AIBU to think this tutor has an attitude?

But revision strategies aren't going to fill any gaps in knowledge, or help your DS learn to structure essays in the format that ensures he ticks the box for the examination criteria.

Revision strategies are really useful to ensure the knowledge already learned and understood is memorised and retained in the exam environment, not to give a student what they need in the subject matter of the history they are learning in the current curriculum.

Agree entirely. Tutors help reinforce what’s being taught and hopefully inspire the child and help them feel more confident. They are not purely a revision tool!

I’d be mortified if my child were late for a lesson due to sleeping in — in fact, if I knew this’d even be a possibility, I’d be ensuring they were up and firing on all cylinders well before the lesson.

It’s hard to hear when someone identifies your own child possibly not doing as well as you’d hoped but I’d take his advice seriously and chat to your child about the options — both perhaps studying more and (if still fruitless) alternative subjects. The tutor will be seeing all kinds of children (probably more of the type who need support) so if he’s warning you it may be too much for your child, it won’t be unfounded.

Well get one of them to tutor your son in revision techniques then.

You need to listen to the tutor. It's wonderful that your DS has a natural passion for history, but it's one thing to love reading about history and another to sit exams in the subject based on examination criteria. I did a level history some years ago now and remember the first essay I did at AS level got a C when I was all A's in GCSE, my first lesson in how much more is expected of you at A Level. It's a big leap. The tutor is correct.

It's a shame in a way as he's clearly interested.

I'm more than shocked. Genuinely. Not sarcasm.

You're seriously worried about your sons results. So you've hired an unqualified, inexperienced student to tutor him?

Why haven't you hired a proper teacher? Ideally an examiner in this subject and exam board?

You can't possibly expect a student to understand how to teach a low ability child, possibly with some degree of special educational needs.

You have 6 months before the exam. Either invest in a couple of sessions a week with a qualified and experienced teacher who teaches the exact same exam board and course code, or stop wasting your money.

Teaching isn't something just anyone can do. And your son has very specific and series gaps in his knowledge and his skills (how to write essays). You need an expert.

@SoCloseToNothing1981 The tutor ran through the questions with DS, and that was when DS realised he hadn't actually done the Cold War and he'd gotten the name confused with something else.

Sorry... but how on earth do you get the Cold War confused with anything else at all?

(And this is coming from someone who is not old enough to have a living memory of any part of the Cold War).

Have only read OP's posts so I'm sure I'm repeating what others have already said, but:

Why are you so focussed on having the tutor "prioritise teaching DS how to revise history" when the tutor has stressed that your son has huge "knowledge gaps"? To revise means to re-view - to go over the stuff that you have already covered and to cement that knowledge firmly in place. But, your son "doesn't make notes in the lessons" meaning that "DS has got no notes at all from the beginning of the year"- so he has nothing to review/revise.

How can your son revise something that he simply does not know?

Oh for goodness sake, stop blaming it all on the tutor. He seems to be able to give good and accurate advice.
”the thing is…” and “I want….” This is your son’s responsibility, don’t choose for him and he will live with the consequences.
either way, if he’s at a 2 (not passing) and could potentially be brought up to a 4 if he wants to be committed, it’s still not enough as you said he needs a 6, right?

OP I’m a teacher (not history but the very basics of teaching are the same whatever your subject). Here is a very basic outline of what the tutor needs to do to have any hope of pushing up your DS’s grade:

Baseline his subject knowledge - this is to find out what facts he knows already as there’s no point teaching that again. This will also flag up important gaps.

Assess his basic skills- what are his essay writing skills like and how does he handle things like source materials? Does he have the skills needed to use them usefully in an exam?

Once that has been established and not before, the tutor can then start to teach your son the key facts he needs to know and then teach him how to turn those facts into proper exam answers. Facts on their own are no good, you also need to acquire key skills in how to answer questions well - wording your answers, how long a particular answer should be for the marks given etc.

