2nd July 2010 9:00
By Harriet Boulding
The most challenging new students a tutor can be faced with are those who are initially unwilling to engage with the process. Whilst the majority of students are eager and willing to learn, what is a tutor to do when faced with a ‘problem’ student? During my time as a private tutor I have worked with several students whose parents have engaged a tutor less for the educational value and more to act as a disciplinarian where they have failed. By all accounts, this is not an uncommon story amongst private tutors in London.
To be clear, discipline is not my strong point. As a tutor, I like to view students, even young ones, as equals who need to be given the opportunity to engage with their subject. A teacher on a placement in a so-called ‘failing’ school once said to me that she felt more like a prison guard than an educator, her priority being controlling the students’ behaviour. Labelling schools as ‘failing’ is a quick way to ensure that they do fail, as the moniker ensures that funds are withheld, staff are pressurised to breaking point and the label quickly becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
If labelling schools as ‘failing’ only hinders matters, then surely it won’t work when parents take this approach to their children. I was once tutoring sociology in London to a student whose parents constantly berated her poor academic performance and even threatened to make her leave home if her grades didn’t improve. It quickly became apparent that she was determined to live up to their poor expectations, because if they don’t expect her to do well, then neither does she. My thinking is that if you respect a student, they will respect you. This is a tad simplistic, but on the whole, it seems to work. In this case, I made it clear from the get-go that whilst her parents didn’t expect her to do good work, I did.
Naturally there has to be a trade-off in these situations, and often what is needed is for the tutor to listen to the student’s point of view and help them work through their goals and aspirations. If a student doesn’t see the point of studying, I say ‘fair enough – A’ levels are seriously boring and frankly I’d rather go out with my friends or watch tv too.’ I then ask them what they want to do with their lives. It is often the case that their interests, career ideas and passions (whilst sometimes different from the wishes of their parents) require a good formal education. And all of a sudden A’ level tuition doesn’t look so pointless.