Equity and equality are different. Equality means everyone is treated in the exact same way, regardless of their differences. Equity means everyone is provided with what they need to succeed!
Your learner might be in need a little extra help here and there so you might be looking at connecting with a tutor. You might like a tutor if your child is attending school or even if you are a home-schooling family to help you with those tricky concepts. Some tutors are teachers, integration aides, studying university students or even those who have a special interest in a particular area. Here are some tips and tricks to get you started.
1. Choose a tutor who suits your needs.
Make sure that your learner feels happy and comfortable with your tutor. If they don’t feel comfortable and develop a positive rapport, it will be harder for them to learn.
When engaging with a tutor ask them about their teaching and learning style, what is important to them and how they approach learning needs. Make sure you get to know your tutor so that you feel comfortable that they are the right fit for your learner, their needs and your family.
Larger tutoring organisations often complete assessments to determine what needs your child has. This is given to the tutor and they are able to work out what to focus on. Alternatively, private tutors may or may not use this process. Some might ask for recent assessments from your child’s school which avoids the doubling up of assessment that your child completes. Tutors might also ask if you or your learner has a specific focus that you’d like to concentrate on. Tutors will then use this to develop sessions with these needs in mind. It might also be helpful to pass on any learning goals or learning plans that have been created by your child’s classroom teacher. Your tutor will be able to further facilitate this learning need.
Each tutor will do things a little differently. If there is something specific you would like from your tutor, just reach out and ask.
2. Supporting your child’s needs.
Remember that if your learner is still attending school on a daily basis they might find it hard to continue learning after school. For them, after school is their down time. Learning can require a heavy cognitive load, especially after six hours at school already using up their brain power, socialising with friends and enduring the weather, which can also be draining. Then, adding on more learning can be exhausting. Think about your lifestyle and routines, do you have other extra curricular activities that you complete too? If your child attends school each day, then has tennis one night, dancing another and a session of tutoring a week, they might be completely in their element or they could be burning out. Try to balance out your activities so that your learner doesn’t feel swallowed up. You should also think about the length of sessions. Generally 45 minutes to one hour is enough per session depending on your child, their age and personal circumstances. If your tutor is open to weekend sessions, this might be an option too.
Think about the content and activities being completed in your tutoring sessions. Learners are more willing to participate when they find activities fun, sometimes they might not even know that they are learning! Games are often an amusing way to help students learn without even knowing they’re learning. This can also help if they have been at school all day too.
It’s also beneficial to think about what your child’s preferred learning styles are. Are they motivated when they receive one on one support? Do they prefer to move, watch or listen to learn? Does something else resonate with their needs? Chat with your tutor about this so that they can tailor sessions to their preferences.
Check in with your learner after sessions and see how they are feeling. They might tell you something that they are enjoying, or maybe not, and then you can pass this on to your tutor.
3. What kind of tutoring sessions would you like?
There’s a few options of how you might like to run tutoring sessions. This might be working online through a video platform or meeting up face to face. Some tutors will come to you and others will require you to go to them. You will have to ask the tutors how they operate and determine whether this suits your needs. You could also join up with other parents in the same position and hire a tutor to work with a small group of your children. This might be helpful so that only one parent is present, you have a regular tutoring spot and it might even help with the financial costs. You just need to find a tutor that suits your needs.
*It is your responsibility to ask your tutor for their credentials including qualifications, police checks and Working with Children’s Checks.
Be patient, remember that all learners develop at their own pace. Some children need more support than others, we are all human and we are different and that’s what makes us unique.
