20th April 2018 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Most of our students are studying GCSEs or A Levels. Probably because of our reputation; the Oxbridge factor means people think that our tutors can offer most to students in those few years before applying to university. For these reasons, our newer tutors are sometimes apprehensive about tutoring at lower levels, particularly at KS1 and KS2. Obviously the age of a student does affect the way a tutor has to organise lessons, but not as significantly as one might think.
We require all of our tutors to read Tutoring Standards’ pedagogy and to commit to tutoring in the way the prescribe. The great thing is that this pedagogy allows for lots of flexibility, and can be applied to students of all ages. Initially, however, tutors tend to read it thinking about tutoring an older student, and don’t think about how it would apply when tutoring someone less advanced. All the ideas still work: give the student a goal, ask for responses to help them reach the goal, hold the space so they have time to think.
So what are the differences with younger students? Primary school students have a concentration span in minutes roughly equal to their age, so tutors will quickly lose them if they tutor continuously without a break. This isn’t difficult though, it just relies on the tutor remembering to have a break and do something fun for a few minutes so the student is ready to focus again. It’s helpful to remember that, when we were younger, we didn’t think about being a successful student, we just did things we enjoyed. We actually all love learning, but it’s important to make it as fun as possible. Otherwise the student will have no motivation to do what you ask.
Another obvious difference with younger students is the sophistication of their language. We can’t expect them to elucidate their answers as clearly as an adult, and even verbalising what they’re thinking is difficult. Similarly, the tutor’s questions need to be as short and clear as possible, and use language with which the student is familiar (something the tutor will learn as he/she gets to know the student better).