill.  We are a family business, where I work with my daughter Tess, my son Anthony and my daughter-in-law Anita.  I am also ably assisted by Lisa, my wonderful PA.   We understand parents’ concerns about their children’s education, because we are all parents ourselves.  That’s why we set extremely high standards for our tutors and are very proud to have a team of 81 qualified, experienced teachers and university lecturers offering high-quality private tuition.

Anita manages The Tutor Team Facebook page, and our Instagram, where you can get study tips, educational videos and posts every week.

The post 9  things to ask a private tutor – before you book them appeared first on The Tutor Team.

When is the Right Time to get a Tutor?

Hire the best tutor

Make sure your child is working with a qualified, experienced and fully-vetted tutor. Whilst this is likely to be more expensive than using an unqualified and inexperienced tutor, think about value for money and consider the outcomes for your child.   What does your child need and what are you hoping to gain from private tutoring?  What are your targets?  Is it realistic to expect significant improvement if your tutor has no qualifications in the subject and no teaching experience?  Also, importantly, you will be leaving your child with the tutor for significant periods of time (whether face to face or online) – are you satisfied that they have been checked and vetted before you trust your child with them?

Find a Top Tutor

Information

Be prepared to give the tutor as much information as possible before tutoring starts.  Whilst experienced tutors are skilled at assessing a student’s level and adapting quickly to suit them, the process will be much smoother if they have as much information as possible in advance.  If you can, try to give the tutor the exam board, samples of recent work, recent reports and any important information about your child.  Feedback from teachers on which curriculum areas your child is finding particularly hard, or skills they are struggling with, will give the tutor a great place to start.

Get the private tutoring relationship right

The tutoring relationship is one of trust and respect, so it is important to get the right person for your child. Tutor and student will be working closely together and one-to-one tutoring is totally unlike a class environment.  There is no one else to ask, no one else to discuss with, and nowhere for your child to (metaphorically) hide.  If they don’t know the answer or are struggling, there is no other student to put up their hand and jump in, and no other student to deflect the teacher’s attention.  Of course, this is a major reason why private tutoring is so very effective, but the right balance of trust and respect between tutor and student is crucial.

Try to get the relationship right.  This is one area where you might consider using a tutoring agency, as they will have a choice of tutors for your child. If you feel you do not have the right fit first time, they will be able to offer alternatives without too much work from you.  You won’t need to start again from scratch.

If you or your child are unsure, ask for a trial lesson before you commit.  Most tutors will be happy to do this, although bear in mind you may still be charged for the lesson.  Remember also to check with your child.  How do they feel the tutorials are going?  Do they think they can work with the tutor?  Most children will be open and honest if you ask them.

7 Ways to Get The Most out of Online Tutorials

Feedback

Ask for regular feedback and reports from the tutor. The Tutor Team, for example, sends a parent’s report at the end of every lesson, so you can see what has been worked on. If you use a tutor who does not do this, ask for a quick update every few lessons or schedule a paid session between you and the tutor, for the tutor to give you a full report and suggestions.  Try not to hold the tutor up too much at the end of the lesson though, as they probably have another student to get to.

Check progress via the school too.  Are your child’s assignment marks slowly rising?  Are they getting more positive teacher feedback?  Is their predicted grade going up?  Remember also to monitor your child’s attitude to the subject.  Do they seem more confident?  Are they beginning to enjoy the subject more?  All of these are important indicators that private tutoring is paying off.

Give enough time for private tutoring to work

Give the tutoring process a reasonable amount of time. Expecting everything to turn around for your child in just 2 or 3 sessions is unrealistic, especially if they have been struggling for a while.  If they are sitting an entrance exam, for example, your best bet is to start them with a tutor about 6 months beforehand.  Cramming can work in certain situations, but the best outcome for your child is that they build knowledge and skills steadily over time, rather than trying to cram everything in at the last moment under pressure.

In terms of how many hours and sessions your child will need to achieve the desired outcome, it is best to be guided by the tutor and the child.  One hour a week is often sufficient when there is no time pressure and the tutor is building confidence, skills and giving support, but that will not work for every child.  The huge benefit of private tutoring is that it is tailored individually to your child.   Sometimes a child needs more support, or needs more processing time.  Often a child will want more sessions as they approach an exam.  Sometimes a student needs only a bit of extra help and a fortnightly lesson might suffice.  Be guided by your child and the tutor.

