One of the most stressful aspects of parenting is ensuring that your child gets the best education they possibly can and makes the progress they should be making at school. Whether your child is struggling with fractions in maths, not scoring highly in their school exams, finding homework too difficult, feeling unmotivated at school or unchallenged, an excellent way to supplement their schooling is with private tuition and there are many reasons why this can have an incredibly positive impact on them and their education.
1. Individualised and unique learning experience
Private tuition allows students to receive personalised 1:1 attention, which they rarely get in classroom environments due to large class sizes and time constraints. Lessons are completely tailored towards the specific needs of the student. There is time for discussion and the child’s individual questions and misconceptions can be immediately identified and addressed. Often in classroom situations, if a student doesn’t understand a process or has a misconception, there is rarely time to address this deeply, which results in missed learning opportunities, lack of confidence and not securing the skill or knowledge strand. During a carefully planned lesson with a Modelex tutor, the tutor is able to unpack the skill and constantly assess learning and understanding. This means that the tutor can modify the pace and content of the lesson to suit how well the child is grasping the concept and working towards mastery.
2. Enjoyable, engaging lessons
In a classroom setting, teachers plan lessons with their students’ interests in mind, but it’s not possible to cater for every single student and their favourite topic all of the time. While some students might find the content interesting, there will always be some that are bored or disengaged. Private tutoring ensures that your child is engaged throughout the whole lesson by planning activities that link directly to their interests. At Modelex for example, if we are teaching a child who loves football, then your child could learn about features of non-fiction texts by reading biographies or newspaper reports about their favourite football player, or if your child loves horse-riding, protractor skills and angle estimation can be learned by measuring the angles of a horse’s body using images from a show-jumping competition. Classroom teachers don’t have enough time to tailor lessons to the interests of every single student, but Modelex tutors do!
Research shows that if a child is engaged in their learning, their attitudes towards learning at home and at school will improve. Some students get bored in school because they find the work too easy and are not challenged enough. At Modelex, tutors will pitch lessons appropriately at your child’s level, will involve a range of fun, interesting activities and will also involve an element of challenge, so that your child is pushed out of their comfort zone, makes mistakes and uses their reasoning and critical thinking skills. Tutors are also able to give constant encouragement and praise during lessons, which will increase student motivation and positivity.
3. Improves academic performance
School assessments and exams are an integral part of a child’s learning journey in order to progress onto the next stage at the appropriate level. At primary and secondary level, it is common for a test result to determine which group your child will be put in for different subjects, and naturally parents want their children to do as well as possible and be placed in the highest possible groupings. For higher education, exam results can determine which college and university your child will be accepted into. Private and independent schools across the world will expect high scores in exams and tests in order to secure a place. Therefore, it is crucial for a child to do as well as they can in exams. Tutoring can play an important role here, in both filling gaps, challenging students with harder concepts, examination skills and test preparation practice.
It is important to find a tutor that has a great working knowledge of exam content and can set up an appropriate program of study targeted towards a particular exam, whether it be the ISEB common pre-test, 11+ tests, Year 6 SATS, Cambridge assessments, GCSE’s etc. Your tutor should be able to identify and fill gaps in knowledge, cover relevant content, teach test taking strategies and skills, offer practice test conditions and review test results to focus on strengths and errors. If a student has all the necessary skills to confidently sit an exam, then less time and energy will be wasted on worry, stress and lack of sleep.
Aside from school assessments, private tutoring will also benefit other areas linked to academic performance at school. Through pre-planned questioning, tutors can support students to explore their ideas and go deep into their learning, achieving mastery and a full understanding of the content. Tutors will give students space to ask questions, make mistakes and build resilience. Tutors can also teach a range of skills that will support performance at school, such as time management and organisation.
4. Increased self-esteem, intrinsic motivation and responsibility
Working with a private tutor can increase a student’s intrinsic motivation, meaning that they want to succeed for themselves, not for external rewards. Intrinsic motivation is key to developing good study habits at home, a positive attitude towards learning in the classroom and increased confidence – students are more likely to get better results at school too. At Modelex, our tutoring service is a personalised, 1:1 learning experience tailored towards your child’s needs and interests, so children have a real opportunity to become heavily involved in their learning journey, which will increase their motivation and enjoyment of learning. For example, rather than the tutor simply telling the student what they need to learn, children can play a key role in analysing recent test results with their tutor and discussing their strengths and areas of development, setting suitable goals for themselves. This will allow them to feel a sense of control in their learning, making them more willing and excited to learn.
