AIBU to think this tutor has an attitude?

The only time I've ever used mindmaps is when the essay comes to me very clearly in a kind of flash of inspiration and I want to capture it visually.

I never found them useful unless and until I was all over the topic. (A * student)

ETA they certainly aren't the fundamental aspect of many courses, nor are they a cure for lack of knowledge.

I don't want to be kind about a child, but maybe this is a subject that isn't really for him. Not every subject suits every student.

Funnily enough I'd say the poor bloke has seen a mind map before - lol - although @SoCloseToNothing1981 seems to think she's discovered nuclear fusion ...

He's hopefully girding his loins to deal with a yet another parent who thinks by throwing money at something they can overcome their child's lack of ability, hard work and organisation. Must be a hell of a job.

Is this one of those daft reverses? If not you are being obtuse. Plenty of posters have already told you that. You make way too many excuses for your son and sound a bit slapdash yourself so maybe that is where he gets it from.

A good tutor would always want to establish a baseline. They need to have a starting point to know key weaknesses and where the improvement is needed. What on earth is the point about going on about mindmaps when your son isn't making actual notes during classes and isn't engaging with the subject matter in a meaningful way.

The tutor is not a good fit for you and you are wasting their time and yours. Speak to school,ask which exam board he is studying for history. Print off the curriculum and go from there. If you want a tutor specifically for exam skills try to find someone who focuses in those skills rather than a specific subject so he can learn how to organise, plan and prep his revision no matter what the subject.

It is important to listen to the experts. If his teacher and the tutor are saying he shouldn't pursue history to A-level then maybe he shouldn't. He isn't motivated.

From the way he worded the response and the fact they are speaking on the phone later, I'd highly likely that he's reconsidering the arrangement.

Many tutors are teachers/ex teachers and one of the benefits is not having to work with families like this if you don't want to.

Most won't continue to work with a family where they don't feel the child is making progress because they're not just in it for the money and there's a high degree of professional integeity involved too. It's not uncommon for tutors to end the tutoring arrangement if the child isn't making progress or even engaged and where the parent has unrealistic expectations and isn't listening.

Oh dear. You asked for a history tutor, but then ask the history tutor to teach revision skills in the vacuum that is your son’s knowledge of history. In all honesty, your son sounds hopelessly disorganised and inattentive. Does he not have a diagnosis for ADHD or dyspraxia or something? And how come you think he is doing OK in other subjects if the problem is his revision skills? Surely an inability to comprehend how to revise effectively would impact every subject?

Yes I was wondering if English Lit might be more up his street, as you get the ‘olden days vibes’ but without having to refer to dates, facts, cross referencing sources

To echo another poster, to do revision you need to have subject content to revise. Until you know the syllabus content, you’ve actually nothing to revise. (I’m a teacher BTW)

Lots of great posts on here btw @SoCloseToNothing1981

Please please listen to what the tutor has to say today. Make sure your son is on time and ready to learn. Talk to the tutor about how you see this going forward. Take his advice as he is the expert. All the best to your son – but he might want to reconsider A levels and look at subjects he really enjoys and does well at.

“He hasn’t replied yet”

I expect he is busy making himself a mind map of everything he would like to say to you.

Actually philosophy A level is not really about using reasoning; it's much more a test of did you understand what xxx philosopher said and wrote, or what philosophical terms mean.

Sample questions from paper 1:
What is the difference between a necessary truth and a contingent truth?

Explain how the argument from hallucination presents an issue for direct realism.
Outline indirect realism and explain Berkeley’s objection that mind-dependent ideas cannot be like mind-independent objects.
To what extent is Descartes’ intuition and deduction thesis successful?

Pretty much based in knowledge of the facts and (for the last one) arguing your viewpoint. But you need to know what the thesis was.

Philosophy A level is not offered that often tbf. And in fact the OP mentioned phil and ethics which is basically RS. Still lots of facts and theories to learn and evaluate.

I haven’t read all posts but I have read all of OP’s replies and it seems the problem here is that OP wants her son to learn how to revise. Yes that’s excellent he does need to know how to revise. However the fact he seems to have 0 knowledge of the actual subject means he has nothing to revise in the first place. What he needs to do is be taught and learn or be taught how to learn and absorb that knowledge first before he even thinks about revising.

I for example know nothing about veterinary medicine, I can’t simply use my knowledge on how to revise for my various GCSE subjects to revise on a subject I know nothing about.

Significant amount of maths in economics OP - how is his maths?

Exactly. What can he put in the mind maps if he doesn't know say the key causes of the first world war?