Mind maps: how they can help your child achieve

Homework

Do you want the tutor to set homework every week? In our experience, this is becoming more and more popular with parents.  It is a good idea as it gives your child a chance to practice skills and revise information taught in the tutorial, but there are a couple of points to take into consideration.

Firstly, your child may be resistant or reluctant to doing the homework.  There is a danger they will see it as an extra burden on top of school work and the tutorial. If you spot this is happening, have a conversation with your child and advise the tutor of the outcome.  Whilst homework aids the learning process, no one wants your child to grow resentful or feel under too much pressure – that will only damage the tutoring relationship.

Secondly, if you are asking the tutor to do a significant amount of marking outside the lesson, for example with a weekly A-level essay, be prepared for them to charge extra.  Marking and feedback takes time and work, so consider that you are actually asking them to do overtime.  Most tutors will accommodate you, but it is sensible to have a proper commercial conversation with them and establish the ground rules and price.  If you are with an agency, arrange this through them and they will speak to the tutor for you.  It is usually much easier to have commercial conversations with an agency as they are used to this aspect of private tutoring – it can sometimes be awkward with the tutor.

Communication is key for private tutoring

Last but not least – keep lines of communication open. This is vital for a good tutoring experience.  As mentioned above, it is reasonable to ask for feedback from the tutor, but they will also appreciate feedback from you.  If your child’s marks are going up at school, or if the teacher has noticed your child is improving, tell your tutor.  Not only will it give them job satisfaction and motivate them, it will allow them to adjust lessons accordingly.  At The Tutor Team we will also contact you to ask for feedback on the tutorials, to check everything is progressing properly and that you are happy.

If, for some reason, you are unhappy with the service you are getting, talk to the tutor.  Of course, if you are using an agency, you can call them instead and ask them to liaise for you.  Either way, if no one knows there is a potential problem, it will be impossible to fix.

Need an experienced tutor to help your child reach their full potential?

You can contact a tutor direct here 

Or contact our friendly and knowledgeable office team to get a bespoke tutor match

The post 7 ways to get the best results from private tutoring appeared first on The Tutor Team.

It looks like everyone will be back to school in September, albeit in some places part time, and local lockdowns permitting.  We all are breathing a collective sigh of relief, but now we must face the challenge of making up for lost time and helping children to catch up quickly with their school work.

This will be most challenging for those going back to school and into Years 11 and 13 because they have missed a significant amount of GCSE and A-Level work.  However, younger children will have fallen behind too.

5 ways to help your child raise their grade

So how can you help?

Remaining calm and positive will be extremely important.  Try to be reassuring, because there is likely to be some anxiety, especially for those year 11s and 13s who may well feel they are facing a mountain to climb.   

There may also be some resistance from children who didn’t much like school in the first place and who have now got used to being at home full time.

Remind them that everyone (pretty much) is in the same boat.  It’s not that they have been the only one at home – so has the rest of their class.  Remind them they are not alone in this!

There may be some help coming their way.  Currently in various forums and news reports there are rumours that the exams may put back in 2021, to allow students to catch up and complete the courses.  There is also the National Tutoring Programme, which might be operating in their school, giving them access to catch-up tuition.

If your finances allow, you may consider hiring a professional tutor for your child.  At The Tutor Team we have been working consistently with our students since the spring, making sure they are not dropping behind and teaching them the next section of the course.

We have made cheaper alternatives available for younger children and we have learned that just 30 minutes of Maths, English or Science a week is enough to keep children’s skills up to speed when it is delivered one-to-one online.

What if you want to help your child but are unable to fund a professional tutor in these uncertain economic times?  There is a great deal you can achieve by helping them yourself.

9  things to ask a private tutor – before you book them

First, know the syllabus.

For GCSE/IGCSE and A -Level students, if you can get to understand the exam specification for each subject, this will allow you to come up with an action plan.  The best place to find the specification is on the website for the relevant exam board.

