Is your child struggling at school and falling behind in important subjects? Alternatively, you may be worried that your child’s classroom is too fast-paced for them. Perhaps your child has lost confidence in their capabilities, their self-esteem has plummeted, or they become anxious when a certain subject is brought up. Maybe your child is unmotivated, and trying to convince them to write, or read, or complete their maths homework is exhausting.

If this describes you, you may be considering hiring a tutor. But are they worth it?

Can I stick with the status quo and hope my child catches up?

The school curriculum moves at such a quick pace. If your child has not fully mastered a subject, they risk falling behind as their classmates progress. Because many ideas in the curriculum build on one other, your youngster may struggle to catch up. This is exacerbated if your youngster has not fully mastered core foundational skills such as place value, number sense, or applying phonics to read and spell.

What do tutors do?

One-on-one tutoring provides your child with focused attention that they would not receive in a hectic and crowded classroom. This focused attention benefits both youngsters who are falling behind and those who could benefit from additional time.

Tutors help your child build a solid foundation of skills, knowledge, and confidence. This will ensure that the foundation for their future learning is secure.

How can tutoring help students?

Tutoring tailors to your child’s particular strengths and areas of need. As a result, it can enhance your child’s confidence and skills in specific subjects, topics, or areas of development.
Concepts can be broken down into small, achievable steps so that your youngster truly learns the “why” and “how.” This will allow them to generalise their knowledge and apply it to different situations.
Tutoring will assist in removing your child’s learning hurdles. For example, if your child struggles to stay focused in class, tutoring could include enjoyable and engaging multi-sensory learning and practical-based sessions. If your child has difficulty understanding the language used in lessons, tutoring could teach and explore the language of maths and English.
Tutoring can also provide educational support for you, such as advice and home-based strategies.
Individualized support from a caring tutor can boost confidence and self-esteem while reducing emotions of overload and frustration.
One-to-one tuition provides a calm, quiet setting, which is ideal for children who struggle with focus or become overstimulated by the sounds and sights in a bustling classroom.
Tutoring promotes solid study habits, allowing your child to become a lifelong independent learner.
One-on-one sessions allow a self-conscious child to ask questions about things they don’t understand or are unsure about.

Are tutors worth it?

A tutor is well worth the time and money to help your child catch up, or acquire lifelong strategies to help them manage their learning difficulties. A qualified tutor will help your youngster re-establish their relationship with education. Their expertise and experience will increase your child’s confidence and abilities, helping them to reach their greatest potential.

A skilled tutor will be up to date on the most recent curriculum and learning methods. Furthermore, they will have the necessary experience to source and deliver high-quality, evidence-based programmes that are tailored to your child’s specific needs.

Why do some tutors charge a high rate?

Specialist tutors typically charge a premium rate because they are qualified teachers with additional qualifications such as a postgraduate degree. They will also have a great deal of experience.

These tutors provide a superior service because they draw on their expertise and knowledge of learning theory and child development. They will be able to adapt their teaching methods to meet your child’s current holistic needs, allowing them to learn more effectively.

Furthermore, your tutor’s hourly rate will include the amount of time they need to plan and prepare for the lesson.

Which tutor is the best?

A fully qualified and experienced teacher who is now tutoring is best suited to meet your child’s educational demands. This primary tutor will be able to conduct a thorough assessment of your child’s learning and identify any gaps in their knowledge. An untrained or unqualified tutor will lack the competence you require, resulting in wasted time and money.

Look for a tutor who fosters a positive, safe, and supportive environment so that your child feels valued and inspired to learn. Developing a relationship with their tutor is critical to your child’s learning success. It is especially vital if your child suffers from high levels of anxiety, lacks self-confidence, or has not previously achieved success in a topic. A teacher who is friendly, approachable, patient, and understanding will give your child the confidence they need to succeed.

In addition, look for a tutor who will work with you in a collaborative manner. Open communication between tutor, student, and parents is essential to ensure that everyone is on the same page.

Here are 7 questions you should ask before you hire a tutor.

Can tutors work during lockdown?

Tutors can continue to work, but must convert all face-to-face lessons to online sessions during lockdowns. Many tutors use the Zoom platform. This is a simple platform that allows tutors to share content such as writing samples, worksheets, and maths problems. Tutors and students can then write on the screen with an ‘annotate’ tool, which is similar to a whiteboard pen.

During local lockdowns and beyond, Forging Roots Education offers online maths and English tutoring. We encourage pupils to mirror our actions if they have similar hands-on materials to those we utilise. This ensures that the important multi-sensory component of our sessions is not lost, and it assists students to comprehend things more easily and quickly.

Take home message

An experienced, qualified primary tutor will thoroughly assess your child’s knowledge gaps before carefully planning systematic, cumulative actions to fill such gaps. They will be able to identify your child’s challenges and the steps necessary to remedy them. This will ensure that they make the best possible educational progress. Their expertise and experience will increase your child’s confidence and abilities, helping them to reach their greatest potential.

Forging Roots Education offers targeted one-to-one and online expert tutoring to children and adults with learning difficulties, disabilities, and complex communication needs. We are passionate about multi-sensory, evidence-based learning because it works for students with special learning needs. Our sessions are delivered by a qualified special needs teacher with over 16 years’ experience.

Have you ever used private specialist tutoring services? What were your experiences in searching for one? We’d love if you left us a comment, or connected with us on facebook, and told us all about it.