Engagement is key

Some of the young people our tutors work with have complex relationships with learning; tutoring offers opportunities to approach topics in a way that appeals to the individual and enables them to grow their confidence as well as ability.

Some of the pupils we work with may be dual-enrolled in a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) and a mainstream school, and so may receive tuition for as long as they are attending their PRU.  In some PRUs, pupils may be seeing the same tutor for several hours a week, usually for around four hours each week. For some of these young people the time they spend in tuition makes up a substantial component of the total time they spend in education each week. In many of these settings, tutors become almost integrated into the staff team, coming on-site several days per week and working with multiple young people 1:1 or 1:2. These tutors may not always know which young people they will be working with each day. Working in Alternative Provision is interesting but inconsistent, so our tutors are flexible to adapt the session as needed.

Case study: K, Year 11 pupil

One such young person, (K) in Year 11, worked with Full-Time Tutor, Sarah, receiving support from home in GCSE English, Maths and Science.

When tutoring first began, K was refusing to attend sessions for any longer than 15 minutes – if at all. Tuition was placed on hold during lockdown, and it was uncertain whether it would even continue if K was unwilling to attend. However, as lockdown eased, K spoke to his carer and expressed an interest in resuming tuition. Following this recommencement, K fully engaged in his tutoring sessions, attending 2-4 hours of tuition per week. He often discussed with Sarah the ways in which tutoring would support him in his aims to go to college, and to receive the grades needed to do so.

K’s carer, an A-Level teacher, provided feedback on the progress of tutoring:

“I could not be more impressed with Sarah, she is conducting some of the best work I have seen and the way she has engaged K is just incredible. I did not think he would ever engage, open up and look forward to tuition like this.”