help a teacher help a tutor

[bluepanda5]

I am a teacher of a class who are between 7 and 8. One of my pupils who is behind is going to be getting a tutor outside of school time to support their learning. The parent of this child has asked if I can get some things together to help the tutor get started e.g. where the child is at and what they need help with. I am stuck with what this should look like and what kind of things I should be doing for it. Any ideas?

This is above and beyond what you should e doing. I wouldn’t do it. A good tutor would be able to assess and resource the subject alone. You’ve got your classes to think of.

Nope, not your job. Does your school have a curriculum map on the website, that's what you could direct them too

I take a different view to the answers so far. It’s in your best interests for the tutor to make a positive impact. That said I wouldn’t spend long on it but maybe just note some areas of weakness or send home any assessments.

You don't need to do the tutor's job for them. Just short bullet point notes Eg. Doesn't use adjectives enough in writing, aim to improve vocabulary.
Need to work on 7 and 8 times tables.

If you give them this then they can get started and you'll see the results in class too.
Do be clear about how much help you're willing to give though as some people are cheeky!

Step away from the tutor. You don't know anything about them, their qualifications, etc. To enter into any relationship with them implies an endorsement by the school, i.e. you.

The tutor should be asking the child/parent to bring home books/writing so that they can do the bloody job they get paid to do, which is to assess the child's work and see the way forward.

Outline of year's work, though not from your hands, should be on school's website.

I would not communicate with them at all, you'll never get shut of them.

I've been both tutor and teacher. As a teacher, I was buggered if I'd do the tutor's job, and as a tutor I wouldn't dream of asking for information of any kind about a tutee.

Has the tutor actually asked for this? Or just the parent?

Any decent tutor will assess themselves and plan from that. I'm a teacher and a tutor and i would never ask for this information. It's sometimes useful to know what scheme/topic a school is following by checking the class website but generally I do my own thing. Parents sometimes give me school reports but I would never ask anything extra from the teacher.

If you have any checklists or notes of "gaps", it might make a lot of sense to pass that on, but don't go to huge lengths. Sure, the tutor can do their own assessment, but if you've got a checklist that shows some particular gaps, the tutor can get going with those in the first sessions alongside working out what else may need attention.

Can you share the child’s report? A well-written report should tell them what they need to know.

Not your problem. The tutor should assess the child, the parent can share the report.

There's no harm in highlighting to the parent what the student needs to improve on, we'd do that through routine communication with parents anyway if they're engaged and want to help. But that's where it ends, as has been said before, you shouldn't be doing the tutors job for them. Tbh, if they're asking for this they're probably an inexperienced tutor, the more you distance yourself from them and whatever they're doing, the better. You are not working in collaboration with them and it's not your job to help them.

Have they got SEN and so have an IEP? What are the next steps for the child? I.e a few bullet points, that if the parent asked/ would be advised at parents meeting.

If you think the child needs some help with pre-learning, what is the topic area ( to help with vocabulary) and class book - help give the child confidence, again that might help a parent give support at home.

The tutor will then work out how and what they are going to do. I don't think it is an unreasonable request to provide 5 or 6 bullet points.