AQA Exam Board

OCR Exam Board

Edexcel Pearson Exam Board

Cambridge CAIE Exam Board

Eduqas Exam Board

Once you have the specification you will be able to work out approximately where your child is at in the course, what is likely to be coming up next, and what skills they need to use.  If you also access the past papers and mark schemes for the website, that will give you an even clearer understanding of what needs to be achieved.

For younger children there is a great deal of information  on the skills and abilities they will need to acquire on the internet.  BBC Bitesize is a particularly good resource.  If nothing else, focus on keeping maths and English skills up to date.  If you can also add in science, so much the better.

7 ways to help your child succeed at English

Second, encourage them back to school by working steadily. 

A lot can be achieved with regular, small blocks of work.  It’s going to be tempting to stop doing anything for August. Indeed, this is what normally happens in the U.K.

However, this is not a normal year!  A little bit of work now is going to pay dividends when they go back to school.  This is especially important if they have not been in a pattern of regular study during the lockdown.  If you can help them to get back into a pattern of regular study – just an hour or two a day will make a big difference and when they go back to school it will make the transition easier for them.

Older students can reacquaint themselves with their textbooks, go over the notes they took when they were in school, and they can even attempt questions from past papers.

For younger children, remember it is those maths and English skills that are most important.  To help with English, encourage them to read, ask them to write stories and help them with spelling.   In the case of maths there are a lot of free worksheets available.  We sometimes post links to these on our Facebook page, alongside other maths resources.

With a bit of planning, a calm and structured approach, the transition back to school should be easier and less stressful for you all.

Are you looking for a professional private tutor to help your child back to school?

You can contact a tutor here 

Or contact our friendly and knowledgeable office team to get a bespoke tutor match

The post Back to school: How to Help your Child Catch Up Quick appeared first on The Tutor Team.

I don’t know about you, but after 6 weeks of “home school” I am just about to ready give up!  Not only am I ready, I WANT to!

I am the mother of a 7 year old (but you’ve only got 1, I hear you shout!), yes, only 1 child but I’m also supposed to be working during this time.  Also, said 7 year old DOES NOT want to work.  Zero interest in learning – zilch.  No surprises there really, seeing as both her father and I are totally un-academic and her father is a “creative”!

Whilst attempting to home school I, like everybody else, have a new-found respect for teachers.  I did have a vague idea of what I was getting myself into as I spent a year in Asia teaching English as a foreign language, but I was 10 years younger then, and most of my time was spent teaching business people in corporate buildings, not hoards of 7 year olds and certainly not my own 7 year old.

Anyway – I digress.

I wanted to tell you about my half hour of pain relief, provided by my new friend Janet at The Tutor Team.  The Tutor Team have only just started providing extra learning opportunities for primary-aged children (they mostly focus on kids at secondary school taking exams) but in these unparalleled times (see, I didn’t say “unprecedented!) demand is rising due to parents like me realising that they

a) can’t get their kids to concentrate and

b) genuine concerns that when the child is already behind (like mine) 8 weeks of watching a tablet day-in-day-out aren’t exactly going to help with their academic development.

30 Minute Maths

So we had half an hour with Chris from The Tutor Team via Facetime.  I swear that man is some sort of demi-God.  He had the patience of saint and managed to actually engage Phoebe for a full 20 or so minutes (the rest of the time she was hiding behind me).  I learned something (didn’t know what a Trapezium was!) and the time was just enough for her.  Plus I cannot tell you the relief I felt knowing that she was in the hands of a professional who didn’t put his head in his hands every time she said she didn’t know something when 5 minutes ago, she clearly had done.

Chris uses a system called Corbett Maths.  Maths teacher John Corbett created this system as a way of bringing maths to life by giving examples of maths working in the real world.  It certainly worked for Phoebe and I think anybody who lacks confidence with maths would benefit from this system.  I know I would have done.

I hope that in the wake of Covid 19 The Tutor Team will continue to provide this for little children beyond home school, as I suspect there is going to be quite a high level of demand once the children go back to school.  And I can’t think of a better man than demi-God Chris to take on this challenge!

Zoë Schoon

About Zoë

Zoë is joint owner of Pink Spaghetti Yeovil, Mendip & Warminster, with her business partner Jemma. They provide a Virtual PA Service to local businesses overwhelmed with administration tasks, social media demands, or the need for some professional organisation skills. Zoë forged a career in London doing press and marketing in the theatre world, as well as several high level PA roles plus a stint teaching English in Asia.

