14th November 2012 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Being a private tutor is, for the most part, very rewarding. However, as tutors we rarely get to hand pick our clients. Parents interview us, not the other way round. Occasionally, we come across parents who, however well meaning, are having a detrimental effect on their child’s education. This can manifest itself in a number of ways, from encouraging the child to do work which is way beyond their current capabilities, to overloading children with extra work.
The question for tutors is how can they get the best results for their students, whilst maintaining a good relationship with anxious parents? One way to ensure that parents are on board with their child’s current educational situation is by providing regular reports, verbal or written. This allows a pattern to emerge over a period of weeks, where parents can see their child’s development and any issues which might emerge.
If necessary, more serious issues can be addressed directly, by siting with parents and explaining that, for example, their child is very bright, but may come to hate school work if they are forced to do too many hours work a day. Quality not quantity. Persuading parents that their children need to walk before they can run is particularly tricky when parents have unrealistic goals, but if the tutor is allowed to continue, the benefits of their approach to the child do become apparent.