Once he’s doing that (when he has enough subject knowledge and has acquired a sufficient skill level to transfer that knowledge into comprehensible exam answers) he can be taught how to revise what he knows. This will largely focus on revising the facts.

You are trying to start at the end of the process not the beginning. Learning how to revise, when he doesn’t really know anything yet makes no sense whatsoever. Having a great revision technique is useless if your gaps in your subject knowledge are so big you haven’t got a coherent understanding of each topic.

This is going to take a lot of hard work and it means starting right at the beginning and slogging on through. It’s only worth paying money to a tutor if a) your son is sufficiently motivated to knuckle down and work hard and b) if you let the tutor do his job and teach what he needs to teach.

If all you’re after is revision technique you don’t need a tutor quite honestly as it’s really not rocket science. It sounds like your son really does need a lot of extra work if he’s going to pass this exam and that includes boosting his subject knowledge quite significantly and learning the key skills as well. If you don’t understand or accept this you might as well dismiss the poor tutor now.

Oh dear. OP, you need to rewind a bit. I get that originally wanted the tutor to help plan and support revision but he's quickly ascertained that the first and most significant issue to be tackled is the huge knowledge gaps in the actual subject. Revision is going over what you've already learned. But big gaps of learning are missing and he can't "revise" what isn't there!

You need to listen to the tutor. If you're adamant son won't change subject you need to commit to the three hours a week to catch up on filling the knowledge gaps. If your son puts in the effort there will hopefully still be time to get up to speed and then work on revision methods but he's got to do the groundwork first.

Can everyone stop saying this has to be a wind up. Either accept this a parent who is struggling to reconcile her expectations/ hope for her son and the reality or just leave the thread alone.

Commenting doesn’t help. If it is real you are just upsetting someone who is already upset

Press report if you are concerned.

I'm a teacher. There was zero point in the tutor teaching him revision if he doesn't even have the knowledge to recall. He didn't even know what topic he was covering in class, has taken no notes all year and is getting 2s and 3s in mocks. He sounds neither interested or capable subject.

This thread can't be anything but a wind up

It sounds to me as though the tutor has gone above and beyond here yet you still don't value them at all.
Everything you've said about the tutor suggests they know exactly what they're doing and is giving you and your son good advice. You just don't want to listen. You're even telling them how to do their job when you clearly do not know better.
Your friends suggestion is a good revision technique but you can only ask students to do that when they have the base knowledge already. How can your son make connections between 2 or more ideas if he doesn't have any knowledge of them? You are jumping 10 steps ahead. The tutor is much more in the right place.
Your son has clearly made no effort at school - no notes, doesn't even know what topic he's studying. And you and your DH make no real effort to make sure he does. Letting him get up late, not having his laptop charged, ringing from on holiday because you couldn't arrange to be available at the right time. None of this shows any of you value the education.
If I was the tutor, I'd have told you I wasn't prepared to do it any longer. They clearly have the patience of a saint or need the money (maybe both). I notice you've already lost 2 tutors already. I'd seriously get your act together or you're going to lose a 3rd.

🙄

Your son has a tutor to get a pass from gcse history. Not a tutor to get from an 8 to a 9. He will struggle with A-Level. He really should not opt to do the A-Level.

and you should be taking him to college open days and he should be making discussions with his careers advisor about what he wants to do next. You are not the one who decides what subjects he should do.

If he was professional potential in cricket he would be playing in county development teams. I think the OP would have mentioned this.

I actually agree with not stopping the cricket, this is very much flogging a dead horse with history and will just make the son miserable for little (or no) gain.

Looking at careers in sports could be a good shout if he is interested. BTEC extended diplomats worth 3 Alevels. https://www.psc.ac.uk/study/course/extdiplomasport#

Or cricket could be a hobby and not a career path at all.

The tutor isn't wrong, I feel like the jump from GCSE to A level is bigger than the jump from A Level to University level.
If he hasn't taken any notes at all, he clearly isn't very committed to learning the subject. You either need to cut cricket and focus on History or admit that history just isn't his subject and he can do his best but probably won't get a very good GCSE out of it.