Pink Spaghetti PA Services

Would 30 Minute Maths work for your child? Find Out More

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Technology isn’t just used in the workplace though – it is changing many peoples’ lives on a personal level. For example, most people have smartphones such as iPhones and androids and can therefore communicate with whomever they like, as well as research anything they wish while on the go. It is estimated that there are over 5 billion mobile devices around the world, the majority of which have access to the internet.

7 ways to get the most out of online tutorials

Preparing for the future workplace

According to the World Economic Forum, 35% of the skills necessary to thrive in a job today will be different just five years from now though, so it’s vital for kids to be prepared. RS Components surveyed parents across the UK to find out how many parents in each major city are preparing their kids for the future workplace.

Norwich takes the lead with 50% of parents already preparing their children for the future of the workplace. Although those parents can’t predict the types of jobs that will exist in the future, it’s important that the children of today learn a variety of skills to keep up the pace.

Coming in second place is Glasgow where over a third (41%) of parents are preparing their children for their future jobs. One of the parents surveyed said “I allow supervised access to tablets, consoles, TVs and laptops to enhance their understanding, so the use of tech becomes second nature and part of everyday life.” When looking at the sort of jobs children could be working in the future, tech is very integrated.

What new jobs could there be in the future?

AI-assisted healthcare technicians could be a popular profession in the near future, where patients won’t go to the doctor and an AI-assisted healthcare technicians will show us at their door and use AI-enhanced software to perform surgery with the help of technology – therefore, no medical degree will be needed.

If healthcare isn’t a profession that some children of today want to go into, then there are other career paths that will be made available. Such as Cyber City Analysts – in the cities of the future, data collected from millions of sensors will keep services like power and waste collection churning along. The city will collect a variety of data, such as, bio-data, citizen data and asset data – the city analyst would need to fix things if anything were to go wrong.

New jobs like AI-assisted Healthcare Technicians, Cyber City Analysts, Virtual Store Sherpa and Genetic Diversity Officer are just some of the high-tech jobs that could be future roles for our children.

With the increase in technology and access to resources, research now reveals that children are becoming more tech-aware. Parents, too, have noticed this opportunity to get their kids well-taught with new technology to ensure they are ready for the workplace.

5 reasons why online tutoring works well for students

Using Technology to Teach

At The Tutor Team, we have a high-tech private tutoring solution that not only introduces to children to high-quality, experienced tutors, but delivers lessons in a way that builds IT and tech skills.  Tutors teach lessons in online Tutor Rooms, where students meet their tutor one-to-one in a virtual classroom.  Students and Tutors work together on interactive whiteboards, can produce graphs and charts, upload and download documents, use the internet, practice exam papers, annotate and edit documents.  Director, Anthony Rose, said ‘we believe this high-tech solution is the future of learning for modern children.  Children learn quickly through tech, which gives brilliant academic results, but they also need to practice their tech skills to prepare them for the future workplace.’

From making children more tech aware to teaching them general life skills such as resilience, creativity and values, the survey reveals just how many parents across the UK are preparing their children for the future workplace.

For more information, view the story on RS Components here.

Ready to give online learning a try?  You can find an online tutor easily here 

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*This research was carried out by RS Components.  See the full study  

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All of us use a mix of learning styles to study and to gain knowledge from the world around us, but one approach is likely to dominate with each of us.  Whilst some psychologists now argue that the learning style approach in education has no merit, it is still a popular teaching aid.  Working one to one with students often makes it clear that different students have different learning preferences.  One method of teaching may not be working well with a student, but change it up and try a different approach and suddenly they are racing ahead.

I have seen this only this week.  Working with an older International Baccalaureate student, discussing themes in literature using auditory and visual media, I could see he was bored.  It was clear to me that the information he needed for his exam just wasn’t sticking in his memory.  Next lesson I changed it up and gave him an exercise on a virtual whiteboard, where he had to create a Venn diagram using the literary themes and the books he was studying.  The idea was to find which themes applied to both books, and which themes were only relevant to one or other of the books, so he could write comparative essays.  Suddenly, the lesson took off. He was focused, engaged, and whizzing around the whiteboard so fast I almost couldn’t keep up.  Half way through the lesson we had a beautiful, multi-coloured Venn diagram with a wide range of themes that could be used in essays.  More to the point, it was clear he had also learned what he had to do in the essays.  If we were to attribute a learning style to him, we would say he is a Kinaesthetic learner – he learns by doing!

