Private Tutoring — It’s a well known fact by now that GCSE and Alevel students, just like the rest of us vulnerable humans, are not machines who can perform alone and ‘independently’. They need support in the form of a village – including parents, teachers, friends and probably and arguably most important, private tutors. Yes, in the plural, tutorS! But they won’t ask for it, unless you (ehem, dear parent or teacher) ask them and show them that the best students have a comprehensive support system which ensures of their top results and ambition.
Too often, students who attend state schools in UK have had the brain hacking that a ‘good student’ works ‘hard’ and ‘independently’. As a former teacher and now long time private tutor, I can certainly attest to this programming, which is often done in a really understated way, just through every day class talks by teachers or parents insisting to their child that their grades are their fault because they didn’t study enough. It can be a very isolating experience for the child who hears this and assumes they ‘literally’ have to do it on their own and internalise any failures as truly their fault or symbolising their lack (of skills, knowledge, confidence, you name it here…).
What IF there is another truth here?
The truth is that most GCSE and Alevel students who are sailing school more smoothly have great privileges they are not talking about or ‘gatekeeping’ as they say these days. This is because we don’t teach our young people that they need to acknowledge and talk about their resources, tools and privileges such as a skilful and caring community of parents, guides, coaches and importantly tutors! This support ‘system’ is adding tremendous power to their experience in education and it’s not something they need to shy away from proudly acknowledging and sharing with others. It doesn’t take away their own intelligence, skills, depth or hard work to know they have a community that holds them up, so they can endure the isolating, pressurizing, overwhelming and stressful experience of ‘school’ which comes with daunting exams!
So, the best truth is to share the truth and be grateful and generous and humble! That’s the best competitive edge in any thriving and ambitious student – in the short and long run.
Teachers – Please remove the taboo of learning support!
It’s not these young people’s fault that they’ve become scared to acknowledge and share their best help and support system. GCSE and Alevel students’ personalised teaching/tutorship goes a really long way in helping them to truly click onto the knowledge, become intellectually stimulated, prepare for assignments and exams with informed advice on structure and analysis, and be held accountable to not plagiarising with AI or other tools online. After all, Aristotle and Socrates had not been screaming about the joys of having tutors and being tutors since the ancient days for nothing! University of Oxford knows best the impacts of a supportive village of guides and tutors, and structures their courses to have personalised tutors for each student. So, why are teachers at school so resistant sometimes, especially when many teachers are private tutors outside of school hours? Why create this taboo and restriction instead of openly encouraging students (and their parents) to ensure learners have a full support system. It takes nothing away from your great classroom teaching to generously encourage students to organise themselves with a tutor who will act as a learning coach. If schools are concerned that this kind of support creates inequality, they are right, but telling students who have the privilege to get guidance to work hard and alone is an injustice which adds to the inequality. There are better ways to address these inequalities within the education system at a higher policy level. At Über Tutors we have been pretty much begging educators and system thinkers to consider including private tutoring and personalised guidance that is meaningfully and intelligently done into their school practices. Private schools especially have no reason not to!
Parents – Make sure your young person has a village!
I will not repeat the important points I made above about the quiet but powerful ways we make young people overwhelmed in school with pressure and then tell them they need to ‘get on’ with it. In my two decades of teaching and tutoring, my heart has been broken many times at how much students’ mental and emotional wellbeing is impeded without realising that Private Tutors are not just for students who are doing ‘poorly’ or ‘badly’ and that it’s a mark of their failure to do it on their own! Please please help them understand we are all so incredibly privileged as educated people to have had an entire village of smart people throughout our lives, including parents, cousins, teachers after school, the neighbour, or if we had the budget, a really wonderful private and personal tutor(s) for those complex subjects that required the calming of our nervous system alongside a wonderful personality. Someone who made us feel safe to learn, to work through tough questions that made us feel ‘stupid’ whilst encouraging us that ‘we can do it’!
If we can be of support to your young person please contact us. We’re here for your loved ones!
