27th June 2018 10:00
By Blue Tutors
Matthew Gardner, a 28 year old clinical scientist from Birmingham, says that private tutoring allows him to see the real impact of consistent long-term tuition. Reported on the Guardian’s website, Matthew said that tuition is not just about passing exams “I think one-on-one support serves them well as we get the chance to question them beyond exam boards to make sure they can really understand and solve the problems”.
Matthew also volunteers on science outreach events in schools, and says that although he is passionate about this, it doesn’t give him the same long term satisfaction as tutoring because they are only in the school for a day, and may never see those students again. You can’t give ongoing support to these students, and have no idea how effective the day has been.
Gardner volunteers with the Access scheme, which provides disadvantaged students with help to improve their grades and apply to top universities. He says that seeing the students regularly is much more satisfying “with tutoring I get to see much more of the impact of volunteering - that is the growth and development in a student and their increased confidence going into exams, where this extra support can make a big difference. Then of course the grades and university place that follow them.”
Matthew remembered one of his best tutoring feelings. A student brought a very difficult physics problem for him to solve as a test, and they tried to solve the problem together. After a lot of discussion the student finally came to the answer himself. Matthew said “The moment of seeing the breakthrough in understanding ended up being one of my favourite moments.”