Tutoring has Benefits for both Tutors and Students alike

Private tutoring at a first glance might seem to benefit only the pupil, since it is he who advances thanks to his hours with a private tutor. While this is largely true, as we'll see, the tutor him/herself can benefit from giving private lessons, which can, as such, be seen as a kind of exchange.

How Home Tutoring Benefits Student

As we will see below, students can derive many benefits from private lessons. They are effective in the short, medium and long term, at several stages in the education of a child or adolescent.

Private Tuition: A Short-Term Exchange

What do we mean when we talk about tuition being a ''short term" benefit? Here, we are referring to help with a pupil's homework, in which the tutor takes on the role of supporting the pupil with her exercises for the next day or week of school.

When a pupil enters secondary school, they are thrown into a world in which they bear increasing responsibilities and more intense school schedules: A complete change compared to primary school. Not only the length of time spent in lessons, but also the number of subjects increases, as does the volume of homework and revision.

To help a student cope with this unfamiliar workload, home tuition with a personal teacher can be an excellent solution.

The teacher will be able to show the student new approaches and methods, as well as how to 'embrace' the new tasks with which she is faced. The tutor will be able to provide guidance in time management, with which the pupil can better organise her increasingly pressured life. As well as in the organisation of the child's work, the private tutor can also assist by providing tailored instruction in specific areas. Through questions and personalised lessons and exercises, the best tutors can help a student to assimilate knowledge and progress much faster, leading to impressive gains for the student in the short term. Read our overview of private lessons worldwide elsewhere on this blog.

Home Tutoring: Exchange over the Medium Term

Home tutoring can also greatly benefit pupils over the medium term. Let's look at exams as an example of how personal tutors can help prepare students for the challenges they face. Whether GCSE or A Level tuition, or in preparation for exams in higher education, if the student feels that she has reached her own limits; that she's hit a wall in terms of realising her potential, that is when a private teacher can be of the greatest help.

While some may follow the maxim that "if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself" it is usually a good idea to stack the odds in your favour by enlisting the help of a private tutor. When exam season approaches, it's a good time to call on the cross-disciplinary competencies of a second, private, teacher. Are you preparing for a foreign language oral exam? Then make the most of your private tuition time with your teacher by practising conversing in the language. All the practice you can get with your tutor during this time will be of great help when the exam comes, and will help you get the grades you are aiming for. If you are tutored by a parent, it's essential to think of this as a form of exchange, rather than of reprimand: One that will lead you to achieve better grades and, therefore, open you up to a wider range of options in the future. To find a tutor that suits your needs, read more about the numerous tutoring agencies out there. What do you know about the history of private tuition?

Private Tutoring: A Long Term Exchange

The choice of subjects going into GCSE level is an important step in a child's education.  Making poor choices at this stage can cause delays that are, while not irreversible, nonetheless inconvenient.

Why not help a student prepare for these important decisions by supporting them from the outset with quality teaching support?

Right from the start of secondary school, educational and careers guidance plays a role, whether pupils are aware of this or not. Every term counts and the entirety of each school year must be taken seriously, especially for those who have already settled on their intended choice of A Levels and even career choice. The increased intensity of lessons in the run up to GCSEs also provides school teachers with an opportunity to assess the relative strengths of each pupil.

A home tutor will help you target and work towards your chosen specialisation, which will benefit you greatly in the long run. This will determine, in part, your available options for post-GCSE topics and subsequent study. In this way, private lessons have helped guide pupils in the academic choices for years.

How Home Tuition Benefits Tutors

While tutoring is undoubtedly beneficial to the student, the personal tutor, too, can derive many benefits from it, which is where the element of exchange enters into the picture.

Private Tuition: Another Way of Teaching

Teaching is a perpetual challenge. Throughout their careers, teachers must constantly adapt to:

• new curriculums
• new generations of pupils
• new tools and methods
• new classes full of different characters

The same applies to one to one tuition. Education, whether public or private, involves constant adaptation. This is even the case with one-to-one lessons with a single student. The pupil may, for example, be subject to real difficulties or blockages in a subject you are teaching. In such cases, it is up to the teacher to use his creativity to find ways around the impediment. Once the tutor achieves the desired results, however, it can only be of benefit to his professional development, in terms of experience, and so each new tutee, with the challenges she may present, is a valuable learning experience.

Additional Learning for those in Higher Education

Private teachers are often themselves full-time students in their higher education: Those studying to become the engineers, doctoral students, computer scientists, or teachers of tomorrow.

For this type of private teacher, giving private lessons can be a great way to practice teaching their subject of study, either as a way of reviewing material, or to practice the discipline of teaching itself. Is there a better way for a future teacher to train, than to practice her profession whilst simultaneously learning it in theory? If in the courses she takes, she learns about her chosen profession, then in dispensing of lessons, she puts it into practice.

• How do you address a student's difficulties?
• How do you encourage him to improve his marks?
• How do you develop your own potential?
• How to unblock a student who's stuck on a topic?
• How do you approach a difficult character?

By practising teaching in the context of private tuition in the UK, the tutor can discover, for herself, the answers to these questions, and more.

Personal Tutoring for Personal Development

Teaching can be frustrating. Often the teacher, faced with a class of thirty pupils, cannot resolve the issues which prevent each from reaching his or her full potential. She is unable to devote the necessary time to each and every member of the class. Private tutors, on the other hand, find it easier, in a one-on-one setting, to help a pupil overcome blockages and meet learning goals.

The one to one format allows a tutor to adopt a more personalised, targeted teaching style, better suited to the individual student. Once the desired results are achieved through such means, frustration gives way to the satisfaction of having helped a student progress. This could be said to be the essence of the profession, in a nutshell.

Earning Money through Home and Online Tutoring

We have looked at the personal and professional benefits that teachers can derive from their private lessons. While both are very important, let's not forget that private tuition is above all a good way to earn a supplementary wage or a living. For those already in jobs, the extra hours always bring welcome financial reward, especially since they are often better paid than those spent teaching during regular school hours.

Finally, we looked at the advantages to tutors who are themselves students. The private tuition they give allows them to finance part of their studies, which will later allow them to enter the workforce. Teaching a topic is, furthermore, a great way of reinforcing one's own knowledge of it. Learn what the future holds for the profession of private tutoring.