Face-to-face tutoring too expensive? Can’t find a tutor in your area? There are a number of reasons why online tuition is increasingly the preferred option.
Online tutoring – why it’s popular
Like it or loathe it, almost one in four UK pupils is tutored and the numbers would doubtless be even higher if it weren’t so expensive.
With tutoring traditionally involving face-to-face teaching, often at the pupil’s home, by an experienced educator, costs are bumped up not only by the lesson itself but the tutor’s travel time. And there’s another major hurdle affecting families wanting tutoring too – where they live. The reality is that if it’s anywhere other than a city centre, tracking down tutors prepared to trek to your home (in London, few venture beyond the Oystercard payment zone) can seem an impossible feat.
The good news is that anyone with a decent broadband connection can now access a tutor online in just about every subject and at any level – and often at a lower cost compared to face-to-face lessons. Online tutoring is simple to set up too – you simply sign up and book, check all the technology is working and you’re all set to go.
What to look out for
It’s not as if online tuition is new, but super fast internet has helped things move on a lot since its early days – and of course, during the height of the Covid19 pandemic it was the only option available.
Parents should check out the technology before they sign up. If video is part of the service, can you expand it or is it just a thumbnail – which can make learning that much harder? Are tutorials recorded, both for safeguarding purposes and so that students can play them back in their own time? Other technological gizmos to look out for include a dedicated online space and a shared whiteboard that allow students and tutors to work on a document or a problem together.
Some tutor agencies are coming up with imaginative digital add-ons. Griffin and Bell Education, for example, has launched a series of online mini tutorials, where topics like metaphors, similes and story construction are turned into a ten-minute lesson broken up into three tiny chunks, each lasting just three or four minutes.
They come complete with other resources such as worksheets and can be a confidence booster not just for pupils but for parents, too, says co-founder Victoria Smith. ‘A lot of parents can feel like they don’t know how to work on English with their own kids so if they don’t have a tutor or are between tutorials, they can log in to and watch the videos together.’
Don’t get too focused on the techy side of things, though. Online tutorial success is also down to good, old fashioned planning to make sure everything runs like clockwork. Stephen Fewell, a tutor at Dulwich Tutors, messages his online students twice to ensure they’re sitting tight and waiting for their lesson. ‘I contact them to let them know that I’m looking forward to seeing them in an hour, and then equally about five minutes beforehand I email to let them know I’m standing by. I find if you put that time in then people tend to be there.’
Is online tutoring right for you?
Online tuition is unsurprisingly popular with teens upwards. ‘Older children prefer [it] because they’re so wrapped up in technology anyway and it means they are able to be more flexible,’ says Leticia Debola, company manager at Titanium Tutors.
It can be equally successful with younger pupils, says Stephen Fewell, it requires a well-organised tutor who has plenty of ideas to keep interest levels high. ‘You might send them a PowerPoint presentation you look at together at the same time, you might send them a hand out […] and you can embed little quizzes and VT clips, all of that is much more reliable now,’ he says.
When not to tutor online
There’s no doubt that some parents went overboard with online tutoring during the pandemic. You can have too much of a good thing and it can leave children feeling stressed and overloaded, particularly when some or all of their school lessons are already online. Think twice before signing them up to even more online learning and remember that if they’re falling behind in a certain topic, chances are their classmates are too – and the teacher will have a duty to bring them up to speed.
If you do decide to go for online tutoring, remember that caution is also needed in relation to length and format of lessons, especially if your child has difficulty concentrating for extensive periods of time, says Ed Richardson, at Keystone Tutors
The death of traditional tutoring?
For now at least, having a real time, real life tutor in the room continues to be the gold standard option for many parents. But change is in the air. The rise of online tuition is bringing in families who wouldn’t previously have been able to access one-to-one tutoring.
In time, thinks Leticia Debola, online tuition could well become the default option. ‘You can see that parents are now more inclined to consider online lessons. Before, it was an absolute no and now it’s a hmm, I’ll try it. Eventually it will be, “Yes, that’s fine”’.
Case study: ‘Online tutoring beats face-to-face tutoring any day,’ says Fiona, whose daughter Roxy has had online tutoring for two years
Keystone Tutors were brilliant to us when we lived in London, so I wondered what on earth we’d do when we moved out to Bracknell. When they suggested online tutoring, I was apprehensive because I couldn’t see how you get the same benefits. But thanks to the cameras, I honestly don’t think there’s much difference. And the concept board means it’s as if the tutor and student are sitting side by side. I was also a bit worried that I’m not IT savvy. But Roxy, my daughter, was able to sort it straight away and even with the bad WiFi connection we had when we first moved, the teacher seemed to know how to get round it. My third concern was that Roxy wouldn’t get the same intensity of learning, but that hasn’t been the case. We save time on travel, which is great. And because Roxy is learning in her own home, she feels comfortable. It’s cheaper and it’s flexible too - we’ve even done a couple of sessions when we’ve been overseas.’
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