If he is struggling this much now with it at GCSE, it will be impossible to continue as an A Level.

This is actually really rude. University students often tutor and are usually well qualified to do so. They also have up-to-date knowledge of the curriculum.

Claiming to work in education as a school receptionist is like claiming to work in the film industry as DVD repair man.

OP, you son is getting Ds and Es in his mocks. Nothing is going to get him up to a standard to take History A-level, not even God Almighty.

OK. I hold my hands up. Just reread ALL of this thread. Your tutor is a uni student? SO basically not even a qualified teacher?

Stop expecting some kid who is not qualified in the slightest to take your child through A level. Although in fairness i agree with everything you say he's said!

Pay properly - get a proper teacher. You're looking at about £60+ per hour depending where you are.

"I did message the tutor that we were going to be late if he wanted to grab himself a coffee or something."

That's so rude. You are wasting the tutor's time. Why should he wait around whilst you can't be arsed turning up on time? I'm sure your son is not his only tutee. Why should your lack of planning impact on other student's lesson time?

I've had to reread your post again and again tbh. You are the problem, and your son. It baffles me how rude and entitled people are towards tutors, most of whom are qualified teachers. Stop telling him how to do his job, get your child there on time and listen to what he's telling you, which politely is that your son is wasting your money.

Yabu.

he’s on his 3rd tutor…. That’s an indication that he needs more than tutoring can offer.

he has severe knowledge gaps, no notes, can’t structure his essays and has issues with sources. That all comes together as someone with big, big issues.

he cannot do it for A level. You and he need to accept that and stop all the flapping. Maybe the tutoring will help him get a better mark at gcse so it’s not a waste, but move on from the a level idea.

tutor sounds absolutely fine but probably frustrated. As do several other posters, so maybe reflect on how defensive you sound and how you aren’t holding DS accountable.

So do you accept that your son has huge knowledge gaps that no revision technique will fill? Because if you don’t know something you can’t revise it!

Next, his results are very very poor. Why didn’t you know how bad they were?

Third, he has offered you three hours. If you think his downtime or cricket is more important than doing well in a subject he wants to do for his A levels, then that is not your tutor’s problem. He cannot work miracles.

Finally, what grades did your son get in the rest of his mocks? Given his and your attitude to education I would be amazed if this was a history only problem…

On the assumption that this is genuine…

Both of my DC are dyslexic so we agreed that history was a non-starter because of the volume of written work. Both did geography instead because it allowed for shorter more focused answers. DS2 also dropped his foreign language GCSE to focus on English as 8 GCSEs at good grades are better than 9 where 2 would be lower grades.

Your DS’s lack of note taking and disorganisation makes me wonder if he has SEN/Spld.

DS1 tutors STEM (he has a BSc and MSc) and would always do a baseline test and teach to the exam spec.

DS2 had serious health problems during his A levels and did have tutors to help him catch up on missed work. They were filling gaps in his knowledge and I expected him to revise as well. He was good at the subjects with high GCSE grades but A level is much harder. He is now in Uni but it took a heck of a lot of effort to catch up the missed work even on subjects he was strong in.

Don’t set your DS up to fail. Is sending a lot of time catching up with history the right thing for him or should he be focusing on other subjects. Does the school see any evidence of SEN? How is his reading and writing and processing?

In my DC’s school the minimum grade for progressing to A level was a 6 and for some subjects a 7 or above was strongly preferred.

Just come back to add that I think a lot of government messaging in the media around ‘catch up’ following Covid was quite misleading and, with a huge focus on and funding put into tutoring, created a false idea about what tutoring is for and can actually achieve. (As an aside it was often impossible to actually recruit qualified tutors in some areas of the country).

I wonder if this is where some of the OP’s misconceptions about the purpose and limitations of tutoring have come from.