School is a large part of your child’s life. Some students can enjoy school and the challenges of becoming an independent learner, but others find it challenging.
No matter which camp your child fits into, tutoring can be a useful resource to help your children reach their full potential. This article will aim to provide you with four key characteristics you should look for in a tutor if you’re considering this as an option for your child.
Subject Matter Mastery
This one is probably a given, as you would reasonably expect the tutor you hire to be an expert on the subject for which you’re hiring them. A good tutor will make the curriculum exciting, and a benefit of small group tutoring is that tutors can tailor their lesson plans to your children and engage them based on their level of knowledge and their interests.
Sweating the Small Stuff
Sweating the small stuff, or paying keen attention to detail, can prove valuable in your child’s tutoring experience. Not every child learns the same way or comes from the same background with the same experiences. A good tutor will assess their students’ needs and learning styles in order to formulate a suitable lesson plan and learning approach. They will also adapt as they move through the learning process with your child to meet changing needs. Large class sizes in schools don’t leave much room for nuanced, personalized conversations with students to track their progress and deal with concerns should they arise, so a tutor can fill this gap.
Experience & Empathy
Any skill becomes refined with practice and experience, and tutoring is no exception. Further, while you would expect a tutor to be a subject matter expert in their field, it’s a testament to their experience when they can admit they don’t know something rather than trying to guess at it, as humility is often learned through experience. Empathy is equally important, as a good tutor will be able to see things from multiple perspectives (including that of their students) and refrain from a fixed mindset.
Communication
Good communication should permeate every aspect of the tutoring experience. Initial goals and benchmarks should be established and communicated upfront, while frequent status updates on your child’s progress should be shared with you. These updates should include positive accomplishments as well as any concerns or areas for improvement. Of course, effective communication between tutor and student is invaluable as it fosters a fruitful professional dynamic, trust and rapport.
At Scholars Education Centre, tutors are carefully vetted and trained to ensure their quality. This includes rigorous testing on subject matter knowledge, as well as imparting the best teaching practices and tutoring techniques. Contact Scholars today to find a tutor near you.