5 good reasons to reduce your teen's tuition
This might seem like a very strange blog coming from me. I am, after all, a tutor. But hear me out.
Increasingly, particularly since the Covid pandemic, I have found that my tutees have become less and less confident to complete written work and revision independently.
They are being spoon-fed enormous amounts of content at school in a bid to “catch them up”.
Many are seeing a different tutor every night of the week in addition to this.
Are they learning more as a result? I really don’t think they are.
I can guarantee that your teen will have been bombarded with Powerpoints, past papers, worksheets, knowledge organisers and acronyms for each and every subject.
Once it gets close to the exams, there will be before school interventions, lunchtime interventions, after school interventions, holiday interventions.
Your teen’s school will already have the teaching of the content very much in hand.
But the only person responsible for your teen’s learning is your teen.
And having even more tutors spoon-feed even more content turns learning into a passive activity, rather than an active one.
The difference between those who gain the high marks in exams and those who don’t is not the amount of tuition they have had, but the amount of independent learning they have done.
The answer is this: remove the learning blocks, discover their preferred revision methods, create a plan, provide ongoing support
From September, I will be changing the tuition model I have been using for the past 8 years. I have been testing this model out with some of my students in years 10 and 11 this year and it has worked so brilliantly that this is the only model I will be using moving forward.
So, what’s the difference?
It’s very simple. I start with a four-week coaching programme to help them set their own goals, remove any learning blocks and discover their preferred revision methods. And I have reduced my tuition from 60 minutes to 30 minutes.
Why?
Because I have found the following surprising benefits:
(1) Teens learn how to study independently
During the 4-week coaching programme, I show teens exactly how to plan their time and find the information they need for themselves.
Then the whole 30 minutes of tuition are spent teaching, feeding back and answering questions about work your teen has already completed independently.
By doing the work independently first, they discover exactly what they know and what they don’t yet know, meaning that the sessions are entirely focused on filling in the gaps and getting to the next level.
Once your teen learns how to study independently in ONE subject, they will be able to transfer this learning to all their other subjects.
(2) Grades increase more quickly.
Your teen is already being taught all the content at school. But it is less than easy for schools to mark an exam paper per week per student (and provide detailed individual feedback to help your teen get to the next level week on week). The marking would be unsustainable.
But if your teen produces a piece of independent work per week, has each piece of work celebrated and fed back on, they will fly.
Gaining this valuable, regular individual feedback is the quickest way to improve grades. Some of my students have gone up several grades in a matter of weeks.
For many subjects, self-marking is straightforward and easy (and has been proven to be a great way to increase grades quickly as students learn the mark scheme criteria to maximise their marks).
(3) They learn how to learn
At school, there is a lot of time pressure and a lot of distractions.
By making time to study independently for a period of time per week, I have found that teens have the headspace to work out a lot of things by themselves – their way. This is invaluable for their future as they are not only learning the content to pass the current exam but they are also getting to know their own learning preferences to enable them to excel in future exams (and all their other subjects).
(4) They feel more in control of their outcomes
Teens have been taught to rely heavily on adults. They have been given lessons, given handouts, given workbooks, given homework and had the majority of their time directed by others. Many teens come to me in a panic because their teacher has left, their classmates are disruptive, their work isn’t being marked. By showing our teens how they can take control of their learning (regardless of what is going on around them), they will feel empowered to find their own path and create their own success.
(5) There is more time for fun stuff
Feedback from my students about the new shorter sessions has been overwhelmingly positive. Many commented how exhausted they feel when they have another whole hour of tuition on top of a day at school.
This model enables them to complete the work when they feel most alert and motivated and then gain fast-paced, tailored feedback from me in a short window of time, leaving them with more time to relax and enjoy hobbies.
Places are filling up fast for the new mentoring programme in September. Get your teen set up to excel in their exams here www.charlottenooncoaching.co.uk/teens-at-school