But anyway OP - you clearly know exactly how tutoring should work so I am very surprised you don't just do it yourself with your little history afficionado

Honestly, she might not be, you absolutely get parents like this. Every other child in the class gets it, their kid doesn’t and yet somehow it’s your teaching that’s the problem. Um.

If he's no good at analysing source material or essay writing, Philosophy and Ethics is a terrible idea.

I am also wondering how the subject of mindmaps came up?

Was it with OP's friend, who is her friend and therefore unlikely to say 'Honestly, the issue is your son isn't bright and doesn't do the work' so suggested some revision tips.

Or was it the son, who has cottoned on that if he blames everyone for not giving him revision tips then it isn't his fault when he does badly?

FWIW mindmaps didn't exist when I was at school, I've had a look and my gut reaction was 'that's confusing and time consuming, I'd never bother with that'. They are going to help some people but won't be for everyone.

Sounds like the tutor is being honest and professional. His suggestion of your son swapping courses means he loses a client/fees.

Like others have said, focussing on revision techniques is a bit daft if there are big gaps in your son's knowledge of the subject.

God save us from the products of this type of parenting. Get real, @SoCloseToNothing1981. Your child - despite having numerous tutors is clearly not academic enough to be doing A levels in any subject unless he gets a 6 or above in them. The jump from GCSE to A level is really quite significant - and your child is being both taught at school AND by an experienced one on one tutor. Sounds like he may scrape through with scaffolding but a child should not be doing something for A level that they needed tutoring for at GCSE in the absence of some really extenuating circumstance.

You seem deluded and with a combination of very strong opinions on what constitutes good tutoring (newflash - only a tiny bit is about "exam and revision technique"). But your constant excusing of both yourself and your child in terms of misssing zooms, being let down by tutors and having a terrible time with the course suggests the issue is very much you. Not every child is academic - sounds like yours may not be - and that's ok.

I’m only up to here. I can tell you op, that if you brought your attitude to me as a tutor, you would also be getting a ‘sorry, I’m fully booked’ response from me. I am not remotely surprised 2 prior tutors wouldn’t take you on, and think what you’ve said about the tutor so far, that he is an absolute saint. I am getting quite bored of the current trend of some parents blaming the teacher when the problem is simply that their child isn’t capable.

Oh dear OP I can feel your frustration through your posts, but you are getting good advice both here and from the tutor.

There is a clear disparity between what you say about your DS and how he is behaving though.

You say: he enjoys history and wants to do it at A-level.

But he isn’t behaving, in any way as if that is actually the case.

He isn’t taking notes in class.
He clearly isn’t even paying attention in class
He isn’t making an effort to attend his tutorials on time.
He isn’t making an effort to be prepared for his tutorials.
He isn’t making an effort to increase his history knowledge by reading let alone revising.

None of that signals “love of history” or “desperately wants to do well enough for A-level” to me (and mind maps will fix none of the above)

GCSE and A level grades are acquired through hard work and effort on the child’s part.

You’ve had lots of conversations with the tutor about how he isn’t performing up to your expectations - you might want to start with some serious conversations with your son about what he actually wants and how much effort he’s prepared to put in.

OP, I think you are desperate for a quick fix when there is none.

Your son needs to take notes, study, write out what he has learnt in bullet points on a topic, see his knowledge gaps and fill them in.

There is no short cut to avoid reading and rereading the course material.
That is how it is learnt.

If he is thinking of it beyond A level, surely he should be invested in learning tha material now.

I think the tutor sounds very patient, and realistic about your son.

It reads as if your son is lazy and is expecting mum to figure it out for him.

You cannot do the exams for him.
I think you need to toughen up big time, for his sake as much as yours.

The tutor needs to have a clear idea of what topics are being studied for so they can adequately support. From what I’ve read there seems to be a disconnect here with your son giving him wrong information, which is understandable- he’s a child and all children learn differently and have different learning needs.
Does the tutor have a full copy of the content and what is being covered when to be able to support him correctly?

There are two things that he needs to be successful in the exams- the subject knowledge and retaining that subject knowledge through study and recall techniques that work for him. It is fair that the tutor would want to look for gaps in knowledge but finding recall techniques that work for your son is key as well.

As an experienced educator I don’t believe that anyone is ‘not good at a subject’. What I believe is people have different barriers and learning needs and these need to be addressed. Not all tutors have the relevant experience or training in this area. I talk from experience having started as a secondary school teacher and receiving very little training in this.
I’m not saying your son has special needs but he would benefit more from a tutor who has got experience in this area as they will be able to better identify strategies to support his barriers to learning in this subject.

The poor tutor. I’m sure they can do without the stress of you & your DS.

Cod wars?