27th September 2019 15:15
By Blue Tutors
The Syllabuses and exam structures for most GCSEs and A Levels have recently had their biggest overhaul for years. The range of difficulty of questions, and as a result, the grade boundaries for exams are very different from when our tutors studied the same qualifications, and trends have shifted towards more emphasis on the final exam and less coursework.
The GCSE and A Level changes could be seen as a problem for tutors. One of the huge benefits of tuition is having someone who can empathise with the pressures of the exams, and someone who can give advice about what to focus on and how to revise. It’s reassuring for a student to know that their tutor did exactly the same sequence of exams and knows how to prepare. However, no tutors will be in this position now for at least a couple of years.
Many parents are quite particular about a tutor who studied exactly the same GCSE or A Level syllabus, or someone who went through the same exam system, and we think that’s sometimes too specific. Are these tutors better suited to tutoring the student in question? All other things being equal, yes, but other things are rarely equal.
The primary criteria for a tutor should always be their ability to tutor and their academic skill. The new exam system has reduced the qualification familiarity and empathy with the student, but not by much. We think that some parents can be too fixated on the ‘perfect’ tutor, when in truth no tutor will be absolutely perfect, and it’s the best tutor they should look for. This just might happen to be the tutor who did A Levels when it’s the International Baccalaureate which needs tutoring, or the one who did the AQA board when the student is studying Edexcel.