I’ve been a tutor for 25 years and an English teacher for even longer. I’ve had a lot of success at both. I build good working relationships and mutual respect that lend themselves well to students making progress. And they do make progress. However, I frequently encounter three issues time after time.
#1 Lots of students will say very little in an hour long tutoring session. With the best will in the world, open questions galore and a real effort to elicit their thoughts, many students won’t feel able to enter into a dynamic dialogue with their tutor. It can feel pressured being the only student in the room. Frequently I find myself doing most of the talking, which leads to an over-reliance on the tutor, and that is not helpful for the young person.
#2 An hour a week is not enough for some students. 1:1 tutoring sessions will usually involve the student seeing their tutor for an hour and little to nothing else. For students who are great at note-taking and engaging with their tutor, this can be the perfect intervention. However, many students are not great at either, so after the hour is up and they go to school and have another 25 lessons in between, much of what they did the week before has completely gone, and old ground needs to be covered again and again and again.
#3 There is not enough time for high-quality feedback. In an AQA English session, where the questions are worth between 4 and 40 marks, there may be time for the student to tackle a 4 mark question. However, no parent wants their child to spend 45 minutes or even 25 minutes covering a 40 mark or 20 mark question. The student could attempt part of a question and receive some feedback, but in order to be really effective, the tutor needs to see whole answers, and regular feedback is absolutely essential.
What is the answer?
A 12-week online programme where the modelling, exam skills, exemplars and forensic ‘how to’ bits are done in high-quality videos. (Gold and Silver Programme)
A complete GCSE course of downloadable materials which can be kept forever, (Gold and Silver Programmes,) and a marking service (Gold Programme only)
An on-call tutor who is there to support a student as and when they need it. (Gold Programme only.)
A live Zoom lesson in small groups of no more than 6 students working towards a similar grade. (Gold Programme only.)
The Silver Programme allows students to complete the course remotely, using the online resources and downloading an entire AQA GCSE course of materials, which they can keep forever and use for revision purposes.
In addition, the Gold Programme students also have access to a tutor who will assess any work from the programme that is sent to them and return between Tuesday-Thursday each week during term time.
Both courses are 12 weeks long with a commitment of 2-3 hours per week. AQA exam board students only.
If you think the programme might be of interest to your child, contact me on claire@theenglishlab.co.uk and I will send over the details.