There is ever-mounting evidence to confirm that a private tutor can help students to achieve better results and grow in confidence. Tutoring is on the rise both in private settings and schools across the UK – why? – Because it really works! If you are new to the idea of private tutoring here are just a few ways a tutor could help –
Identifying areas that need addressing
Often students may just struggle with one or two issues in a subject area but this can hinder academic achievements. One of the roles of a private tutor is to assess at the outset what the student’s strengths and weaknesses are and to help gain clarity on what needs to be done to achieve the desired grade or outcome. This assessment is informal and can sometimes just be a case of guided questioning. For example, a student could be invited to mark topics as red if they find them hard, amber if they are relatively confident, and green if they are fully confident and achieving maximally in those topics or areas. This process alone can be really helpful in terms of pinpointing exactly where the helps needs to be focused and a plan can then be drawn up in order to get cracking with the next steps.
Boosting confidence
If a child is not achieving a desired or expected result at school, their confidence will almost always be adversely affected which can in turn contribute towards lowered engagement in the subject area. By working with private tutor, the student is free from any classroom comparisons and can have space to be really honest and open about what they don’t understand. They can take as much time as is truly needed to go over the issues until this is something they feel they can grasp. By taking small, measured steps towards improvement in the context of private tutoring the student’s confidence grows alongside this. This in turn can then result in a more positive ‘can-do’ attitude back in the classroom setting as they know they have back up help if they don’t understand something straight away and the assurance that they will have a place to talk it over and work through it.
Improving exam technique
We live in an age of test, test, and test. As such, exam technique is of more importance than ever before. Some may not realize that this is in fact a skill in itself. For example, things such as working to time and measuring out how much time to allocate to answering each question can have a make or break impact on exam outcomes. Other aspects such as showing working where necessary or using enough key quotes for example can also have a major impact for better or worse. This is a learnable skill that a subject-specific private tutor can help with.
If you or your child would benefit from private tuition in the Bristol area get in touch with us – we would love to help you!