28th October 2010 9:00
By Blue Tutors
There was recently a news article published on our website where someone gave their opinion about when students should get a tutor, i.e. when it’s effective, and when it isn’t. It was an interesting piece, because the lady writing it suggested that private tuition is a good idea when a student is struggling with their studies, and also in the period leading up to the student’s GCSE or A-level exams.
Obviously, at Blue Tutors, we’re privileged enough to see when students ask for tutors, and for what reasons, and although there are certainly situations where students request a tutor for exactly the reasons mentioned in the article described above, they are definitely not the only reasons. The article suggested that students should have a tutor when it’s ‘needed’, but this generally isn’t the way that Blue Tutors perceive education.
In reality there are students who have very sporadic lessons with their tutor, where it appears as though they’re having lessons whenever they think they need them. This could mean two lessons in a week, and then not another for a month. However, many students have consistent lessons, usually once or twice a week, and the lessons continue outside of term-time, and are no more or less frequent during the run up to GCSE or A-level exams.
An explanation for this is simply that students want to learn, and that’s what our tutors provide. There seems to be a mysticism about private tuition that tutors are teaching students to pass exams, and not teaching the subject, whereas actually many students (and their parents) out there want to become more intelligent, not just more capable in an exam situation.
It’s true to say that many tutors are employed specifically to improve a student’s exam grade, and that it’s very rare for a student to receive home tuition without there being the end goal of a good GCSE or A-level grade at the end of it. However, it’s sad that so many people tar tutors with the mercenary brush of cashing in on a student’s exam insecurities. In many cases students want to become more able, and tutors love tutoring them, and helping them to do that.