What is the parent’s role in tutoring?
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Seeing your child struggle with problems at school can be heartbreaking. Not being able to help the child yourself, despite the best intentions, can be just as upsetting. A good way to overcome this problem would appear to be through tutoring. What about the parent’s role in this new dynamic? How should you react and involve yourself properly in this process? Here you will find a few suggestions to allow you to participate actively in your child’s success.
Starting at the first meeting, take the time to have a good discussion with your tutor, since he or she could have questions to ask you. The tutor will most likely want to know about your child’s temperament, mainly to get to know him or her, but this will also help guide the tutor towards the best approach to take during the sessions. During this exchange, you may want to establish the basics of an action plan, which could serve as a guide during the meetings. Don’t hesitate to communicate your expectations with respect to the tutoring; by making all this clear, misunderstanding and disappointments will be easily avoided!
In order to ensure efficient sessions, the environment in which they take place is an important factor and you can easily set up a space dedicated to studying at home. At times, for various reasons, the home is not the most convenient place for the meetings. For a calmer and more neutral area, you can consult the schedule at your nearest public library and set up a meeting there. You can also ask at school if there are rooms available after class.
It is important to trust the tutor and provide them with the space required in order to favour their relationship with your child. Since respectful exchanges are essential, be open to suggestions provided by the tutor: who knows, maybe you will see things differently following the sessions!
Panicking won’t help! By keeping a positive attitude and being reassuring, you diminish your child’s worries over the difficulties experienced. At the first encounter, certain students can be unwilling to have to rely on tutoring. After the first sessions, find out if you child appreciated the meetings and ask him or her to summarize briefly what they covered.
You must keep in mind that the tutor is supplementary help, not a replacement: the tutor is there to complement the support you are giving your child. Therefore, between sessions, make sure your child’s efforts remain constant, and share his efforts and progress with the tutor. Since a large part of learning comes from the individual, it is important that the student continues working without the tutor.
The support and attention you provide your child with should above all provide good study methods as well as the tools adapted to your child’s needs. In order to ensure that the sessions do not become a crutch to your child’s improvement, discuss with your child the perception he or she has of tutoring. If need be, consult your tutor in order to work together to find ways to develop his independence.
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The tutor is not there to replace you in your role of parent, but instead to work in collaboration with you in support of your child’s academic goals. Throughout this process, don’t forget that the objective is the success and well being of your child. By adding more help (parents, professors, tutor), we have the means to create an environment based on collaboration, which will assuredly promote the student’s confidence.
