AIBU to think this tutor has an attitude?

I have good A level results, a 2:1 degree from a Russell Group University and 2 post graduate qualifications. However, I could not do History A level, I was rubbish. I gave it up after a term.

You're fixated on the revision side, but he can't revise what he doesn't know. There's a fundamental lack of understanding in your posts, from the baseline to the blaming three tutors in succession for all being wrong in different ways, yet excusing your DS no matter what because he slept in/didn't charge laptop/was up early the day before/doesn't take notes and so on and on. It's actually really good of a tutor to tell a client when they're wasting their time and money rather than fleece them when their kid isn't stepping up and demonstrating basic ability. If you're determined to stick with this tutor, stop it with the revision fixation and follow your DH's advice to just let them get on with your job. You may see managing the tutor as your job, but if that was your job, you would be let go. I'm sorry because you obviously want to do the best for your DS, but right from the start where you're questioning the baseline test, your attitude was an issue.

I used to tutor maths. While doing an initial baseline assessment makes sense, I don’t actually do it because I think it overwhelms kids at the very start when you need to focus on them being comfortable with you. I check their basic written arithmetic skills with a few questions and then get started on a topic they have said they need help with (I ask the parents in advance so that I can have something prepared) so that they can see some immediate improvement in something they thought they couldn’t do and that builds confidence.

The thing that’s gone badly wrong I think is that your son’s knowledge of the syllabus is so patchy that he made the mistake of giving the wrong topic to the tutor. It’s all very well saying he needs to learn to revise, but revise implies going over material you are already somewhat familiar with, whereas it sounds like he’s practically starting from scratch with a lot of it.

If it’s study skills you think he needs then you could try to find a tutor who focuses on just that rather than being subject specific. Or you could buy some revision guides for him that condense the information into key points for you.

When it comes to revising, rather than reading the same material over and over again, he should read it once or twice and then try to write down what he remembers about it. Then go back and check his answers, and have another go. It is the act of recall that strengthens the memory. If you just keep reading the same thing over and over it becomes very familiar so you think you know it, but will often find you can’t actually remember any of it afterwards.

I suspect the history tutor is rather fed up with you and will be relieved if you do not continue with tuition. If you are going to continue then you need to back off and give them a chance to attempt to teach your son without your interference. Being realistic, your son probably needs to have a rethink about taking history A-level. That’s not the tutor’s fault, and it’s not fair to be annoyed that they told you this.

Agree with others that your son may well not be suited to A levels. And your understanding of tutoring is really poor too. The tutor sounds like he is trying very hard but is hitting his head against a brick wall(you).

99% of people think you're being unreasonable.

Does that not tell you something? Or are you going to carry on the way you are and argue with everyone, and go through yet another tutor because you're intent on being "right" no matter what?

Chatting about this last night a teacher friend saying his senior colleague view is actually a 6 at gcse isn’t actually enough to do the a level. It means you only got about half the gcse exam right and a levels are a massive leap from gcse. If he does history a level he’ll likely fail it sorry. This happened to a family member.

Dd got an A star for history A level she’s driven conscientious and worked like a demon. Really not getting those vibes from your son!

The tutor sounds great. You sound like 'that' parent.

Surely if you think mind maps and flashcards are the key to all this then you could teach your son this? Without the knowledge they would be blank though!

Mind maps don't help everyone. For some people they are a complete waste of time. We have different learning styles. You could try and find out your sons learning style by doing a test on line.

I doubt the boy will pass his history GCSE if he can't remember dates, write essays or get out of bed for a rutor session. So he won't be accepted onto an A-level course in it anyway. Is he enjoying other subjects? What's the school say?
And does he actually exist? Or is the OP actually a tutor enjoying displaying what some parents are like?

I have sent the tutor a sample mind-map template my friend uses with her class as I thought it might help him see what I mean. He hasn't replied yet, which again is frustrating.

I think you're going to be looking for tutor number 4 very soon...

This. You are wasting his time.

I've never known a tutor to teach someone 'how to revise' in year 11. Has he never taken an exam before? It sounds perfectly reasonable.
You say his memory for dates is crap amd always had been so I don't see how the tutor can force him to take in information and remember it.

He will probably reply with a message telling you to find another tutor. I dbubt if he needs your suggestions as to how to do his job.

Honestly it seems that you are missing the point. Your son has huge gaps.in his knowledge, to the point where he didnt even know what period of history he had been studying. And you're more worried about revision techniques!
To revise he has to know the facts. You could do the mind map at home with him yourself. You said you have the template.
Also contacting a tutor at the weekend and expecting f a reply and being frustrated because they haven't is so entitled.
The teacher at his school advised him not to take history so why are you surprised and frustrated with the tutor for saying he will find it at a struggle at A level? This is not new information to you.

