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When does tutoring make sense and how do I find the right concept for me?

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When does tutoring make sense and how do I find the right concept for me?

In a school class, there are often more than 25 children being taught at the same time. This makes it almost impossible to adjust to the learning pace of individual students. Those who need a little more time to understand content can develop learning deficits. Tutoring serves to avoid this or to catch up on already existing deficits.

However, not all tutoring is the same. There are different possibilities and concepts. Below we would like to give you a comprehensive overview.

What is tutoring?

Tutoring is the term used to describe out-of-school learning support for students, which can take place either individually or in groups. Tutoring is provided by trained teachers (professional tutoring) or by other pupils as well as students (semi-professional tutoring). The latter is often the more cost-effective option.

Of course, family members and older siblings can also support the student in learning. However, this is not tutoring in the classic sense.

Tutoring is defined by the following characteristics:

  • Takes place outside of school.
  • Ensures knowledge retention in one or more school subjects.
  • Takes place regularly over a period of time, but is not permanent.
  • Privately funded.
  • Provides a supplement to regular school instruction.

How does tutoring work?

The aim of tutoring is to prevent knowledge deficits or to close existing gaps. Put simply, tutoring involves repeating the school material with which the student is having difficulty.

Tutoring can take place either as individual lessons or in groups. Both options come with their specific advantages and disadvantages. The advantage of individual tutoring is that the tutor can focus exclusively on the needs of a single student. The more targeted the support, the faster learning gaps can be closed.

The advantage of group tutoring is that students can support each other. In addition, the group dynamic often has a motivating effect. It is important to note, however, that the group is not too large. It should consist of a maximum of five students who are all at a similar level of knowledge.

The course of a tutoring session

A tutoring session usually lasts 45 to 60 minutes. How the actual process is structured and what tasks there are to work on, ultimately varies depending on the subject.

A common approach to tutoring is to look at past classwork with the student and correct it. In this way, the deficits can be determined precisely. Through the correction, the student gets the opportunity to close his knowledge gaps in the respective subject and to connect to topics that build on it.

Once the gaps in knowledge have been made up, the next step is to follow the current course material. This can be achieved, for example, by working together on the homework. In addition, the tutor selects further tasks that fit the subject matter. As in normal lessons, written and oral tasks alternate.

How long tutoring is used varies from individual to individual. Some students only need a few hours of support, others need help for an entire school year. As soon as the grades have stabilized in a good range again, the tutoring can be terminated.

Tutoring effect

What forms of tutoring are available?

Essentially, a distinction is made between commercial and private tutoring. This means that private tutoring is offered by both for-profit providers, independent providers and private individuals. Which variant is better or worse cannot be answered in a generalized way. It depends on the individual Needs of the student.

Tutoring institutes often advertise that they offer a more professional service that a private individual would not be able to provide. In addition to tutoring, which is usually done in small groups, many institutes offer Homework supervision, special remedial courses as well as targeted exam preparation.

Free carrier unlike tutoring institutes, do not work for profit. This means that, depending on the organization, no or only a small co-payment is due. This is particularly advantageous for families who would otherwise not be able to afford private tutoring.

To private tutoring This is when private persons support the student free of charge. This can be parents, siblings, relatives or friends. When talking about classic tutoring, however, the above variants are usually meant.

In a scientific paper, the Hans Böckler Foundation has dealt with the topic of the various extracurricular tutoring dealt with.

The legal gray areas of tutoring

Much more often than the tutoring services offered by institutes or independent providers, the support of (retired) teachers, older pupils or students is used. They often come to the student's home and receive a previously agreed fee. This is often in the moderate double-digit range, e.g. €10 to €20 per hour.

Pupils and students in particular, who supplement their pocket money with a little extra income, neither register a business nor write invoices. Often, these are private agreements. Normally, all income must be reported to the tax office. However, due to the insignificance, this is a legal gray area.

If you regularly work as a full-time or part-time tutor, there is of course a need for action. If you are self-employed on a part-time basis, you may be exempt from the Small business regulation profit. Full-time tutors may have to register a business. However, this must be discussed in each individual case.

When is tutoring necessary? How do I recognize the need?

At the latest when grades continue to drop and ultimately the transfer is at risk, the student or parents should consider private tutoring. Ideally, however, one should not let it get that far in the first place.

Depending on the age of the student, a certain Personal responsibility necessary to intervene in a timely manner. Older children and adolescents can tell their parents and teachers if they feel they are losing their way in class. With younger students, it is up to the teacher to recognize this early on.

In principle, the following applies: If one or more subjects are repeated Poor grades is written, this indicates a knowledge deficit that needs to be filled. Extracurricular tutoring is suitable for this.

Important to know: If the request for tutoring comes from the student, the support is many times more effective. Children and adolescents who perceive tutoring as punishment make self-explanatory less progress.

Evidence-based knowledge around the topic of tutoring is in the scientific elaboration of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

How do I find the right tutoring?

The range of tutoring options is diverse. So if you're looking, you'll find what you're looking for quickly. Before you start looking, you should think about the criteria that are important for you and your company. Child are important. Of course, the professional competence of the tutor is in the foreground. Beyond that, however, other aspects play a role.

You can use the following checklist as a guide:

  • For which subjects am I looking for tutoring?
  • May the tutor be an older student or student? Or is only one teacher eligible?
  • Should the tutor come to your home or do we accept travel time?
  • Is the journey long?
  • How much money can we spend on tutoring?
  • How often should tutoring take place each week?
  • Should the lessons be individual or in groups?

Once you have clarified these questions for yourself, the concrete search can begin.

Finding a tutoring service is, as already mentioned, not difficult. In every school there is a so-called bulletin boardwhich you will surely remember from your own school days. There are often notices posted for tutoring offered by students.

You can also find them in libraries, supermarkets and even on advertising pillars. A look in Ad papers of your region is also worthwhile.

Another essential place to go to find tutoring is the Internet. This is especially true if you want to find out about tutoring institutes.

Does tutoring also have disadvantages?

Tutoring in itself has no disadvantages. Nevertheless, the desired success sometimes fails to materialize. This can be due to various reasons: either the wrong concept has been chosen, the cooperation with the tutor does not harmonize or the student resists the tutoring internally. However, the first two possibilities can be easily remedied with a little effort.

If you are taking advantage of private tutoring for the first time, you sometimes don't know exactly what kind of support will help you achieve your goals. The only thing that helps here is trial and error:

  • If, after a while, the student or his or her parents find that the support provided by the student's acquaintances is not enough, a tutoring institute might be a better choice.
  • If the student feels uncomfortable in a tutoring group, it is worth switching to private lessons - or vice versa.
  • If there is no harmony between the student and his tutor, a change is also recommended.

The more motivated the student, the higher the probability of success.

Conclusion: How you can support your child even better

Almost every second student makes use of private tutoring during their school years. As long as you find the right concept for you, learning deficits can be closed effectively. If you would like to support your child even better and are generally interested in the topics of learning and pedagogy, our three-month Learning coach training be just right for you.

As part of this training you will learn how to Motivation of your child so that learning blocks can be overcome. Support your child in finding fun in learning again and in improving their Self-confidence win them back. For this purpose, you will be provided with proven tools from the coaching field as well as important basic pedagogical knowledge.

Of course, the training is also suitable for you if you are not a parent but would like to be a learning coach in general. become self-employed would like. Find out today about our training as a Learning Coach.

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Reviewed by Dr. med. Stefan Frädrich

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