12th July 2019 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Tutoring Standards’ pedagogy has a section on leading questions which we think is often misunderstood by our tutors. It says that leading questions should be avoided and tutors should try and ask open questions which don’t point to a particular answer.
Many of the tutors we speak to, while not completely disagreeing with this guideline, do argue that on occasion a leading question can be a valuable tool. A common example is when a student has given an opinion which they really believe in, and their tutor is trying to develop the student’s ability to put forward a more balanced argument. Playing Devil’s Advocate is a great way to encourage students to stand up for their own opinion while at the same time considering another.
In truth, we don’t believe that Tutoring Standards disagree with Devil’s Advocate or all forms of introducing opinion into a lesson. Actually, they’re saying that if a tutor wants a student to think about something a produce an answer, then don’t give them that answer or tell them how to think. It sounds silly, but happens all the time, even to the extent of a tutor saying “can you see that this is true?”
Leading questions tend to come from a tutor’s enthusiasm to get to the end of a lesson, which makes sense, but as tutors we need consider whether we’re developing a student’s ability to learn; leading them to a particular answer isn’t something which a tutor can do during an exam.