The function of our present school system is always a subject of debate: classes that are overcrowded with too many students, absent teachers, too many class hours, too much homework...
The first ones to suffer from this dysfunctionality are the students!
Slowly becoming disinterested in school, British students risk dropping out in the future and, with that, they will be faced with an exclusion from society.
To avoid this sort of disappointing phenomenon, many parents are seeking the help of home tutoring.
A private tutor or educator equally cares for the student's academic success, but also listens to the student's concerns and takes the time to analyze the pupil's strengths and weaknesses.
From the first day of primary school to the end of secondary school, learn how you can become a private tutor to help students reach their academic goals!
How Does Private Tutoring Help during Primary School
Mathematics
Extremely despised by a majority of students, maths is particularly neglected by a number of educators based in the United Kingdom who do not find any interest in the subject and decide to move on to other things.
However, this subject is very useful in daily life. In addition to the daily use of mathematics, it's their presence up into the secondary school that merits careful attention.
It's during this crucial period that students need to assimilate certain notions:
Learn how to count,
Addition,
Subtraction,
Multiplication,
Division etc.
Whether its revisions of basic, already taught, concepts or newly introduced mathematical problems, maths have trouble entering into the cranium of our youngsters!
If I saw math problems like this, I would get discouraged too! (Source: Visual Hunt)
According to UK statistics, more than 2 million schoolchildren across England suffer from Maths anxiety!
To beat this anxiety and make sure that their child succeeds, many parents all over the UK are dialling the numbers of personal tutors to teach their children from primary school until the end of secondary school.
A qualified math tutor needs to make sure that their student correctly understands the proposed exercises that they were given in class and the tutor needs to follow their reasoning until the end to understand how the student thinks.
With seriousness and pedagogy, you can fill the gaps in your student's learning and make the exercises fun and enjoyable!
The objective is not to annoy the student with so many new math problems, patiently show your pupil that mathematics can be fun and success is easily attainable!
English: Reading and Writing
Illiteracy touches the lives of many English people today. According to the National Literacy Trust, in England alone, around 15% of adults or 5.1 million inhabitants are described as "functionally illiterate." They have the same or worse literary skills than that of an 11-year-old student.
This is of major concern and this catastrophic figure needs to be lowered. Luckily it can be!
If you are giving private tutoring sessions to a primary school student, it is very important to go over the basics and make the pupil has them mastered. The English language basics include:
Grammar,
Syntax,
Conjugation,
Spelling,
Reading,
Writing etc.
The problem seems peculiar because the teachers report satisfactory classes and that reading and writing is being taught in a very beneficial way.
According to a recent study conducted by John. W Miller, president of Central Connecticut State University, the United Kingdom is ranked 17th on a list of the countries with the highest literacy rate. These statistics are not too bad considering that there are many countries ranked behind the UK, but it's not great. The UK is behind in comparison to many other European nations such as Norway, Sweden, Denmark, France, Netherlands and Germany.
These statistics alarm British parents and they realize that there is much need for improvement. Instead of getting too worried, parents have been hiring tutors to have their children get school help.
During an at-home, personal tutoring session, you can more precisely follow the advancement of your pupil all while giving him the help he needs and boosting his motivation.
Make writing more fun: start, for example, by doing some drawing exercises. Ask your student to write a caption for his drawing on the side or simply ask him to tell a story about it! After the pupil has finished telling you about the drawing, have them write it down. This will give the student more confidence because he will know what to write and, believe me, the ideas will come out flowing!
As time goes by, make the exercises a bit more complicated, but still entertaining, to meet the standards of the national educational board.
You can get quality online tutoring on Superprof.
Preparing the Student for Secondary School
According to a riveting and informative article written by the Independent, almost half of children leave primary school in the UK unable to read and write properly.
That is an extremely concerning statistic that is every parent's worst nightmare!
The article continues explaining that 47% of students have fallen below the government's set standards with 200,000 children across England are attending underperforming primary schools.
These are disturbing figures, especially since attending secondary school is essential for your child's future success.
However, there is no need to despair. If your child is struggling and their results are mediocre, they can easily change and become better within a year with the help of a private tutor!
Find more tutor here on Superprof.
Academic tutoring is especially useful when the summer months arrive and your child has time to study and become a better student before the new school year begins.
Offering Remedial Teaching to Secondary School Students
Foreign Languages
After mastering English, learning a foreign language is an essential step to entering secondary school successfully!
Even if your child had a few foreign language classes in primary school, secondary school is where he can learn to become conversational and fluent.
Yes, we know, learning a foreign tongue is not at high on the priority list for 11 to 12-year-old students, especially with all the changes they are going through, entering secondary school being one of them.
So, why do it? An inspiring quote from John Wooden explains everything:
"Confidence comes from being prepared."
Amen, good sir! Those words are gold. Pre-teens already lack so much self-confidence so it is essential to put everything on their side and prepare them to have the confidence they need.
What languages may they need to prepare for? Here is a short list of the most taught foreign languages in UK based schools:
Spanish (by far!),
French,
German.
The demand to learn Spanish at a GCSE level has increased dramatically in the past two decades from 29,000 students to 85,000 students between 1995 and 2015. That's huge!
Yo no hablo español.
If you are a private tutor, now is the perfect time to help your student prepare for secondary school foreign languages classes. Many resources are available to make your tutoring classes entertaining!
Find other tutor on Superprof.
