How does tutoring actually work?

[Mimx]

I’m in the process of getting a tutor for DS (y9) for science - have got a couple of options lined up to explore with people who are day-job teachers - but I’m wondering how it all normally works. How do they work out what content to go through - focusing on gaps or based on what he’s learning now? Both? Do you normally make school aware of it or not? School has quite a bit on share point on what’s being taught in what order that I could supply if that’s helpful - looks like they’ve started on GCSE content. Context is that DS has had lower than ideal attendance in the last couple of years with a recurrent health issue and there are gaps in his understanding that he’s not been able to catch up with by himself that are necessary for what he’s learning now. So I’m keen to understand more about it all before I get into choosing the tutor.

Our tutor asks DS what he's been doing in class that week, if there's anything he wants to cover, and they also usually do his homework together as well.

He talks to DS a lot about his working out (this is for maths), which I think helps him identify gaps in his understanding.

We haven't made school aware - that would involve school engaging in communication with us which hasn't really happened in any meaningful way yet...

It sounds as if you have some idea of where the gaps are, in which case you tell the tutor and they focus on those.

I usually reckon it's best for the tutor not to be doing the topics they're currently doing in school - that can end up with the tutor teaching them something they then turn out to be doing next lesson, which is a bit of a waste. So better to mop up past topics, especially any which underpin what's coming up. That also means more revisiting, which is always helpful for retention.

If you don't know the gaps, it can be worth asking for a copy of the last test at school, which will give the tutor a starting point.

I tutor maths and was a teacher for a long time.

If a student is in gcse years I would usually ask for school to scan or photocopy their most recent exam and would work from that initially.

If not, or if that is not available, I'd assess them myself basically doing some maths with them and working out what they are weak on.

Some students have specific weaknesses - algebra, etc, while others don't and just need general all round.

I'm a tutor and I just start with the basics and work up, find their weak spots and focus mainly on them

Really no point in working through the syllabus alongside the school, as that can easily end up with the tutor getting slightly ahead and starting to teach things the school will be teaching the next week, which the pupil may well have been able to handle without help. Can't really see the point in a tutor "hand holding" the pupil through the current work.

The most effective tutoring is to fill gaps in knowledge/understanding, and to help the pupil catch up if they're behind or struggling, to get them back on track so that they're in the best possible place to benefit from the normal school teaching. That would usually mean the tutor working out the pupil's weaknesses, either by looking at a previous end of year test/exam, or the tutor setting their own questions/test to gauge the ability level of the pupil and their weaknesses etc. Once the tutor knows what standard the pupil is currently working to, they should be able to provide tailored tuition to concentrate on weaknesses etc. That would typically entail going back and re-teaching earlier/younger topics that aren't well enough understood.

It can help if the tutor knows what particular topic is being studied at school at the time, so if they've a lot of old topics to revise and reteach, they can prioritise skills/knowledge that are relevant for current and near future school teaching, so at least to help the pupil not get further behind and engage more usefully with current teaching. Not really much point in, say, revising speed/distance equations in Physics if at school they're currently working in class on electrics - the tutor would be better working through earlier speed/distance issues and leaving the electrics revision.

Different age and subject (maths), but our tutor started by assessing DD as well as me giving a list in advance of areas of difficulty I had noticed or had been noted in school reports. Her assessment was DD had a few crucial gaps in her knowledge plus flagged concern about her working memory (DD now has diagnoses for ASD and ADHD, but school weren't seeing it. The tutor had spotted it within the first few sessions). The tutor then went right back to basics on each problem area and built it up to where her knowledge should be, ensuring DD understood the 'whys'. These days we let her know what DD is doing in school and she'll do a bit of that to check DD is confident with what she's currently learning, sometimes teaching a different method if DD is struggling with the school's, but mostly focuses on known ongoing difficulties (mostly wordy maths Qs!) and other maths-related problem solving skills that will support her learning.

It's best if you know which specification your DC is studying at school. The tutor just goes through the specification topics focusing on topics the DC is weaker on.

Thanks all, this has demystified it all a bit for me!