25th March 2010 9:00
By Blue Tutors
It’s a very frustrating situation when a parent tells us that they only want a tutor who is currently teaching in a school. This isn’t because we don’t have any tutors who are also school teachers; we have many, but what it means is that we’re unable to do what we’re really good at; finding the best tutor for a student.
We’ve found, through our revolutionary assessment system, that good one-to-one teaching isn’t necessarily an ability which all school teachers have, and moreover, it’s an ability which is no more prevalent in school teachers than in the non-school teachers who apply to us.
Of course, there are plenty of things that school teachers are generally better at. They tend to have a better knowledge of specific syllabuses, and obviously have access to lots of teaching materials. Teachers also tend to have self-confidence, which gives the appearance of a good teacher.
From our point of view there is little sadder than when we have someone, whom we believe to be a fantastic tutor, right next to a student, but a parent doesn’t want that tutor because they have never taught in a school. Also, some school teachers have been unsuccessful at our assessments, and it’s an uncomfortable feeling to know that a student may choose one of these unsuccessful applicants over someone else, simply based on the assumption that a school teacher must be a better tutor.
As a tuition agency we try to make sure that we give our clients exactly what they want, but we cannot stress enough how much better everything works when clients put their trust in us to do what we think is best. We know that what a parent what is the best possible tutor for their child, it’s just frustrating when we believe that the parent doesn’t understand the best way to achieve this.