Private Tutors can create classes tailored to your needs. Whether it is exam preparation or foreign language studying. (Source: Visual Hunt)
For homework assignments, you could suggest certain movies and TV series in the foreign tongue he is going to learn. This a very fun way to learn common expressions and basic vocabulary.
If your student is going to learn Spanish, the television series, El Chavo del Ocho comes highly recommended.
A language learning application such as Duolingo is a great tool if your student can't spend more than 5 minutes without their phone! Learning on an app goes hand in hand with the private tutoring classes.
A helpful tip: get the student to realize the importance of learning a foreign tongue. Let him know that it will them in their future endeavours, whether they chose a career in teaching, medicine or commerce.
The Sciences
Entering secondary school represents a big step forward for future student orientation: it's during this period that students will be confronted with the new scientifical subject matter.
On the program:
Biology classes,
Physics and Chemistry (physical science),
Extra math classes,
Technology courses,
Computer Science.
However, science subjects can become a massive headache for a majority of well-intentioned, secondary school students!
Who knows with time and careful private tutoring, your student could come to love biology! (Source: Visual Hunt)
To offer, private, one on one science lessons, it would be smart to well study your student's scientific syllabus because, with an in-depth understanding and a well planned educational coaching, your students will progress and avoid playing catch-up. They might even become first in their class!
The sciences are extremely important during secondary school. The education board, throughout the UK, requires students to take at least 5 GCSEs during key stage 4. Among the list of core subjects, the sciences are mandatory. There are two options to choose from, combined sciences or the option of 3 of the abovementioned required classes (biology, computer science, chemistry etc.). The sciences are worth 2 GSCEs. That is 40% of the student's course requirements!
The Guardian has created some graphics to show the percentages of student's achieving a C grade or higher. The numbers are compared to previous years. (Source: The Guardian)
The statistics show that student grades, in sciences, have dropped from previous years in the United Kingdom. These numbers continue to concern parents who are invested in their child's success.
Therefore, if your child is having difficulties with the sciences, now is the time to hire a private tutor! The personal tutor will become familiar with your teenager's course materials and identify their weaknesses and enable them to successfully achieve their scholastic goals! Which student doesn't want a 9 on his GCSE exams?
To successfully succeed during exam periods, you have to work hard all year long. The private tutor needs to keep in mind that continuous monitoring counts for at least half of the final note.
Being a Private Tutor for High School Students
General Certificate of Education (A Level)
After Key Stage 4 of the GCSEs are done, the student has the option to join the workforce or move onto higher education where they will start to learn a specialized craft or skill.
If you have tutored your student since primary school and it is becoming hard to cut the cord, help your student find their fit in the GCE Advanced Levels.
A wide variety of subjects are offered and this is where a private tutor comes recommended. A personal education coach can help your young adult choose correctly.
Some of the subjects offered by the five exam boards:
Art & Design (for the Picasso, Van Gogh or Moliere lovers),
Business (Bill Gates is calling!),
Chemistry,
Economics,
English Literature,
Government & Politics (step aside Theresa May).
Of course, the options may differ according to the school you are attending or the region you live in: some students under the OCR exam board can take Gujarati!
These options and choices are extremely crucial because they often determine the future career of the studying teenager.
Parents often look at their young adult's grades and choose a subject that the student needs more help with thinking that in further education their child will finally succeed. For example, if the student has had difficulties in the sciences the whole time in secondary school it would be unwise to force the pupil to choose chemistry or physics. This would discourage the student and cause him to leave further education for good.
"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid." -Albert Einstein
It is up to the private instructor to assume the role of a counsellor also: during tutoring, the educator must analyze the tastes of the pupil as well as their academic abilities.
More than just helping the student to get good marks, the private tutor needs to guide the student's learning process and help them avoid failing a post-secondary education subject due to a bad orientation!
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP)
The idea of a baccalaureate after secondary school may seem stressful and daunting for many 16-year old students. However, the IBDP is an internationally accepted qualification suggested for entry into higher education and is recognized by many universities all over the world. It lasts two years and gets your prepared for the university in six different subjects.
The IB diploma is accepted at over 2,000 universities across 75 countries. Therefore, if your teenager has dreams of attending a prestigious English university such as Cambridge or Oxford or studying abroad along the Costa del Sol or Côte d'Azur this baccalaureate program comes highly suggested.
Employers are highly attracted to a baccalaureate. They often will hire someone who has one compared to someone without an IB diploma. Yet another reason to enrol your student in this program!
Students must take six subjects with three or four of the subjects taken at Higher Level (HL) and the rest at Standard Level (SL). IB recommends about 240 hours of instructional time for HL courses and 150 hours for SL courses.
The six subjects include:
Group 1: Studies in language and literature,
Group 2: Language acquisition,
Group 3: Individuals and societies,
Group 4: Experimental sciences,
Group 5: Mathematics,
Group 6: The arts.
Yes we know, that sounds like a lot of studying! Success and prestige come with the price of late nights studying and early morning exams. A one on one tutoring session can be tailored to the student's needs during test preparation.
A private tutor is trained to have the student feel valued and appreciated. This is essential in boosting the teenager's grades and motivation.
Above all, listen to the needs of your student: when you are doing one on one classes the student needs to feel special something that is not possible in an overcrowded classroom!
Becoming a personal tutor to offer extra school support can be very rewarding. There will always be student's who want to succeed and achieve their academic goals and you can assist them along their entire journey. A job with purpose, indeed!
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