14th December 2018 9:00
By Blue Tutors
When we interview tutors we often get into a discussion about what makes a good tutor; what pitfalls await someone starting with us, particularly when they haven’t tutored much before. Obviously the first place we point tutors is Tutoring Standards’ pedagogy, but there is an interesting skill which isn’t highlighted.
To tutor according to the pedagogy is difficult. We know that, and our tutors quickly realise that tutoring is not about good explanations and organisation, rather much more subtle skills. The trouble with these skills is that despite being really easy to understand, they’re very difficult to put into practice without making mistakes. Errors made by tutors are often things the tutor immediately realises and wishes he/she could take back.
The pedagogy is all about giving students time and space to think carefully and formulate their answers, but the same is true for tutors. Tutors are ‘in charge’ of lessons and tend to feel as though any pause in their teaching is bad, like they’re not giving value for money. This can lead to the tutor immediately speaking after a student has given an answer and stumbling through a poorly worded question
The benefit of just taking 2-3 seconds to think about the right question to ask is enormous. Students like to feel as though the tutor is creating a scaffold for their learning, and a convoluted question at the wrong time can collapse the building they’ve built throughout the lesson. The best and most confident tutors take a few seconds to consider what a student has said, formulate the next step in their mind and ask a clear short question.