14th November 2014 4:00
By Blue Tutors
A new study has said that traditional teaching styles are more effective than new approaches such as discovery learning. The authors have said that traditional approaches which offer clear basic instruction, reward effort and employ clear rules on pupil behaviour are more effective that new educational ideas which are based on allowing students to discover ideas for themselves, or use a different approach based on how different students are perceived to learn best. This study may well prove a boon to the Department for Education who are driving policies which are designed to bring schools back to traditional forms of education. But how should private tutors respond to it?
One of the principle benefits of private tutoring is that it allows tutors to respond to the individual needs of their student. In this kind of learning environment, it would be pretty unthinkable for a tutor not to assess how their individual students learn and adapt their teaching accordingly. Many tutors also use techniques which are designed to help students arrive at answers on their own, without being spoon-fed. Most tutors will tell you that this is a very effective way of teaching, which gives students ownership over their learning and helps them remember concepts far better than if they were just told the answers.
So how should private tutors react to this latest study? With caution. First of all, the study was designed to address classroom teaching, where it is far more difficult to successfully implement individual learning methods. It is also more difficult in a classroom situation to help students arrive at the answer on their own, and teachers risk some students being left out. Nevertheless, having worked one to one with many students, private tutors know a great deal about how students learn, and the fact is that students do have different learning styles that we would do well to accommodate. Some students learn better through drawing flow charts and diagrams, others through talking through concepts. Some benefit from 2 hour sessions, and others need to switch off after 45 minutes. Whilst all students’ needs cannot be accommodated in a classroom, let’s not pretend that one size fits all is the best approach.