Tutor-Student Matching: How does it work?
It is a well-known fact that as social beings, humans, especially children, learn from those they interact with closely on a daily basis. Children spend an average of 30 hours a week in school, and with other commitments like work, sporting activities and social activities, it is reported that many families now spend less than 40 minutes a day together! (The Digital Hub, 2016)
With the busyness of contemporary lifestyles, it is more important than ever that the role models in students’ lives are positive ones, demonstrating outstanding values, great study ethics, and everything that lies between.
Tutors, in the very privileged role of being educators who spend time one-on-one with their students, need to be the right match. This is the reason tutor-student matching is taken so seriously at Nepean Tutoring.
From the moment you pick up the phone, you may be wondering what the process is behind the scenes as your student’s tutor is arranged. While all of our tutors here at Nepean Tutoring are skilled and experienced, we consider the little things that make every lesson a success:
Location – where is your student based? Are there local tutors who provide the service your student needs? (Yes! We have tutors throughout Nepean and surrounding regions).
Age and experience – what year level is your student in, and what experiences would they most benefit from in a tutor?
Special considerations – does your student hate a certain subject? Or do they struggle with particular areas of school work, like reading? Can we find a tutor who is passionate and really experienced in those areas to motivate your student? (Yes, we can!)
Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid. – Albert Einstein
When a tutor and student – or mentor and mentee – sit together to work on anything, be it English or Geography, an exchange of knowledge, values and study ethic goes on. To have maximum potential, and make for a more engaging and memorable learning experience, there needs to be some degree of chemistry. We’ve all had those teachers who just aren’t interesting. Or that head teacher with years of experience who natters on at a level, speed and tone that their young students just do not relate to…
“Students shouldn’t be sharing these things,” the teacher said.
“What things?” A student asked.
“The things that if you have them, you want to share them. But if you share them, you don’t have them.”
The student looks confused. “What’s that?” She asks her teacher.
“It’s a secret!” The teacher replies.
Learning essays or Pythagoras’ theorem doesn’t have to be a riddle. It is the role of a personalised tutor to turn abstract theories into accessible content grounded in students’ real-world experiences. Otherwise, students are alienated by unnecessarily complex explanations. As Albert Eistein once said, ‘Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid.’ Having a tutor who relates to a student’s experiences and individual personality makes all the difference.
Friends are the family you choose, and so are tutors!