14th September 2018 9:00
By Blue Tutors
There is an argument that a tutor can sometimes be more of a babysitter, particularly for primary school students. Many people in education say that what a tutor does for a student studying at Key Stage 1 is nothing that the student’s parents can’t do, and parents are actually using the tutor as way to keep their child busy for an hour after school.
There is some truth to the claims that a tutor does what a parent could do at KS1. At that age a lot of the tutoring is more encouraging students to actually focus and try to do the work, and also giving them confidence which they might not have at school. Simply subjecting a student to reading, writing and arithmetic is a positive thing, and the more parents can do that the better.
It is a little thoughtless to accuse parents of just wanting someone else to help their children in a way the parents could, however. Something we hear a lot is that parents are insecure about a weakness they had at school, and they don’t want their child to feel the same way. Of course, this might seem silly for a 4-5 year old, but it is a genuine fear for some parents, and all they want is the best for their child. Also, some parents simply don’t have the time to do as much as they would like with their child, and while they would love to regularly sit and help with schoolwork, getting a tutor solves that problem and makes the parents’ lives easier.
It’s also a bit disrespectful of tutors to assume that a parent can always help in the same way. An experienced tutor will spot how a student is misunderstanding something, and will know methods to help. All tutors will advise parents to encourage young students and do as much as they can themselves, but the vast majority of tutors are ethical responsible people, and wouldn’t give lessons if they felt it was just childcare.