At Tutor Trust, the learning never stops! All our tutors receive a comprehensive training programme delivered by our team of in-house qualified teachers and co-led by our partners at The University of Manchester’s PGCE team. And, after training, that support continues with tutorials and skills-development opportunities, lesson observations and feedback, as well as 1:1 support. We want you to deliver impactful tutoring while developing new skills for your future career.

 

In the past year, 98.6% of our tutors rated our training programme as ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’*

Working with us is great if you’re looking to get into education, or working with young people, for the first time, but don’t know where to start or need some guidance. It’s also a great opportunity to gain and develop valuable professional skills, such as communication, organisation, time management, and pedagogy, that you might not get through your university studies alone but will help you in your university career and beyond.

Your tutor training will equip you with a range of tools and strategies, so you feel confident in lesson planning, structuring, and delivering tuition to small groups of young people.

In this blog, we share our insight into what training looks like and how to get the most out of it.

 

What training looks like

If you’re successful at your tutor interview, we’ll invite you to attend our programme of training. This is delivered in four bitesize blocks of online content and requires 10-15 hours to complete over a three to four week period. It involves a blend of live sessions on Zoom and independent work to complete in your own time – so it’s easy to fit around your studies or other commitments.

As a general guide, your tutor training will start the week after your interview takes place. When you’re invited to training, check the upcoming training dates and times and put them in your calendar. Let us know if there are any sessions you’re unable to make and we’ll talk about next steps.

 

How to make the most of your training

1. Take notes as you go

Open a blank word document or have a notepad to hand for anything that you find important or particularly interesting so you can refer to this later on, or explore in further detail.

2. Download the module summaries

At the end of each online module, you’ll be able to access a summary document which outlines the key takeaways of what you’ve just learnt, as well as links to extra resources. You may want to explore these as you go along, or if you don’t have the time at that moment for extra reading, they may come in handy later as you prepare for your first assignment. We recommend saving the module summaries in a dedicated tutoring folder that you can easily refer to.

3. Be well-prepared for the live session tasks

For the live Zoom sessions, we may ask you to prepare one or two tasks in advance. The more you take the time to prepare and think about the tasks, the more enriching your conversations with other tutors be, and the more you’ll get out of the discussions. If you’re struggling with any of the tasks or have any questions, it’s always best to reach out to us as soon as possible at: [email protected].

4. Test the tech

It’s always good practice to log in to a Zoom session or online meeting at least five minutes in advance just in case of any unexpected tech issues, so you arrive promptly. We’ve written some ‘test the tech’ tips which you can also apply when preparing for the live Zoom sessions. In short, ensure you can access the Zoom meeting link (which is normally sent around 24 hours prior to each live session), consider your surroundings to ensure you’ll have good Internet connectivity and a comfortable and private set-up, and get any preparatory work to hand so you’re not panicking at the last minute.

 5. Ask questions and ask for support

We’re here to support you and we want you to succeed as a tutor. It’s okay to ask for help and support if you need it. If you have any questions, please get in touch: [email protected].

 

And remember, when you’ve completed your training, your learning and our offer of support continue! We have plenty of tutorials and CPD offerings that are updated regularly that will help you to develop professionally and improve the quality of your tuition.

For any questions about the training programme, here are some support resources you can access:

• Read more about the process and our upcoming training dates.
• Read our FAQs to see if your question has already been answered.
• Email us at: [email protected].

 

*Training feedback data was taken from tutors surveyed during their training between May 2022 and January 2023.

Date of publication: 27/02/2023