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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

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Original poster

Have you or your child (degree level) tutored A level students?

20 replies

chunkyriverfish · 13/05/2020 15:37

Ds is year 12 and has been matched up to current university students for A level tutoring. This is organised through Cambridge University and obviously applicants for Cambridge will be high grade achievers anyway.

If you or your son/daughter did tutor A level students whilst doing your degree, firstly how did it go and secondly why did you offer to do it?

OP posts:

ErrolTheDragon · 13/05/2020 15:54

I think this is a new initiative set up in response to schools being shut because of covid, so I'm not sure you will find people with prior experience. Though as you say it's being organised by Cambridge I'm not sure if I'm thinking of a different scheme, which is not Cambridge specific.

My DD, who is a 3rd year Cambridge engineering student signed up to a scheme being organised by oxford - which I believe is for any year 12 (and possibly also younger pupils) who need it. The aim is to redress the widening imbalance caused by some pupils being able to get private tuition. She signed up for it because she wants to help, and she's got more time on her hands than usual with her own timetable being reduced and not able to be doing all the things students would usually be doing. She was on the phone to us just now and happened to open an email telling her she's been assigned two yr 12s - she sounded genuinely delighted and enthusiastic. She enjoyed mentoring pupils struggling with gcse work when she was a 6th former, I think quite a lot of able students who understand the value of education do that sort of thing in schools - I guess this is joining the dots to the next level.

So, hopefully others will have a similar attitude.

Best wishes to your DS, hope it works out well for him!

ErrolTheDragon · 13/05/2020 16:01

I think it's this...

https://coronavirustutoring.co.uk/about

Original poster

chunkyriverfish · 13/05/2020 16:41

That's really interesting Errol and fantastic that your daughter is so generous to tutor students. My son's sixth form have uploaded all lessons online and they are completely supported, my neice who lives in another town has had no new lessons, no feedback etc. She is, unfortunately, doing completely different subjects so we cannot help her out. It has been completely demoralising for her. I am glad that some very generous people are looking to help out.

Ds is on the Cambridge HE+ scheme and was meant to be on a specific Cambridge college residential, so this offer of tutoring is being offered from that college and is not allowed to share the sign up. He has been assigned 3 tutors, 2 of whom are at Cambridge.

I won't lie, he is shitting himself over it. He is introvert and finds strangers intimidating. But I have told him they have a subject to discuss. They can communicate through email or Bramble.

OP posts:

ErrolTheDragon · 13/05/2020 17:06

Ah, right. Well, it's good there's more than one thing going on! Maybe your niece might be interested in the one I mentioned?

I'm sure he'll be fine once he starts - and doing this remotely may suit him better than the residential would have. The adjective DD has most consistently applied to people she's met at Cambridge (staff and students) is 'lovely'. The people who volunteer for this sort of thing are likely to be those who want to share knowledge, broaden access etc - DD helped on an access-type residential too a couple of years ago.

Fifthtimelucky · 13/05/2020 17:10

@ErrolTheDragon Thanks for sending the link, which I've just passed on to my daughter. She is in her 2nd year at Exeter and has been coaching GCSE students through a scheme set up between her university and local secondary schools for disadvantaged pupils.

She has really enjoyed that and found it extremely rewarding, but they only offered it for coaching in English, maths and science. The students just needed an A level in a relevant subject and my daughter is doing it in English. She was given some training and needed a DBS check. Since lockdown, she has been working remotely with a new pupil.

Her original motivation for taking part in the scheme she has been involved in was that she is considering teaching as a career and wanted some relevant experience, both to help her application and to check that she enjoyed working with secondary age pupils.

Her degree subject is generally taught only at A so she'd really enjoy working with current A level students I think.

Original poster

chunkyriverfish · 13/05/2020 21:10

Madly Errol he was really looking forward to the residential which would have been in April. Even though stuff terrifies him he still does it and he fell in love with Cambridge and the colleges when we visited before lockdown.

He currently unofficially mentors some of his friends in maths in his free periods and did peer on peer for GCSE in class. I have shared the link so hopefully other students will benefit.

Fifth again, lovely that people are giving their time to share knowledge. I am sure it will benefit her future plans already having tutored.

OP posts:

ErrolTheDragon · 13/05/2020 21:33

Even though stuff terrifies him he still does it

That's a definition of real bravery and guts, isn't it?

goodbyestranger · 13/05/2020 21:45

OP one of my DC tutored a youngish refugee child in Oxford while she was at the uni, over quite a long period. I find it odd that you ask 'why'. Surely it's too obvious to ask why a student might offer this help?

Original poster

chunkyriverfish · 14/05/2020 16:41

goodbye lots of 4 year courses have been condensed into 3 year courses and so workloads have increased, some courses do not allow you to take even a part time job and I would assume students are busy with their work.

