Does my child or teen need a tutor and how can I get the most out of tutoring sessions?

Tutoring doesn’t mean ‘pushy parenting’

Banish from your mind all thoughts that tutoring equals ‘pushy parenting’ – with class sizes averaging 30 in primary and secondary schools, in an hour-long lesson a teacher would have, at-most, 2 mins to spend with each child. It’s just not enough! So giving your child or teen learning support at home isn’t pushy, it’s giving them a chance to have someone explain 1-2-1 any topics they weren’t able to grasp in class and helping them to thrive at school.

And it shouldn’t be a dirty secret!

Katharine Birbalsingh, head teacher and the government’s social mobility tsar, recently said, ‘Parents. Never has there been a better time to teach your kids at home. Other parents do. They’re just not telling you.’

We know that competitive parenting is a thing but we’d like to campaign for honest parenting and we shouldn’t have to be furtive about helping our kids to feel happier and more confident.

Find a subject ace

Decide which subject or subjects your child needs help with and find a subject specialist who can help. Ideally they will be passionate about the topic so that their enthusiasm and love of the subject shines through during the sessions, and will have aced exams in the same subject fairly recently themselves so they know the topic, and how to teach it and explain it. Meaning you won’t have to worry about getting your head around quadratic equations or split infinitives!

Let’s your child have some power

Children like to feel listened to and to have some control over things that affect them. We suggest that parents choose a shortlist of two or three tutors that they think would be a good match for their child, then invite their child or teen to watch the profile videos and see who they’d prefer to work with. Letting them ‘help choose’ means they will feel more invested in the sessions and be more open to learning.

Be specific

Talk to the tutor ahead of each session and let them know which specific topics you’d like them to cover and if you’d like them to plan the lesson content or if you’d like to provide it yourself (it might be homework, a specific text or text book that they are using at school). Planning ahead will make for a much more effective session.

Set the scene

Our sessions are done 1-2-1, online at a time that’s convenient for you and your child. Make sure that the desk is clear of paperwork/toys/crisp packets and any other possible distractions and that there’s a notebook and pen ready and any other materials needed for the session. You’ll be amazed how long it can take a teen to find a pen!

Keep learning fun and inspirational

Our educational psychologist recommends a lesson structure that includes games at the beginning and end of a session, and she’s also a big fan of ‘transfer of learning’ – taking what’s been learnt at school or with a tutor and applying it in either the real world or a different environment. That’s when you know it’s been understood! Whether that’s using fractions to divide up a pizza among friends or using comprehension skills when reading a favourite novel that’s not on the curriculum.

One other tip – if you hire a tutor who is studying to be what your child or teen wants to be (marine biologist/programmer/scientist/writer) then you’ll be massively upping the inspiration anti!

Affordable tutoring platform Swotties offers revision sessions for GCSE & A level, curriculum catchup, homework help & core topics like maths, English, physics and geography patiently explained. First session £9.99. Visit Swotties.com for more information.

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