No matter what subject you’re looking for additional assistance with, here at Yoopies we want to ensure that you find the right tutor for your child. Someone who has the required knowledge and qualifications to best assist, but also the correct personality and teaching style that works for your child.
If you are a parent looking to find the right tutor for your child, you will require someone that inspires confidence and ignites an interest in their subject. It is also vital that your child feels comfortable with their tutor and that the environment supports learning. It can be challenging to choose a tutor that caters to your unique needs, so it’s important that you thoroughly review their teaching style, experience, and skills.
To help you find the right tutor for you, we’ve compiled a list of top tips for you to bear in mind when starting your search…
Identify your goals
When choosing the right tutor, it’s important to identify your goals. You should begin by considering the following questions:
What does your child need help with? Is it with homework or a specific element of a subject? What do you need a tutor to help improve? For example, do you want your child to achieve higher exam results in a particular subject, or do you want your child to learn an extra skill, for example, a new language? How does your child currently learn best? Do they have a specific learning style? Do they take in information better through reading, listening, touching, or moving? Do they respond better to women or men? What approach to discipline do they need?
What is your budget for tutoring? How much time can you dedicate to it? It’s important to be honest with yourself and set realistic expectations.
Review your options
Before deciding on a tutor, it might be a good idea to arrange a time to meet your child’s school teacher. They will have useful information on your child’s progress at school, their exam/test scores, and any notes on possible learning difficulties. The school should also have a list of registered tutors for you to review.
Search our directory of registered tutors on Yoopies and review their recommendations and endorsements.
Ask your friends and neighbours for recommendations. You may even find that you know a retired teacher that may be willing to assist – just make sure that you choose a tutor that is well versed in the subject area you require.
Pricing
Often, tutoring rates and pricing are the most influential factors that come into play when finding the right tutor. Equally, it is worth keeping in mind that choosing a tutor online or in-person will alter their price. To find out more about average tutoring prices click here.
Beyond the price itself, you should consider the following:
What are their payment policies?
When choosing the right tutor, it’s important to find out how your tutor accepts payment and when she/he would like to be paid. Some tutors will only accept cash after each session, whereas others may require you to pay you for a number of lessons in advance or will simply bill you at the end of the month.
What are the cancellation policies?
Typically, tutors are flexible and many only require 24-hour notice of a change or cancellation. However, it’s important to have this knowledge to hand before forming an agreement in order to avoid additional charges.
Review the tutors
We recommend that you always check their credentials, ask questions, and arrange to meet the tutors on your shortlist to ensure that you choose a tutor whose skills correspond with your child’s requirements. Some of the most important questions to consider include:
- What are their qualifications? If the tutor will work on English Literature, they should have at least an A-Level in order to teach primary school level English.
- What is their teaching experience? Ideally, the tutor should have experience teaching children of a similar age to your child.
- How do you assess your student’s needs? Does the tutor run tests, analyse school reports, or other methods to review your child’s pain points.
- How long does lesson preparation take? You should expect the preparation time to be higher for more challenging subjects.
- What is your approach to tutoring? If the tutor is skilled, they should assess the exact support your child requires and the learning style that best suits them in order to prepare unique materials and lesson plans.
- What will I need to do? Tutors will need family assistance and will require your cooperation. For instance, they may need access to a certain textbook or syllabus.
- How do you motivate your students? Here it is important to consider what inspires your child and make sure that the tutor’s approach matches this.
- What is your availability? It’s highly important that the tutor fits in with your schedule.
- Where do you host your tutoring session? Tutors may choose to carry out tutoring sessions in a library. However, some may prefer to host it at their house, visit you in your own home or carry out lessons online. As long as you have reviewed the tutor carefully, this is acceptable, especially if someone else is around during the session.
- How long do you think the tutoring will take? Once you have found a tutor, it is easy to become reliant on them, so it is advised that you ask the tutor how long they expect it to take for your child to be able to work independently.
- How much do you charge? The costs associated with tutoring varies greatly and depends on the subject area, location, and the credentials of the tutor.
- What results have you generated? What is the tutor’s success rate? Have they helped many clients in the past?
- Do you have a reference? It goes without saying that it is vital for a person who will be working closely with your child to have a reference for you to contact.
If you do end up choosing to book through a tutoring platform such as Yoopies, you can find most of this information already on the tutor’s profile page.
Check your prospective tutor’s experience
If you are hiring a new tutor, it is a good idea to check their references. By contacting a former employer you are able to build an accurate picture of the person in the workplace. If your prospective tutor has already taught before, consider asking for a reference from their current or former student. You may also want to ask your prospective tutor if they have an up-to-date DBS check and any further teaching qualifications. Documents such as these will help you feel reassured that your child(ren) is/are in safe hands.
Monitor the sessions
Once you have found the right tutor for your child, we recommend sitting in on a couple of sessions and observing how your child reacts to the tutor. Are they comfortable?
It’s important to monitor the progress of your child. Ask your child how they are feeling and check to see if their grades or knowledge on the subject matter improves. If you feel as though your tutor is not meeting your needs, don’t be afraid to discuss your thoughts with them and give them the opportunity to adapt their approach. If after some time you feel like it is not working out, you should begin to look for another tutor.
At Yoopies we understand how important it is to find the right tutor for you: a tutor that matches perfectly with your child’s requirements and learning style. That’s why we have multiple search criteria filters to help you narrow down your options. Simply visit our tutor search page and enter your city or postal code. You can then review tutors that cover the subject area and level you are looking for.