31st July 2015 9:00
By Blue Tutors
When it comes to writing reports, there are no hard and fast rules for private tutors. Many tutors do not write reports, choosing instead to give feedback directly to the students and parents. Others write reports after each lesson, emailing them to parents or using online reporting facilities used by many tuition agencies. When paying for lessons, parents often expect to receive regular feedback, and can be put out when it isn’t forthcoming. Should private tutors provide written reports, and if so how often?
As with many issues pertaining to tutoring, the answer depends on the needs of the individual student, their parents, and the tutor’s requirements. From a tutor’s perspective, report writing can be difficult as it often constitutes unpaid work. Writing reports each week outside of a lesson can amount to a significant level of free work, which many tutors reasonably do not want to undertake. Parents on the other hand, often feel that their hourly fee should include written feedback, and understandably want to receive feedback as to their child’s progress, as well as anything they could do to help. This is particularly important, as it is well understood that private tuition is much more successful if parents are aware of the student’s activities and are able to support them outside of the lessons.
So, where does that leave us? Tutors should not be required to write long reports after every lesson; they shouldn’t have to do this amount of work unpaid, and weekly reports are not necessarily helpful for students or parents. They could write very brief weekly reports, but these wouldn’t contain anything that the tutor wouldn’t say to the parent or student at the lesson. Far better in many cases, to provide concise reports every 4 lessons or so, noting progress, areas for improvement and ways in which parents might be able to engage with their child’s learning outside of the lesson. Of course, there will be times when a detailed weekly report or other work is genuinely indicated, in which case tutors may wish to negotiate a small additional fee to cover their time for this. In other cases, perhaps if students are older, reports are not required, and it is more appropriate for tutors to spend five minutes at the end of a lesson make sure the student has been praised for progress, and understands what to do to improve.