The Benefits of Personalised Tutoring for Academic Success
Studies over the years have consistently shown that personalised tutoring, and especially high-dosage tutoring, is proven to drastically improve students fortunes in their studies. A 2023 report by Jilly Barshay, for instance, found that high-dosage tutoring can move an average student from the 50th percentile in their age group all the way to the 66th. What are the reasons for this?
Lessons Specialised for the Student
In all classes that have more than one student in them, there is always a trade-off to be had for at least one of the students in the class. Not every student learns at the same pace and there will be either a student left not quite grasping a topic as the class moves forward, or a student feeling that they are ready to move forward whilst the rest of the class is still coming to terms with a concept. Personalised tutoring is the way to get around this. With a one-on-one lesson with an expert tutor, the lessons will never move faster or slower than the student is ready for, making sure that every topic is fully understood, giving the student a better chance of retaining each and every topic once they come to examinations.
Changes Study-Habits for Life
Working outside of the context of the four walls of a classroom - be it in a students living room, bedroom, study or outside of the home - alters the automatic and natural association between school and work for the student. Work, study and learning will go from being an exclusively school-based activity to being something that can be done anytime, anywhere. Not only will this be beneficial for the student whilst they are working with a tutor, but also when they are working alone.
Confidence to Ask Questions
No matter how positive a learning environment a classroom teacher tries to cultivate, there often remains a slight sense of embarrassment or fear for a student when it comes to asking a question. Personalised tutoring takes all of this fear away. Students form a close bond with their tutor and feel able to ask them things they may shy away from asking their teacher. As well as this, the one-on-one aspect of personalised tutoring helps to take away the, usually misplaced but still ever-present, fear of being laughed at by peers for a ‘stupid question.’ In their tutoring classes, students realise that there is no such thing as a ‘stupid question’ and feel free to ask anything, free from the constraints of the classroom.
By Matthew