What are the benefits of tutoring for children?

If you’re going to invest in a tutor, you want to be sure you are making the right choice – both financially and for your child. A tutor can not only help your child improve their confidence, fill in gaps within their learning and build educational foundations.

But how exactly does tutoring help students succeed in school? And what are the benefits of tutoring for children? While catching up and getting good grades is a given, tutoring also offers a wide range of other pros for your child – some may surprise you.

How does tutoring help students succeed in school?

To understand how tutoring helps students succeed at school, let’s first look at what tutoring is.

At its simplest level, tutoring means providing additional or special instruction. The easiest way to explain it is to say that tutoring is different to how teachers teach at school, as follows:

• Classrooms typically involve leading 20+ students. The teachers then have to apply a one size fits all approach to learning, using teaching styles, approaches and pace of learning that works for the majority of students.
• Tutoring, on the other hand, is delivered one or one or in a small group with individual student attention. Sessions are tailored to a student’s preferred style of learning, specific ability, and pace.

However, while tutoring is different to classroom teaching, it isn’t completely distinct. In fact, tutoring is usually intended to support what a student’s learning at school by:

• Providing a student with personalised support and targeting their assessed ability level in order to play to strengths and overcome areas of weakness
• Consolidating what’s being taught in school by going over certain concepts and topics, so it’s more easily understood
• Going beyond the curriculum for students who are academically ahead to allow them reach their full potential

Academic improvement

The main goal of tutoring is to improve the academic performance of a student – and studies certainly show this is the case.

One study by the University of Toronto found that tutoring delivers ‘consistent and substantial positive impacts on learning outcomes.’ It goes on to say that these effects are stronger when teachers or professionals run the tutoring program.

Interestingly, English tends to get better results in the earlier grades, while maths tends to do so in the later grades.

A Kip McGrath tutor can catch up a student one year in just 26 weeks.
We can bring a non-reader to functional literacy in 100 lessons.

Better grades in school

Because a tutor can deliver academic improvement, it naturally follows that they can also help students improve their grades. While grades aren’t the be-all and end-all, they’re an important part of school and affect your child’s future opportunities.

It's not that a tutor can guarantee that every student they teach will get an A or 100 per cent. It's that they can help each child reach their potential to get their best grades.

Tutoring in some of the core subjects, such as English and maths, can also not only improve grades in those subjects, but it can also help improve them in other subjects where good English or the application of maths is expected.

Builds self-esteem and confidence

Students who need a tutor to help them catch up and keep up in class have often had their confidence knocked.  They may also be reluctant to put their hand up and answer questions because they’ve got it wrong too many times.

In other cases, a shy, quiet child may be struggling because they lack the confidence to put their hand up to ask for help when they need it.

By building a personalised learning plan at a level they’re comfortable with. Students grow in confidence as they start to get the answers right. It can also help them feel more comfortable asking questions in class if they are unsure.

And this boost in confidence and self-esteem can extend beyond the classroom.

Pick up good study habits

Working regularly with a tutor can also help your child pick up good study habits; they can show them the benefits of a structured approach to learning.

Study habits and skills a tutor can teach include:

• How to organise and process information
• How to easily absorb information
• Better time management
• Improved motivation levels
• Computer literacy (if online)
• The habit of homework
• Goal setting
• Revision and test-taking

These learning skills can help students from primary to secondary, transferable across all subjects. They also set students up for a future workplace environment.

Fosters a love of learning

We don’t just want our children to endure school; we want them to enjoy learning. This passion is something a good tutor can ignite.

We all have a favourite teacher we remember at school. What was it about them that made you enjoy their lessons? In most cases, it’s because they were passionate about their subject, listened to you and made learning enjoyable.

These same qualities are what you can expect from a good tutor. Tutors also have more freedom than classroom teachers to be creative and vary their methods for each child. Plus, they have the time to foster more meaningful student connections.

Enjoy the benefits with the right tutor

Tutoring certainly offers many benefits, but these benefits only come with the right tutor. A qualified tutor will typically deliver results better than an unqualified tutor because of their level of teaching knowledge and experience.

Ultimately, making the learning environment fun and engaging while acknowledging successes will ensure the student will have a better rapport with their tutor, resulting in obtaining all the benefits a tutor can provide.

To see how tutoring can benefit your child book your free learning assessment.

Published in UK

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