Online or face to face tutor?

[MarineBlue33]

Which is better for Yr 4 ds who is prepping for 11+?
I am not sure how an online one can see what the pupil is doing, especially the ones which do tuition in groups online. However it seems to be popular.

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Dd (aged 15) has a tutor. The tutor used to do face to face, but now only does online since COVID (which dd prefers). They use two screens, one to talk about what they are doing and one as an interactive online whiteboard where each of them can see what the other is writing. It seems to work well for them.

I can see maybe for secondary school, online is good but not sure for primary age

I have a French tutor at the moment. The tutor used to teach face to face lessons but when the first ever lockdown started she did lessons via Zoom. The entire lesson is a hour long each week and is a lot of fun too. She communicates with me via email as well about the homework and rescheduled lessons etc. It works well for me.

Definitely face to face if you can get them. I'm a private tutor and it is so much easier face to face, you can see what the kids are doing and they feel more comfortable to ask questions. Also you can draw to show what you're explaining or write to correct their work, thats really difficult by zoom.

I do some group lessons for 7-11 year olds in English via Zoom. It's easy to tell which kids are doing okay, which are looking at something else or being distracted, which aren't sure about something. I have them annotate their writing in screen, type it in the chat for me or they can dictate to me and I annotate so everyone can see. I think it works well.

I suppose it depends if you can find a tutor you like in your area or not.

F2F for primary if you can. Easier to keep this age group focussed if in person tuition.

I am inclined to agree with F2F as some of you say.
It's so expensive though.
@Mumforlife83 you have plugged them a few times - any inside knowledge?

I'm a private primary 11 plus tutor.

I tutor both online and face to face.

There is no difference in the progress of my students between the two methods, provided they actually want to learn and want to be tutored. I actually had my most successful two years of exam results where at least 50% of my lessons were online.

If your child is motivated to learn and you can find a tutor who is a skilled teacher and tech savvy then there will be no difference between the quality of their teaching online or in person.

In my experience, there are a few reasons why online tuition doesn't always work.

1. The tutor is not confident with technology or is not a good tutor.
2. The student does not want to learn/doesn't want tuition.
3. The student does not have an appropriate quiet space/device to be able to access tuition.

The biggest barrier is preconceived attitudes, especially those of parents, and the assumption that a child will magically learn better in person.

@DockOTheBay

Definitely face to face if you can get them. I'm a private tutor and it is so much easier face to face, you can see what the kids are doing and they feel more comfortable to ask questions. Also you can draw to show what you're explaining or write to correct their work, thats really difficult by zoom.

None of this is difficult online if you use the right software and have a good relationship with your student.