Which Tutor? When Tutor? Why Tutor?

For many parents it may be more accurately the case of Where oh Where Tutor? This is because very few of us are actually available at short notice - tutors' books are usually full for at least a year in advance. Most tutors seldom need to advertise and so recommendations from others are very important when deciding which tutor to choose.

But firstly does your child really need a tutor at all?

Many parents think that their child's school should provide for all their child's needs and if children were just a product rather than individuals that would most probably be the case. But even if you are paying £10,000+ a year in school fees, it may well be that your child would still benefit from some extra help in one area or another. This is largely because, although benefiting from smaller classes, your child may still not have fully cottoned onto certain concepts; and for many children asking questions in front of others is not easy or desirable and that of course is assuming that your child knows what it is they need to ask, about what they have yet to understand. Far easier to keep quiet and hope that it will all become clear later on or will simply go away and not be needed again. No problem if it is the finer points of transhumance in a geography lesson but what if it is part of an essential piece of information about fractions or algebra in a progressive subject like Mathematics?

Eventually it may appear that your child simply does not like the subject. This will almost certainly be due to a past difficult experience and in some cases this can put your child off the subject for good. If it is an important subject (eg Maths or English) it is certainly not acceptable to leave the matter there and so your child will need a confidence booster. It is simply not true that a child wants to do badly or does not want to learn. Learning is a natural instinct and if your child does not want to do well then there is a problem which needs sorting out.

The tutor is the ideal person to remedy this situation for you.

On a one to one basis a tutor can analyse faults and devise individual methods to put them right, regain your child's confidence, reintroduce them to the concepts misunderstood and boost their ability to cope back in the classroom, and it should be possible to do this within a relatively short period of time. There is rarely a need to have a tutor for years. In fact I would go so far as to say that you should see progress within weeks rather than months and a couple of months of an hour's help per week should be enough to tell whether the special relationship between your child and the tutor is working effectively. How long tutoring needs to continue will depend on how much ground needs to be covered and the ultimate aim. I would advise short term aims are better than indefinite periods of help as the child may well become bored or the tutor complacent. Your child needs help in order to be able to fit back into the normal classroom situation. Constant support should only be required for a child with special educational needs. However, provided you witness positive progress and your child is happy to carry on then there is no harm in continuing the process for the longer term.

Coaching for exams, especially scholarships, school entrance examinations and of course the 11+ are all good reasons to find a tutor and usually provide the incentive for the when? Now most children have tutors, the general level of 11+ pass rates is constantly spiralling upwards.

This means that unless your child has a tutor they may well not gain the scores necessary for passing the 11+.

Obviously you should be guided by your school but reassurance from a private assessment by a tutor experienced in preparation for that particular exam may also help to put your mind at rest.  90% of the children whom I see for their first assessment towards the middle of Year 5 can add and takeaway up to a point, have slow times-table recall which decreases rapidly above the 5x table, do not fully understand long multiplication, are confused by division (usually not helped by poor times-tables) and have a poor understanding of much to do with fractions and decimals.

This does not vary very much whether they come from a private or a state school. Therefore they need an approach which will help them to understand Mathematics and make it make sense (after all it is perfectly logical and not the mystery that some would want to make it) because as sure as eggs is eggs, they do not have anything like what it will take to pass the rigours of an 11+ Mathematics examination. The tutor should quickly be able to tackle where your child is, identify a programme to take them to where they need to be and help them to make rapid weekly progress as they steer them to the desired point, provided of course you have allowed enough time before approaching a tutor which for most children is 9 months before the exam.

Tutoring however should not just be for exams, as there is the danger that a level of misunderstanding, if left to fester, may well do considerable harm as the weeks and months go by and misconception is laid upon misconception. This needs to be sorted out in the early stages rather than left too long. For example a child with a comprehension problem could find that many of their subjects especially: English, History, Science, Geography, Languages and even Mathematics are affected. Good tutoring is like a magic bullet which finds the fault and then puts it right. Your tutor should easily be able to assess the problem, find work to set it straight, go over the relevant concepts with your child and set them on the next course. They should also find time to discuss your child's progress with you and keep you well and truly informed about your child's strengths, weaknesses and, most importantly, progress. One of my parents described me as her valium which I think was a compliment.

