8th June 2012 12:29
By Blue Tutors
“Brilliant No Doubt but Can’t Teach”
At Blue Tutors we are always chasing our clients for feedback. Most of it is excellent, recent examples include such praise as ‘we want to carry on even though the exam is over as she is so brilliant with our son and really inspires him to work hard’ and ‘a fantastic tutor who I have already recommended enthusiastically to many friends’.
Unfortunately we do get a portion of poorer feedback too which sometimes contains the message used as the title here. The parents, and often students, recognise the brilliance of their tutor and his or her amazing knowledge of the subject. However, this knowledge sometimes gets in the way of providing clear tuition for students who are struggling to grasp the subject at GCSE or A level.
It is difficult when you have studied at higher level often to remember what was required at these introductory syllabuses. If this is your situation then the exam boards do publish excellent revision or study guides which take you through the syllabus knowledge required for success in their exams. You may feel you shouldn’t need to resort to study guides for a subject in which you consider yourself an expert but they really are very good in providing a benchmark for tuition.
It’s a shame when a tutoring relationship breaks down for this reason as it is so often rescuable with a little stepping back by the tutor. Step back into your student’s position and remember how overwhelming supervisors / tutors were at the beginning of your undergraduate degree at least, if you can’t remember further back.