What To Look For In A Tutor
Once you have identified a pool of potential tutors comes the daunting task of selecting the one most appropriate for your situation. While at first this may seem quite challenging, it can be fairly straight forward. When selecting a tutor, attributes to assess include:
- Education level. One of the most important factors to check is the tutor's education. What degrees do they have? Is their educational background in the subjects that you are hiring them to tutor? Do they have an education degree? It is not absolutely necessary that a tutor be a college graduate. A good example of potentially effective tutors who may not be would be peer tutors. Having a degree in education would be nice, but you will find that most tutors do not have an education degree. An educational background in the subject or subjects for which you need a tutor is probably the most important education consideration. Possessing college degrees, and/or an education degree are significant additional pluses.
- Experience. As important as a tutor's educational background is their experience. You should look for a tutor with a track record and at least some experience as a tutor. Tutors with experience will know better how to deal with different situations and students. They may have better ideas about how to approach a particular student or situation because they have encountered something similar in the past.
- Certification. While certification in itself does not guarantee a good tutor, it does say something about their dedication to their trade and their professionalism. It is probably safe to assume that someone who goes through the trouble of becoming certified takes tutoring seriously as a profession. A tutor with a professional teaching certificate or license would be an added plus. You would know that such a person has completed education coursework and has probably taught professionally in a school system.
Interviewing tutors to assess their style and potential fit with a student's learning style is an important step. There are many things that you may want to ask a tutor as you are trying to get to know them and their style. You may ask them how they go about a tutoring session. Find out how they will set and communicate goals with a student. Parents should also clearly communicate their goals and desires to the tutor. Find how what, if any, formal assessment tools they may use. Perhaps most overlooked, find out what and how a tutor will communicate with a student's parents. Don't forget to ask about cost and how and when they wish to be paid.
When selecting a tutor it is important to check references. The testimony of others that have used a tutor can be among the most valuable information that you will obtain about them. If they do not have tutoring references, then you should check with former employers or teachers.
Even after doing all of your due diligence, time will help you to determine the effectiveness of the chosen tutor. After a few tutoring sessions you should do a progress check with the tutor. Progress should be checked against the goals that you have set for the tutor and student. If a tutor cannot demonstrate at least some progress after four or five sessions then it may be time to explore other options. Do not forget to obtain feedback from the individual being tutored. You want to understand if the student likes their tutor and thinks that they are helping. Ask open ended questions of the student such as "what do you like...", "how is it going...", "what have you learned"... If the responses are negative, then there may be a problem.