How do we use learning styles in tutoring?

It is the beauty of the one-to-one tutoring method that we are able to change our teaching method to fit the student and design something bespoke for them.  This is one of the reasons that one-to-one private tutoring returns such good results for students.  Yet this approach can easily be carried over into your child’s homework, and any study they do at home.  If you can discover which learning style (or mix of learning styles) your child prefers, you can help them to stay engaged and to absorb the information they need.

5 study habits of successful students: a parents’ guide

A popular model for determining leaning styles is VARK

These four key types of learners in the VARK system are:

• Visual learners  (prefer to learn by watching videos, demonstrations etc)
• Auditory learners (prefer to listen to a lecture, an explanation etc)
• Read/write learners (prefer the written word and will read to understand)
• Kinaesthetic learners (learn by practical application)

You can ask your child to complete a questionnaire to determine if they have a clear preference for a way of learning.  It may show up something that surprises you!

VARK quiz

Once you know how they prefer to learn you can help them to adapt their approach to learning.

Understand your child’s GCSE, IGCSE or A level

Visual Learning

If they lean towards visual learning, encourage them to watch relevant films and videos, find them diagrams, pictures, colour, images, presentations.  They need visual stimuli to learn.

In a tutorial, visual learners work well both online and in person, as long as they are given plenty of bright, interesting visual stimuli. They like watching the tutor demonstrate and they like resources such as powerpoint.  This can be supplemented with short video illustrating a point, colourful worksheets, and diagrams.

Visual lesson

Auditory Learning

An auditory learner learns best by listening.  Give them podcasts, encourage them to read aloud to themselves, especially when they are finding it difficult to understand something.   Discuss and debate with them.  They are often good at understanding poetry and the impact of sound in prose, so definitely encourage them to read their English texts aloud.

In a tutorial auditory learners will respond well to a tutor using a lecture style, especially if it is followed by a question and answer session or a discussion.  Mini lectures supported by pictures and where they can take notes will be perfect for them.  Bear in mind that an auditory learner needs a quiet atmosphere in order to hear and focus properly, so an online one-to-one tutorial where they use headphones is perfect. For this reason, online tutorials often work best for these learners.

Auditory Lesson

Read/Write Learning
Read/Write Learners like the written word.  They will absorb significant information from reading about a subject in lecture notes, text books etc.  They also like to write essays, so do well in English and humanities subjects.  They are happy to read instructions and manuals, and they like presentations – as long as they have words in them.

They work well in either an online or in-person tutorial, as long as the tutor sets and marks essays, and gives them plenty of reading between turotials.  They may also like to discuss their reading with the tutor at the beginning of tutorials.

Read/Write Student

Kinaesthetic Learning

If they are like my student mentioned above, a Kinaesthetic learner, encourage them to do activities, to annotate documents, to draw diagrams and mind maps, to work out calculations by hand, to make models. They will learn best by doing something.  They prefer concrete application to abstract concepts.

In a tutorial, kinaesthetic learners suit interactive online lessons, where they can work on a virtual whiteboard, annotate documents, write for themselves and create resources with the tutor in the lesson.

Kinaesthetic Lesson

Do you need a tutor who understands your child’s learning style?

Contact a tutor directly here

Or contact our friendly, knowledgeable office team for a bespoke tutor match

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If at all possible see if you can get detailed feedback on the test results from the class teacher.  There should already be comments and marking on the assignment paper, so that may be sufficient to give you a good idea of what went wrong and what needs work.  Sit down with your child and go over it carefully and calmly.  Bear in mind they might be feeling anxious about it and will undoubtedly be feeling disappointed, so a softly-softly approach is likely to work best.  Try to identify exactly what the teacher is saying and how the work can be improved. If you are still unsure (which may well be the case as educational language is often obtuse) your child could ask the teacher for more detailed feedback or for clarification of their remarks.

Help your teenager with English essays.