During lessons with a tutor, children are able to ask questions at any point or express their lack of understanding without feeling worried – something that isn’t always able to happen in a classroom environment with 19 or so other children due to lack of confidence or fear. Once students have a concept explained to them in a way that they understand, they will feel more confident to dive deeper and make further progress. This will increase self-esteem and confidence.
5. Challenges gifted and talented students
Tutoring isn’t just about catching up, filling gaps and homework help. It’s the perfect opportunity for students to go deeper into topics that they have already mastered and learn more challenging content. The 2018 Sutton Report suggests that “private tutoring has a positive impact on academically talented children by helping to raise their aspirations and ambitions, which can increase their attainment or progression into higher education.” In reading for example, children can analyse texts that are more challenging that those they cover at school, be exposed to a wider range of precise vocabulary and literary devices, compare and contrast work from a range of perspectives and authors etc. Just because your child scores 100% in the tests, is top of the class, or finds classwork easy, doesn’t mean their learning is complete. At Modelex, we find exciting and engaging ways to challenge even the most gifted of students.
6. Gives peace of mind to parents
Everyday, parents face challenges, stresses and very busy schedules. Ensuring that your child is succeeding at school and making progress can add to the list of neverending worries, but it doesn’t have to. A private tutor has the skills, knowledge and most importantly, the time to meet the educational needs of each child. Private tuition can provide your child with a stable progression of lessons, which not only fill gaps and address misconceptions, but challenge your student and work towards the identified goal, whether that be an end of unit assessment at school, an important exam or general attainment of curriculum objectives. At Modelex, your tutor will ensure that your child covers the correct topics suited to their age, school level or learning goals, and will provide feedback to you in a termly report and at parent consultation meetings, so that you know what they are learning and how they are doing. Your tutor can also support your child in tackling challenging homework, something that parents can find difficult, particularly if there are language barriers.
7. Provides a safe, comfortable, distraction free environment
Nowadays, the classroom environment can be full of distractions, from gadgets and technology, to other students, all of which can easily take your child’s attention away from the lesson focus. I’m sure many of us have been in the situation at school where we are too busy listening to our friend telling us a joke, or passing a note around, then before we know it we’ve missed the essential steps to solve the maths problem, which of course shows up in a test at the end of the week and we naturally stare at it blankly! Private tutoring takes away some of the common distractions and gives time and space for your child to concentrate fully.
A classroom environment can often be daunting for those children who lack self-esteem, are shy, introverted or don’t feel comfortable speaking in front of large groups. This can result in your child not answering questions, not asking for help or for further explanation of a concept, and not wanting to engage in group discussions. Particularly during the early teenage years, children can feel embarrassed and vulnerable, or lacking the skills needed to express themselves fully. With a private tutor, your child will feel comfortable and respected, in a safe environment where they feel able and willing to ask questions, discuss, debate, explain and express. From university and job interviews, to standing up for something they believe in, confidence to speak in front of others is essential for people to take up their rightful space in the world and is a skill that is lacking among children and young people today. Tutors are able to work on these skills so that they can transfer into the classroom environment and beyond, too.
Furthermore, working with a private tutor on a 1:1 basis can allow your student to form a strong, trusting bond with them, which means that they may be able to express themselves in ways they don’t feel comfortable doing in the classroom. Quite commonly, the tutor takes the role of a mentor as well as a teacher, acting as a role model, helping them to explore their own identity and interests.
Private tuition in Monaco
If you are interested in learning more about after school tutoring for your child, you can read more about the private tuition services we offer or email info@modelex.mc. We can’t wait to meet you and support your child’s learning journey.
11 rue du Gabian 3 floor, Monaco 98000
Telephone +377 92 00 27 89
WhatsApp +377 97 98 01 54
info@modelex.mc