Find a tutor who will do what you want?
Or trust the one you have to do the job?
Oh and be respectful of the tutor's time - turning in late or last minute attempts at rescheduling impact on other clients and income.

If you feel it's that easy to teach your son how to revise, why aren't you doing so yourself and having the tutor fill in the knowledge gaps which are the crux of the issue? Frankly if your child is needing tutored to hit a grade 5, they shouldn't be considering A-level in that subject.

OP, get hold of the markscheme for the exam board, they are easily available online. You will see that marks are weighted in favour of analysis, over knowledge. This means your son needs to have good subject knowledge first, in order to apply analytical skills, like evaluating sources and making judgements on historians’ interpretations. This will also include identifying causation, change, turning points, significance.

Content is taught in class. Your son will need to have a knowledge of the chronology of each topic and to understand each topic in detail. This knowledge supports his analysis in his essays. The GCSE spec has a lot of content to learn. Analytical skills and how to answer questions are also covered in class as a matter of routine. Homework etc. Will support that learning of both content and skills.

If your son doesn’t have even the basic knowledge, then he cannot revise it. You say you want revision, but what your son needs to do is learn it first. Teaching and learning are a 2 way street. The teacher facilitates the learning, but it is your son’s responsibility to commit to that learning. Then you can move onto revision. Flash cards etc.

You don’t have long to construct an essay in the exam, so right now, with mocks coming up, your son should have knowledge already embedded to call upon in the exam, so that can apply his (mastered) analytical skills. This is dependent on learner commitment.

All of this is hard work and the students that receive the best marks are the ones who commit to the course from the beginning and responds to the feedback his teacher gives on his responses to practice questions.

At this stage, your tutor will be thinking about how your son applies his skills using his existing knowledge. He can then help your son to master those skills. Without the knowledge, your son is, essentially, starting from scratch. So revising something that isn’t already there, isn’t going to work. If your son isn’t activating his cognitive skills in class, by making notes and responding to feedback, then he isn’t learning. Therefore, he cannot revise.

Students are taught revision techniques in all subjects. The techniques are the same. Every subject does mind maps.

Most schools will still be covering content and asking students to apply what they have learned to practice questions, feedback is offered and students should respond to the feedback in order to improve.

At A level, these skills are used on content that is more complex with a requirement to write essays in a greater level of analytical detail, not just in exams, but also coursework where students are asked to evaluate a number of historians’ interpretations of an enquiry.

Your tutor knows the spec back to front and knows what is required to achieve each grade level. Listen to him, you’re paying for that expertise. Bluntly, and with no wish to cause offence, you’re not the expert here.

The problem here is NOT the tutor. Not even remotely!
clearly you have your own opinions, the way/method you want your son taught, so why even bother with the tutor?

Baseline. Starting point. Not after the fact.

The tutor sounds totally reasonable to me. Also, I don’t think study techniques is the role of a subject specific tutor. I think if that’s what you wanted then you hired the wrong type of tutor. But also what would be the point in teaching your son how to make a mind map if he hasn’t learned the underlying subject (whether because the teaching is rubbish or because he hasn’t paid attention and hasn’t taken notes)?

I’m starting to think this poster is a troll.

As a teacher of an essay based subject at both GCSE and A Level, the key point you seem
to be missing OP is that if your son does not have the basic knowledge of his course, there is no point in him learning revision skills as what exactly will he be revising? He doesn’t have the knowledge to revise. The tutor is bang on in saying that your son needs to improve his understanding of the course content (and at a minimum, should be making notes in class!) and once he has a better understanding of the content of each topic, he can then look at revision techniques to help him revisit these. Without the baseline knowledge (and this will be why the tutor asked for a baseline test at the start - baseline being the starting point), there is nothing to revise. I can’t really get past the idea that he is not writing notes in class. How does he imagine he’s going to retain the huge amount of History content without any notes and what are you imagining he is going to revise from if he has nothing written in his book?

I used to tutor many years ago and I would teach students how to revise but only at the point where they had the subject knowledge to revise. If you don't have that what are you revising?

Admittedly ds2 did science subjects but he found Seneca was a brilliant way to do short bursts of learning facts and improving recall. Cheaper than a tutor anyway.

The 'doesn't know how to revise' thing is a red herring.

I teach my kids, in school and own dc, how to revise. They know all the strategies. I even give them detailed revision plans and tasks.

Some will still come to me and say 'I don't know how to revise. Can you tell me how to do x?' Because revising effectively requires effort and really, they just want to flick through some notes and ace the exam.