There are truly few altruistic people out there, I myself volunteer in a school but I get a lot of satisfaction from helping to teach children. But I don't work, so have a lot of free time. Students do not appear to have a lot of free time, I cannot remember my day to day uni life but I was definitely busy.

I would think some students do it because they want to teach in the future or possibly it looks good on their CV but it is still nice to know why they are doing it.

Errol yes he is incredibly brave, I see what he physcially goes through when he is stressed, in case anyone does remember me (name changed) he was the child who physically threw up every morning he had a GCSE exam. But he pushed through, did incredibly well and has signed up for many things even though he knows it will worry him a lot. He says the alternative is never leaving the house

OP posts:

goodbyestranger · 14/05/2020 17:27

chunkyriverfish the DD in question had the usual heavy Oxford uni workload. She did it purely because she thought these youngsters needed help, and she could give it. His parents definitely thought it helped the boy with both his work and with his language/ integration too. I don't think she's ever mentioned it on any CV, it hasn't been relevant.

goodbyestranger · 14/05/2020 17:27

I'm surprised actually, that you think there are so few altruistic people around - I don't find that that's true.

frasersmummy · 14/05/2020 17:35

Not quite the same thing but I work in a uni and have one of the PhD students tutoring ds in maths.

Its worked out really well because it's tailored to what he needs work on and he can ask questions that he wouldn't ask on class for fear of looking stupid.

And tutoring looks great on a cv..

Win win

Can I ask how much us it

Fifthtimelucky · 14/05/2020 18:15

My daughter originally did it mainly for selfish reasons, as I have already said, but she has found it much more rewarding than she was expecting and has really enjoyed the feeling that she has made a difference.

She has now applied for the Oxford scheme in the link yesterday.

ErrolTheDragon · 14/05/2020 18:47

some courses do not allow you to take even a part time job and I would assume students are busy with their work.

Cambridge doesn't allow part time jobs in term time, but definitely encourages them in the summer vac (a proper internship is actually a course requirement for DD). And the residentials etc are generally during uni vacations when the accommodation is available.

Right now, she is under less load than usual because the expected 2 lab projects have been reduced to one , altered to be just the design and simulation part ... and no clubs, socialising etc. It's a win-win, really I think.

lots of 4 year courses have been condensed into 3 year courses and so workloads have increased

I've not heard of that happening much and not at all at Cambridge ... actually there's been an expansion in 4 year integrated masters. DH and I looked at the curriculum of our subject somewhere reputable (though not oxbridge) and TBH it looked more like they'd expanded a 3 year course into 4 to some extent.

goodbyestranger · 14/05/2020 22:10

lots of 4 year courses have been condensed into 3 year courses

Could you name a few of these courses OP?

ErrolTheDragon · 14/05/2020 22:22

But , to get to what the op was probably thinking about... the sorts of students who volunteer for this sort of thing probably are usually very busy with their work, but not so busy that they don't want to help people they can.

Sounds like your DS is of this ilk himself, OP - why does he help his friends?

There's a saying, if you want something doing, ask a busy person.

goodbyestranger · 14/05/2020 22:26

But I was curious about the smaller point Errol, because I can't think of any four year courses condensed to three in the unis I'm familiar with, let alone lots. I thought the trend was the other way. OP seems clear, that's why I asked.

ErrolTheDragon · 14/05/2020 23:07

I was curious too. I think it's something that's been talked about although perhaps more the idea condensing some 3 courses to 2 years with different term structure... but not sure it's something many unis are interested in, especially not the more traditional ones.

Original poster

chunkyriverfish · 15/05/2020 22:21

Errol Sounds like your DS is of this ilk himself, OP - why does he help his friends? I think because they are his friends and not strangers

As Ds has been matched with tutors attending Cambridge and a RG uni I would assume they would be busy with their own workload. I hadn't thought of practical subjects losing lab time etc.

good re the course - this was just what I was told. I attended a university open day with my friend and her daughter as I had been to uni and my friend hadn't. We attended a course info thing on teaching which would have been a 3 year degree plus a PGCE or a year for the teaching part so a 4 year course. They said they had condensed it to a 3 year degree due to tuition fees. This was a few years ago and I have a sleep since then. Maybe I mis-spoke when I said lots but it was suggested that some courses would condense to 3 years to encourage student uptake.

Re altruistic people, maybe I just live in a shit bitchy area where people are just fucking horrid to each other and are happy to drag other people through the mud. Maybe living here has coloured my view. I volunteer in a primary, when there have been other volunteers who want to go on the casual TA list, the second they get accepted on that they stop volunteering because "they can pay me to come in now" that sort of attitude. It's a lovely attitude

OP posts:

Fifthtimelucky · 28/05/2020 10:17

Thought I'd give an update on this. My daughter signed up for the Oxford scheme, and has just been assigned two year 12 students: one for her degree subject and one for English (which she has an A level in).

She's really looking forward to doing some A level coaching, especially in her subject, as her experience so far has been with English and year 10 students.

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