Make a study strategy

Once you have identified which areas need improvement, make a study strategy with your child.  How are they going to improve?  Do they need to read more?  Do they need additional practice?  Are their practice exam papers they can work on?  Make time in their schedule for them to focus on the subject without pressure so they can start to build confidence through practice.

If they don’t understand at all, will a creative approach work?  You could take them to the theatre to watch the play they are studying in English, or to a museum or exhibit to get a better feel of a period they are studying in history.  If they are studying music you could take them to a musical performance of the pieces they are learning, or for art history you could take them to a gallery so they can see paintings in situ.  It is really important to make your child feel supported and be clear that you are trying to help, not interfere.  Thinking creatively about how to help them can go a long way to making them feel supported.

A parent’s guide to successful study habits

Monitor Progress on test results and other factors

Once your study strategy is underway, keep an eye on progress (or lack of progress). Is your strategy working?  Is your child feeling happier about the problem areas?  Are they gaining confidence?  Are their marks going up?  The only way to know if it is working, as any private tutor will tell you, is to keep monitoring and evaluating.

You are looking for small, steady gains.  The best study strategies will build knowledge, skills and confidence steadily. Cramming rarely works in terms of embedding skills and modern qualifications test skills as well as knowledge.   If your strategy isn’t working, you will need to adapt what you are doing.  Those of us who tutor children professionally know that sometimes it takes several attempts to find what works for an individual child – every child is an individual.  What is certain, however, is that patience, creativity and a supportive environment will pay dividends in the end.

Need a tutor to help your child reach their full potential?

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In an age where whole libraries can literally be held in one’s hand from practically anywhere in the world, teaching has fundamentally and irrevocably changed.  The early-modern school system which took shape largely during the Victorian era saw facts become the centre piece of their approach. As the world becomes increasingly connected and more diverse, the Victorian objectives are as obsolete as they are potentially dangerous.  A modern approach to teaching in an interconnected and diverse world means that a disabled tutor can bring new perspectives to education and broaden a student’s social experience.

Today’s world should be far more concerned with teaching people; not facts. Facts can often be found online with minimal effort, but how people react and interact with those facts is something that needs to be actively taught. Twenty-first-century teaching should seek to create valuable contributors to society who can effectively think for themselves. While many traditions from the Victorian schooling system still remain, it is vital that society moves away from creating fact-spouting parrots.

When it comes to choosing a tutor, then, one should consider more than just their academic qualifications and their ability to convey their subject knowledge. Rather, one should look at the various ways a tutor can convey not only their knowledge, but their experience to allow their students the best opportunities to advance in society. In today’s context, that should involve an acute understanding of multitude of different social groups, their concerns, and how those concerns affect interaction with those social groups. There would be distinct advantages, then, to having a tutor that would be well-placed to impart a broader education both academically and socially.  This is where hiring a disabled tutor can be a real benefit.

Contact Aidan

The Silo Effect

Humans have arranged themselves into communities as a means of survival. As societies grew more complex, more communities arose and the boundaries between communities became more permeable. It’s reached a point where no one person is siloed into a single category—one can be Jewish, a woman, bisexual, and disabled and fitting into each of those communities while being a single, conscious being.

As outdated as silo-ing things into single categories is, it’s still human nature. We still seek to put things into boxes that we can easily control. Even though people exist across many ‘boxes,’ we find it difficult not to think of them in a single, easily understandable (or, at least, name-able) group. If one believes in the model of teachers as social educators and sees the benefits of a tutor from a different community, they’re faced with a different problem: which community to choose a tutor from. Ultimately, it comes down to individual priorities. Perhaps unlike other communities, though, Disability offers particular advantages that warrant further consideration.

The Universality of Disability

Given that there should be an emphasis on teachers educating people rather than teaching facts, a tutor’s dynamism and diverse knowledge base is all the more important. Having a tutor from a different community from their students, such as a disabled tutor, would pose obvious advantages. Different communities offer different perspectives which would undoubtedly allow new slants on subjects and topics which would benefit the students. While these differences are valuable, there is particular benefit to having a disabled tutor in terms of outside-classroom education.

