Choosing tuition
How do I choose a good GCSE or A Level tutor?
Answered by Andrea, founder and biology teacher · 20+ years’ teaching experience
Last reviewed
The short answer
Look for a tutor with Qualified Teacher Status, examining experience and a genuine love of teaching — and one your child ‘clicks’ with. Experienced teachers have a bank of resources and strategies, and examiners know the mark schemes and key words, so the filtering has already been done for the student.
Key points
- Qualified Teacher Status: experience means a bank of resources and strategies to teach.
- Experience in examining: knowing the mark schemes and key words is crucial.
- A love of teaching and learning keeps students engaged.
- The student must want to learn, too.
What should I look for in a tutor?
Qualified Teacher Status. Experience is key. It means that the tutor has a bank of resources and strategies to teach.
Experience in examining. Knowing the mark schemes, key words and so on is crucial. Otherwise, it is a lengthy process of filtering information for the student. A good tutor will already have done the filtering for the student.
A love of teaching and learning. It is much harder to engage with a disinterested or bored teacher, whatever their qualifications or experience. Sometimes it is also just the X factor — we all need to ‘just click’ with people.
Is it all down to the tutor?
No. The student must want to learn. Curiosity is part of childhood, and just as a bored, disinterested teacher is unlikely to engage their students, a student lacking curiosity to learn will also not engage and is unlikely to succeed.
At Wilmslow Tuition Centre we are highly experienced at teaching and learning, and our team has been put together to optimise students’ potential to ‘nail’ those grades.