One of my Year 11s had already told me that she was about to start getting tutoring in my subject. I’m never quite sure how I’m supposed to feel about this. The first time a pupil let slip he was being tutored privately I felt quite affronted. I felt like it was my job to teach him and that I was somehow failing. I imagined a conversation between his parents, deciding that his class teacher was rubbish and not catering to his needs and that the only solution was to look elsewhere for help. It felt like somebody was poking my professionalism with a large pointy stick.
In the case of this Year 11 pupil though, my only worry is the money. She told me how much it was costing. I
know her mother is on benefits. The tutoring was not just in my subject so the expense could be doubled or
trebled. They were making a big sacrifice in the run up to her GCSEs. But I am quite pleased. First of all,
it means that she is now prepared to take her studies seriously. Secondly, she does have serious weaknesses.
It’s unlikely she’ll pass many, if any, GCSEs with a C grade or above. Time and again she has failed to take
on board basic skills that will improve her grade. I’ve helped her out at lunchtimes, but she has also missed
a lot of school. Is it my failing that she needs expensive tutoring?
It’s made me question what else I could have done for her, but I too find it frustrating that I can’t cater to everybody’s specific needs all the time. In an hour’s lesson, if there are thirty pupils in the class that means an average of two minutes with each pupil. But of course it doesn’t even work out like that. In an hour’s lesson, it could be five minutes at least before everybody has turned up and is ready to start the lesson. Lessons have a beginning (the starter activity or recap from last lesson) which can take five to ten minutes. Subtract two minutes at the end for packing away, five to ten minutes for the ending of the lesson, the plenary where the learning objectives are solidified and perhaps tested, and you’re left with about 35 to 40 minutes of the lesson proper. Some of this will be whole class teaching, and some of the total will, let’s be honest here, be concerned with behaviour management and “crowd control”. Which means that the actual time in any one lesson for moving over to work with individuals is quite limited.
It would be lovely to be able to spend time with individuals who would appreciate and benefit from some
individual attention, but even so the course content is so jam-packed that to get through it all in
approximately 18 months, minus holidays, is quite a feat. In a class of thirty, pupils need to be on the
ball to keep up with everything, particularly if they are prone to absence or have parents who decide that
missing a couple of weeks to go to Tenerife won’t actually harm their education. When they are there, there’s
inevitably a clown or two that wants to disrupt everyone’s learning, which eats away at their precious time
even further.
So how do I feel now when a child tells me they are being tutored in my subject elsewhere? Well, a little bit sad that I’ve somehow failed to respond to their needs, but most of all glad that they are getting an opportunity for some much needed attention that I just can’t give them in lessons. I just hope the tutor is competent and can give them what they need.
added 3/3/06
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