Disability poses challenges, yes, but it is also universal. Each community faces its own challenges—think orientation, gender, religion—which shape people’s identity. If one wants to find a tutor who has a different social experience from the student, one might well take a community’s challenges into account. The ‘beauty’ of disability, though, is one doesn’t have to choose it ‘over’ another community. Although disability has been consistently discriminated against across societies, disability itself doesn’t discriminate. Every community has its own sub-group of disabled people. It is relatively easy to find a disabled person within another community.

Relevance of Disability and Disability Education on Modern Teaching

Disability is fundamentally about difference. While everyone is different regardless of disability, disability creates an entirely new set of experiences that fundamentally influence a person’s interaction with their environment in wholly unique ways. Given the extent to which a disability influences all elements of a person’s experience, it should be fairly obvious that their disability would have some influence over a teacher’s academic approach at all levels.

Arguably more important than any academic advantage a disabled tutor may provide, the benefits are far greater outside of the classroom. The twenty-first century is one of the most diverse and accepting periods in human history and it is becoming increasingly important to be aware of the nuances between social groups. One of the cornerstones of current social movements is not only are things becoming more accepting, but society is doing its best to correct previous injustices. While disability is not the only social group that has been continuously discriminated against and finds mentalities improving, it would be naïve to think that disabled people are fully accepted. More needs to be done to create widespread understanding of what disability is and how it affects people.

Book Aidan for History & English Tutoring

Social Consciousness Beyond Disability

It’s true that while disability education is not directly related to teaching, it’s becoming increasingly important in an accepting society. The need to understand nuances and people’s difficulties is vital but, at the same time, doesn’t need to take time away from more ‘traditional’ education concerns like subject-specific teaching. Having a disabled tutor, then, allows for one to maintain a key focus on academics while still exposing students to disabled people and disability. By virtue of interacting with a disabled person, be it in person or more tangentially, would begin to breakdown misconceptions people might have or, if they haven’t had time to form, stop them from crystallising altogether. While this would have obvious benefits for a person’s future interactions with disabled people and in a disability-conscious society, there are advantages further afield.

Fundamentally, by exposing people to the need to acknowledge difference, one creates an environment ideal to cultivate complex understanding and empathy. At the same time as allowing people to learn empathy more consciously, it provides an opportunity for them to learn that ‘empathy’ is not ‘pity.’ Ignoring the benefits at having a more advanced knowledge of disability has advantages, those advantages pale in comparison to the advantages of understanding appropriate social interaction across social groups.

Find out more about how Aidan can help your child learn

Is a Disabled Tutor Right for My Needs?

As with everything, whether one should hire a disabled tutor is down to the individual. It’s important to remember, though, that while there are numerous benefits to a disability—over and above those beyond academics mentioned above—there are some myths that need dispelling before one makes a final decision as to whether a disabled tutor is the right thing for you, specifically:

1. Disability somehow makes teaching more difficult on a practical level

It’s true that there are some changes that may need to be made as to accessibility but disability itself does not mean that teaching is impractical. This is especially true if the tutor works with a reputable agency like The Tutor Team that works with them to find solutions to potential issues.

2. Disabled Tutors are less academically qualified and therefore not as good.

True, there are some disabilities which make learning more difficult, especially with more ‘traditional’ subjects. That does not mean that all disabled people are the same. Many achieve high academic results with their disability, not despite it. Again, it’s your decision as to what qualifications would be sufficient for your purposes but there is no reason that disability should influence a tutor’s qualifications. You may wish to contact tutoring agencies for advice or look into a potential tutor’s qualifications.

3. Disabled people are less communicative.

Some disabled people find communicating difficult for various reasons, yes. That does not mean all are the same. As a tutor, especially with The Tutor Team, they would be good communicators and experienced in conveying their ideas and their subject knowledge.

4. I don’t understand a person’s disability or what that entails and don’t feel comfortable.

Feel free to contact them and ask. More often than not, they’ll be willing to help. If you don’t feel comfortable asking questions, feel free to look it up or contact people who may be more willing to help. There are plenty of disability blogs like The Diary of a Disabled Person who dedicate themselves to changing attitudes towards and about disability.

Should you wish to know more about the benefits of a disabled tutor or would like to investigate what to consider when choosing a tutor, feel free to contact The Tutor Team for advice.

Aidan is a History and English tutor for The Tutor Team.  He is available for face-to-face tutoring in Wiltshire and by remote tutoring online.  

Contact Aidan

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