Advice needed about tutoring

[sietta]

Hello,

I really need some friendly advice about potential tutoring for DD.

DD will be doing GCSE next year and is really struggling with maths. I guess like all parents I know she can do better. Myself and DH have spoken to her teacher many times and usual outcome is teacher basically says I have 29 children to teach and can't spend all time with one child - fair enough... but on last meeting we said to DD teacher that perhaps she needed some extra tuition across the year. We found a great tuition centre that focused purely on exam results and seemed to really care that DD got best results she could. We showed the brochure to DD teacher, who then became very aggressive and said that 'coaching' just for the results was not the point of education.

We now feel the teacher has turned his back on DD simply because we have tried to help.

As anyone else experienced this, how common is it amongst other mums to use tuition to improve results ?

Thanks in advance for any advice

i think extra coaching for gcse is not only common, but fairly sensible, if your child needs it. i cant comment on the teachers behaviour. but, gcse results are something that actually matters in real life. ie, it helps open doors to places, not just now, but in the future too. my dsis, a qualified surgeon, had her application to the armed forces delayed by a year because she couldnt ifnd her o level certificates, and the body that took them, no longer exists.
so helping your chidl do as well as she can is simply sensible. either coach her yourself, or send her to the tuition cnetre, or get her a one on one tutor.

Get her the tuition.If by his own admission the teacher can't or won't spend the time with your dd (and he could offer to do a class at lunchtimes or after school for revision - I did for my students), then don't feel bad about it.

The teacher incidentally is judged in the state system by how his classes achieve at GCSE - it's called residuals and is a comparison of predictions vs actual grades. Pats on back for actual grades better than predicted; interview without coffee if actual grades less than those predicted.

I agree that coaching for results is not the point of education; but that is the system the government have imposed on teachers; so he should be bloody glad you are in effect helping him and improving his residual. Point that out to him!

Do you have any friendly bright 6th formers that could help?

DD (Yr 13) is doing a few hours tuition with a friend in Yr 10 for her modular Maths exams. She has refused to help with Physics as she has not studied that since she took her GCSE's and so is not up to date, but is happy to help with subjects she is doing at A level. (Her part time job is in a tuition centre for children aged 5-14, so she has some experience).

And yes, lots of people do get tutors, so if it helps your DD, go for it!