5th January 2012 9:00
By Blue Tutors
It seems like a very appropriate time to write about the importance for tutors to realise the responsibility that they have to their students. Why now? Well, lots of students are currently revising for their modules or mocks and are desperate to have as many lessons as possible, particularly while they’re not at school. However, you can imagine that the new year period is also a popular time for tutors to be away too, either for a break, or simply with their families.
When tutors tell us that they’re going to be away over Christmas and the new year it’s a delicate situation. Tutors are supposed to tell us if they will be unavailable when accepting the offer to teach a student, but it seems as though many of them consider it implicit that there will be fewer lessons over Christmas.
Thankfully many of our students are understanding about this problem, and are often either happy to take a short break over Christmas, or request another tutor to fill in while the regular tutor is away. However, occasionally a student is genuinely frustrated at the situation, and, to be honest, it’s difficult to blame them. Students approach private tuition with a clear plan; generally this plan is to have regular lessons until closer to the exams, at which time the student often decides to increase the frequency and/or length of lessons. When a tutor explains only 2-3 weeks before leaving that he/she will be gone for a few weeks, it can be incredibly frustrating, particularly for a conscientious student who has taken time and effort to ensure that the tutor has been sourced well in advance, and briefed on the time during which the tutor must be available.
For Blue Tutors we essentially become nobody’s friend. The student’s anger is sometimes directed at us, which is understandable, and the tutor can be annoyed that we’re not fully supporting their holiday. Of course, the agreement we have with tutors states that this shouldn’t happen, and we are within our rights to charge the tutor for the extra work we have to do, and for the lessons the student misses. The trouble is that none of this solves the actual problem – that we don’t want our students to be without their tutor when it’s most needed.