Focus on: tutoring At first these five students were suspicious of being taken out of class.
Unsure if it was a punishment or not, it took some time to win them over. Much of my classes were based around reinforcing the basics, revising things that they otherwise wouldn’t have had time to cover. Because we were a small group we moved quickly. The members started to support one another, and very soon each started to see results. These results started to build confidence in other subjects. One student came to our lesson and said, “My Geography teacher isn’t so bad, he doesn’t hate me! I worked hard and actually got 10/10 in the homework.” Within a few weeks the students’ confidence had improved dramatically
and their grades had jumped. With academic research showing that tutoring provides five additional months progress, we want to start trials to measure the impact of our tutoring to see if we can replicate those grade improvements at scale.
trained, could provide just the right support to teachers...”
Much of our lesson time was centered on the idea that working hard itself
was more important than the results, however those results were more likely if they worked hard. Very soon this group were re-integrated into their normal lessons. Instead of being directly obtrusive in lessons the teacher remarked that they had become engaged, and since a couple had been natural ringleaders, their enthusiasm started to become infectious to the rest of the class. I would love to take credit for this amazing transformation. The simple fact
is that when I relay this story to my teacher friends, we agree, this is the power of one-on-one and small group learning. Perhaps one day there will be sufficient allocation of funds to allow this to actually happen in mainstream education, at least in subjects where it is directly beneficial. In the meantime I wonder if a more sustainable approach would be to deliver minimal, targeted interventions, to the students at the times when they need it most. The teachers I’ve spoken to say that they can usually tell when that
moment is, however they rarely have the time to do anything about it. Providing trained tutors to work with students when they are needed most
could go some way to developing a more effective and sustainable education system. This is the vision we have for Tutorfair. Looking at tutoring through the filter of being a support mechanism for
mainstream education has meant that our tutors have integrated well into our partner schools. New schools are constantly getting in touch looking to be part of our program, and I’m excited about the potential. Most of all, I’m excited that there is a change in the way tutoring is
beginning to be perceived. I expect this will take some time to filter through but it has huge potential to help improve educational attainment. Tutors, if properly trained, could provide just the right support to teachers.
The best often fulfill a role half way between a best friend and a teacher, and more often than not have their greatest value when they act as a mentor. In this role they can have the positive impact of becoming a sounding board for ideas that there might not be time for, or may be inappropriate during school lessons. They can also help reinforce the idea that working hard increases the likelihood of success and can provide strong personal guidance on how to overcome problems and additional personal inspiration to excel in their work.
uwww.tutorfair.com “Tutors, if properly
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www.education-today.co.uk
July 2015
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