11th May 2018 9:00
By Blue Tutors
We recently came across a situation where a client asked for a different GCSE English tutor because the person we sent had a degree in modern languages. This is a really interesting situation; obviously it’s the client’s prerogative, and we always respect the decision to ask for another tutor. However, this close to exams, when most tutors are incredibly busy, it is strange not to have lessons with a Cambridge graduate whose degree was so focussed on literature.
The question of what tutors should be allowed to teach is something which causes a fair amount of disagreement. The Tutors Association initially proposed that someone needs to have a degree in a subject to tutor that subject at A Level, but they have since relaxed that criterion. We have always thought that hard fast rules aren’t very helpful, and it’s important to look more carefully at a tutor’s qualifications, particularly where they attended university and what they studied.
A good example is someone who studied maths and physics at A Level, got A*s in both subjects and continued to study maths at Oxford with lots of physics-ey options, achieving a first class degree. Compare that person to someone who got a D in their physics A Level and attended a university to study physics, but that university is ranked, say, 90th in the UK for physics, and they left with a 2-2. Simply based on their academic record, the first tutor is much better equipped to tutor physics at A Level.
There is a lot more to a tutor’s skill than an academic record, but that academic ability is crucial, and it’s the main reason we recruit so many tutors from Oxford and Cambridge. We’re so proud of the number of tutors we have whose records are 10+ A*s at GCSE, 4+ A*s at A Level and a first class degree. These tutors are so gifted that they could have studied a number of subjects for their degree. Of course, we would always rather match a tutor to student when it’s the tutor’s degree subject, but we recognise that a skilled academic is better for a student than someone who may have struggled with academia their whole life.