If you are not sure if your tutor is up to the mark and you don't want to wait for a couple of months to find out, then ask for a testimonial or a phone reference from a previous satisfied customer. I would hope that any tutor worth their salt would be able to provide at least one or two recommendations.

What if my school says that I should steer clear of tutors? They are only after my money and don't really make any difference.

In answer to this I will give you a couple of examples out of the countless ones from my own experience:

I recently helped a 13 year old hoping to gain scholarship level in Mathematics. His most recent mark was 23%, it was the beginning of April and he was due to take the exam in mid May.

He had failed to achieve even a pass in an ordinary entrance examination for a private school and his autism was not helping his behaviour in his current prep school. This was a worrying introduction. It soon became clear that his parents' belief in him was valid and that he had enormous potential in the subject.

All he needed to do was: to be shown how to set out his working; to be persuaded that accurate calculations were really necessary; and be re-taught all the basics, particularly more logical and quicker methods of long division and multiplication, and the best ways to manipulate fractions, plus a few other things too many to set out here. He came to me every day for a week and then about once a week up to the exam. The result was 80% - scholarship grade.

Another had been gaining a series of C and D grades for his English GCSE results. When I took him on it became clear that he was enormously talented but was confused about how to tackle a comprehension and clearly had not had enough consultation about how to set out his usually very good ideas effectively.

With relatively little coaching - about 12 lessons - he gained A grades in both language and literature.

So tutoring can and does make a difference although I do feel it is only right that tutors are paid for their time.

So when tutor for the 11+?

For the average child I would advise that you find a tutor as long as a year and a half before your child will need one. That is certainly by the start of Year 4 or even Year 3 if you prefer. This does not mean that your child needs to be tutored at this stage but that you have booked them a place with your chosen tutor. Tutoring should start at least two terms and preferably 9 months before the examination and with the exam probably (at the time of going to press) moving to September you may want to start preparation at the beginning of Year 5!

My child is not taking any exams in the near future, does he/she need a tutor?

This will depend on whether your child is experiencing any difficulty. Maths/English tuition can be beneficial to any child of whatever age, either to boost performance or confidence. If your child is having a tough time or underperforming in relation to others in the class, the individual attention given by a good tutor could be just the thing for your child.

Would my five year old benefit from the help of a tutor?

Well actually "Yes" but it is probably better to let him or her enjoy a few more years of freedom and happiness away from the worries of extra help.

A young child certainly can benefit from extra help but you would really want to have a good reason to seek the help of a tutor for one of such a tender age. Reasons though might include boosters for reading, writing and some basic mathematical concepts to improve confidence, presentation or the enjoyment of reading for pleasure. I would suggest short term rather than long term aims.

Children need a level of maturity and concentration to make tuition valuable and in my experience it is most useful and fruitful when they reach Year 5 and above when they can bring to bear the sum total of their previous experiences in education thus far.

Well there you have it:

Which Tutor? When Tutor? Why Tutor?

You may have to travel for a tutor; you may have to dig into your pockets for one; but if you choose a good one you will never regret having done so.

After all they are there to cater for your child's specific needs in a way that the classroom cannot provide.

11+ Countdown

This is intended as a guide only. Every child and every tutor is different. 

Year 3... Book Place With Tutor and if needed take up testimonials.     

Year 4... End of year 4 make contact again with tutor and discuss start time.[Make sure you haven't been forgotten] It might be helpful to arrange a meeting for a preliminary assessment to discuss a realistic timetable.

Year 5... Start tuition in plenty of time before exam. At least 9 months in advance of the date of exam.

Article written for Spring 2008 issue by

Jonathan Clarke

11+ and 13+ Tuition

in VR, NVR, Maths, English, Drama

at 11+, 13+, CE and Scholarship levels

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07905 711713 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 07905 711713