Choosing the Right Tutor

If you are on the hunt for a private tutor, you’re probably motivated by one of two main reasons (though there are others). You’re concerned that your child is under-performing. You are worried that your child will be ‘left behind’ in today’s increasingly competitive educational landscape. This makes sense. We all care deeply about education. We want the best for our kids. So it’s only natural for us to seek out additional support if our kids aren’t doing so well. But there’s a problem. Parents looking for tutors are vulnerable people. They know that Johnny’s friend across the street had some maths tuition last year and found it helpful. They know that maths is an area of weakness for their child, courtesy of school reporting. So they do what any resourceful parent would, and Google ‘maths tutoring Sydney’. After a thorough online perusal of Sydney’s most highly marketed tuition centres, (plus perhaps a convincing information session or two), they are left with one certainty: the child needs tutoring. And perhaps they do. But this isn’t always the case. I didn’t have any coaching during high school. And sure, I struggled at times. I would have benefited from tutoring. In fact, if I’d had a tutor, I’m sure I would have felt calmer, more self-assured and less stressed. But at the time, I chose not to have tutoring for two reasons: I had (and still have!) two very supportive parents who were only too happy to help me, and an equally supportive band of teachers who strongly encouraged my every effort. This was more than enough to keep me afloat during year 12. When it comes to tutoring, know that you always have a choice. You should never be put under any pressure to funnel your child into tutoring. Tutoring company marketing needs to be taken with a grain of salt, because at the end of the day, tutoring businesses have to make money out of you. And if you’re ripe for the picking, oftentimes (and sadly) they won’t hesitate. What it comes down to is this. If you’ve recently read through your child’s report and you think that some extra support mightn’t go amiss, a tutor might be the way to go. But you need to find a good one, and the right one, for your child. Here’s how. So, what makes a good tutor?

1. A good tutor is prepared to give an honest opinion about whether or not your child needs tutoring

A good tutor will want to have a discussion with you, firstly in order to get to know you, and secondly, to get an idea of your child’s age, academic situation, motivations, behaviours, attitudes, learning style, and any specific areas that need to be addressed. These details will indicate whether the tutoring on offer is a good fit for your child. For example, if your child is chronically shy and doesn’t open up in large groups, a tutoring school that offers classroom-like group tuition might not be the best option. A good tutor will be honest with you about things like this, instead of asking ‘when would you like to start?’ When it comes to tuition, I’d also recommend getting advice from someone impartial. Ask the opinion of someone who is not set to make money out of your decision. Perhaps your child’s classroom teacher could help.

2. A good tutor has a flair for teaching, not just enviable grades

Don’t get me wrong – marks matter. But if you’re after a good tutor, don’t just recruit based on marks. Tutoring is more than understanding content and writing it down in exams. To have a tangible impact on a child, a tutor needs to engage the student, relate to the student, and equip the student with tools they can use to do everything the tutor is teaching when the tutor isn’t there. Tutors need to be great communicators, and they need to be passionate about helping students. Tutors need to understand how your child learns best, and how to help them self-motivate. Good tutors view tutoring as more than just a job – it’s an opportunity to make a hugely positive difference to the educational journeys of students.

3. A good tutor really cares

This might sound obvious, but it’s extremely important. A good tutor really cares about how their students are tracking academically, as well as how they feel in general. Putting students at ease is so important when it comes to learning, as your child is far more likely to open up about what they don’t understand with a tutor who listens without judgment, criticism or disappointment. Parents aren’t to be left out here either – you’ll want a tutor to establish a relationship with you, so that everyone is kept in the loop. Keeping you updated with personalised communications and advice at any stage is really important. This doesn’t mean pandering to parental worry and compounding concerns over academic performance. This means maintaining honest and open communication where any school-related concerns can be addressed in the most realistic way possible.

4. A good tutor aims to meet your child’s specific needs

No two students are the same. A good tutor recognises this and tailors lessons to suit your child. These lessons should complement schoolwork in order to reinforce concepts and enhance learning. Be wary of tutors who provide one-size-fits-all worksheets and resources, or who insist on setting additional homework that places unreasonably high expectations on students.

5. A good tutor aims to be made redundant

I realise that by writing this I’m almost certainly shooting myself in the foot as a tutor, at least in a financial sense, but it absolutely needs to be said. As a tutor, every single lesson needs to get the student one step closer to academic self-sufficiency. Why? Two reasons. 1. Spoon-feeding comes back to bite students in the long run, especially at university when nobody is checking up on them, making sure that their assignments are handed in on time, asking them to hand in that important note etc. 2. Self-made success helps students to gain confidence and motivates them to seek out further challenges. I’ve seen students achieve great marks in their final exams and not feel proud of their achievements, purely because they put a lot of their success down to the tutor(s) they had. Pride in their achievements is essential for students’ growth and development in general, not just academically.

6. Many great tutors work for themselves, so hire someone who works solo

I ran a tutoring business for five years, so I know that tutors who work for companies earn less than those who work on their own. It's the nature of it - you can't maintain business structures without some money coming in. (For us, in the end we were just breaking even because our cut was so small.) Whilst tutoring companies help new tutors to find clients, most tutoring companies do not have well-established professional development for tutors, nor are they honest about the level of experience their tutors may have. For this reason, I recommend finding someone who tutors privately. They'll be working solo because they're so good that they don't need a company to find clients - clients come to them. Private tutors are also more likely to do a good job because they can't hide behind a company, nor are they losing some of their fee to a company. If you are looking to find a private tutor, there are a few online marketplaces around. Juggle St the best service I've found. I like their model because it's honest. You pay a small fee to list a job on the platform, and you make contact with tutors who have all the necessary checks (Working With Children Check etc). All the tutors have their experience listed, and reviews. The tutors themselves don't pay anything to be listed, and all the money they earn goes to them. I think this is really important, because ultimately tutors are the ones doing all the work!!

**Happy hunting! **