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Tutoring Guide
Tutors Guide: So You’re About to Start Tutoring
This is the first part of a series of Tutoring Guides for tutors, or those looking to start a career in tutoring. This
Tutors Guide provides a list of all the tuition guides available on the left hand side of each page. At the bottom of each Guide, there will be alink to the next tutors Guide.
The following articles provides helpful information if your about to start tutoring. We hope to
make sure you consider that:
- You have an adequate background
- You are fully prepared for your fist lesson
- You have a helpful attitude towards tutoring
- The student can achieve better result with your help
So you are about to start tutoring for the first time, but do you have the right background to
start tutoring?
Tutoring Qualifications
Required level of qualification for Tutoring
Quality of teaching is not always directly related to the level of education. Some subjects of
course will require a good understanding of the curriculum, but there is no reason to believe
that the higher the education the tutor has, the better at tutoring they are.
For argument’s sake, let us use an example of GCSE Biology. A PhD student in biology may be
able to teach Biology very well, but this is not to say a tutor with only an A-level in biology
will be any worse/better at teaching GCSE students.
It’s not the level of qualification that makes you a good tutor, but your ability to teach the
subject. Having a deeper knowledge of the subject from further education can be an advantage,
but it can also be considered a hindrance when one considers how long the education takes.
A beginner tutor with a PhD in biology may not even remember doing their GSCEs, while the
GCSE syllabus is likely to have moved on since they were taught the subject at GCSE level.
It might be more appropriate for the PhD student to tutor under graduates and A-level students.
There are several minimum requirements we would suggest when considering what tuition level
you should be tutoring. For academic subjects, the tutor should at least have a bear minimum
qualification in the subject they are teaching. However, we would advise at least to have one
further level up, preferably 2 levels of qualifications upwards. For example GCSE students
of Mathematics should be taught by tutors that hold a good grade in Maths A-Level or
Mathematics degree level.
These requirements are not by any means a rigid mould, merely a suggestion. It might be that
some tutors are better suited to teach older individuals and other tutors have methods that
better apply to younger students, regardless of their educational background.
More importantly than an advanced education is enthusiasm for the subject and Enthusiasm for
tutoring, but that’s for our next tuition article:
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