If your child doesn’t have the self discipline to study alone GCSE?

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DC seem to work well with tutor; they said she always concentrates and work hard; however doing tutor homework at home with us is another story; they tried (after lots of reminders) but give up easily and go and do something else. DC is still not achieving a pass in this core subject.

Will you increase hours tutoring if you can afford it to give them the best chance?

I think she is capable but just don’t have the maturity /self discipline yet to see the big picture.

I think I would do a 2 pronged approach to it, increase the tutoring but also try to help them figure out a way to stay on task and build some resilience. The main thing that motivates a lot of them is if they dislike a subject ie English Language or Maths if they don't pass it they will still be working on it for 2 years to pass it.How long can she stay on task before she moves onto something else and what is the something else? Can you remove the distraction? Would she study with a friend who would actually encourage the studying? A library?

My own child hated English Language but absolutely knuckled down to master it. But we did it together, past paper walk throughs, talking about the mark scheme answers and clearly seeing what you get marks for. Make it easier for them, help them in any way you can.

What are your child's next step plans? A levels? BTECs? Can they do as many as they want if they are also going to be resitting a GCSE core subject? They also have this entire summer to work on this and nail it and remind them of the grade curve and the unfairness of how they are all assessed. I told mine it might not be fair but this is how they grade everyone.

I agree, it might be worth talking to DD to make sure she understands that if she doesn't get a 4+ in this subject (assuming Eng lang or maths) then she will have to continue until she does (or anyway for two years). Also getting that grade opens a lot more doors post-16 and post-18.

Also yes, are you taking an active part in the revision process? People learn in different ways. For one of my DC the best thing to do was literally take a past paper and go for a walk and get them to answer the questions, rather than writing it down. Going over and over the questions from different papers or even the same one.

For some DC it really helps to have someone to explain the learning to (maybe less for maths and Eng lang tbf). Or work with a friend on the written tasks; or body double where they are doing their maths HW and you are also sitting there quietly working on, well, anything – but say a work task or household admin.

I personally think that if the DC is not doing the crucial practice work for the tutor, booking more hours with the tutor may not be the way to resolve this. What does DD say about why she is not doing the work?

Thanks. She only started with the tutor recently. I have been keeping her informed of homework; she is doing some of it but not all; it takes a lot of encouragement/reminders on my end.

I started taking a more active part. Print homework; looked at it and listened to the video before hand. Sat down with her and started explaining when she got stuck; she said I was confusing her and is not the way she learned it. I explained the same way the videos explained and the answers were written. I left it to her, she did another 10min and off she went.

Had some spare time this morning; I reminded her of the rest but wasn’t keen,

I think I will cut my losses, book and extra hour tutoring, hope she matures a bit more next few months, start applying herself after she gets more confidence in the subject. Pray for the best.

She knows she will have to resit if she doesn’t pass. I asked tutor to explain grade curve.

I'm confused - GCSE exams are over so is she taking them next May/June? or working towards resits (but then presumably she would have just sat the exams recently and you wouldn't have results yet?)

If it's for exams next summer, then I'm not surprised she is struggling to focus now - they must seem a long way away.

i think it's very easy to sit and work with someone for an hour. It's not easy to put in sustained work. By all means book another hour with the tutor (but you might find that she balks at that as well), but she/you also need to work out the way that she learns best and you can't book 2 hours of tutoring for every subject.

clary has some good suggestions. For a child that struggles to focus little and often can be a good strategy. Break a subject down into really small units. Aim for 20-25 minutes work with a defined end goal.

It can be tricky to try to explain it to them - if that doesn’t work I would focus more on ensuring she spends time trying to work on the homework, watching explanatory videos if they’re ones the school or tutor have suggested, doing practice questions. It’s not ok for her to walk away after 10 minutes - if she’s not putting time in, then some sort of “no screens until have spent enough time on homework” or similar?

Thank you. I will have a chat with her, retain screens for half an hour. I will encourage 20min per day.

She is in year 10 and still doing tutoring.

It is only one subject she is struggling with. No way we could do tutoring for all subjects

At her age, she should be able to study. There are plenty of kids aged 10 doing the 11+ that put in the work to pass the exams. Are there other distractions such as phone? You might need to plan for study hours and take her phone during that time. Many kids are not self starters, but should be able to study once you set aside the time and make sure there are no distractions.

If she's doing fine in all other subjects then look at how she is working for those and what is different here. (If you could say the subject posters might have specific hints). Is it concepts she doesn't understand? Does she find it dull so is not trying? Does she need a base of knowledge that she doesn't have? Identifying this, and study skills that she uses successfully in other subjects would be really helpful.

Not really helpful to compare to younger children.

There are plenty of kids at 10 or 11 that also struggle with studying.
And some of the children that did well at 10 or 11 may now be struggling at 15.

Yes agree with @redskyAtNigh – can you say what the subject is? If she is doing fine in other subjects that's a real positive (in the sense that she has ability, can concentrate, can do the work) so what is the issue with this subject? Is she able to articulate this? Many subjects have crossover in terms of skills.

I cannot stress enough how much you need her on board. Book more tutoring if you think it will help, but make sure DD is happy about that. I have seen numerous YP do badly at a subject and the parents have said "but we got them a tutor" as if that is a magic solution. If the subject is maths then practice of questions is key.

Maths

Corbett 5 a day https://corbettmaths.com/5-a-day/gcse/ might work - as the name suggests it's 5 questions a day targetted at the level the student is working at. It keeps the session short which will hopefully help her. And it will enable you to identify areas in which she is struggling that she can pick up in tutoring (although the tutor should be doing that as well).