8th July 2010 9:00
By Blue Tutors
A common question upon reading our teaching guidelines relates to whether lessons should always be taught in that way. It’s a very interesting subject, because our teaching guidelines have been produced based on the idea that most students want to be genuinely taught. That may sounds slightly strange, and I can hear you saying “why would anyone requesting private tuition not want to be taught?”
As anyone who has tutored before knows, there comes a time close to a student’s exams, when the normal process of tutoring changes slightly, and it’s arguable that students no longer want their tutor to teach as they normally would. The lessons become far more about covering material in summary, or trying to fill the gaps in a student’s knowledge (if there are any). This can be frustrating for tutors, but it’s important to realise that it may be want the student wants and needs.
We’ve spent a considerable amount of time thinking about what our students need, and for the vast majority of the time that is for our tutors to teach as we prescribe. However, in the last hour long lesson before a student’s exam, there is obviously little point in attempting to begin to teach a complicated topic while taking the time the topic would otherwise deserve. Instead the student probably needs their tutor to try and summarise the information, and communicate it as quickly and succinctly as possible in the hope that a lot of it will go in.
Now, we’re not endorsing lecturing. What we are saying is that for a very small minority of lessons it might be a good idea to deviate from the standard tutoring methods that you would otherwise use. However, it’s important to realise that this should only be done when you’re certain that your student needs it, and that for the rest of time, you should be tutoring according to our guidelines – as far from lecturing as possible.