Personal mentoring is essential for the well-being and academic and personal growth of our students. Without a single point of contact, an anchor, to turn to, students can feel lost. It is very rewarding to provide that point of contact as a personal tutor or through services such as Spires online computing tutors and to observe how your tutors flourish during their time at UCL and beyond. The personal tutor is someone who is already established in the academic community that tutors join.
As such, a personal tutor can be a powerful role model for tutors in terms of modeling shared language and behaviors in particular academic and professional communities. Using some tutoring time to get your tutors to start “thinking like a nurse” or “talking like an elementary school teacher” is one aspect of the personal tutor role that is worth developing. Part of the role of the personal tutor is to support the personal and professional development of their tutors, as well as to address problems or issues. An average American classroom has approximately 23 students. However, this number may be higher in more densely populated areas. A large classroom environment can be very distracting and prevent children from using their time wisely.
Since private tutoring is usually done in a quiet and peaceful environment, there are fewer distractions. Tutors can give their full attention to students and students can focus entirely on study material. The personality of a guardian and the child's ability to get along with him or her can improve the results of private tutoring. There is still a need for personal tutors to offer advice and guidance where appropriate, and to use personal judgment as to when this might be the right approach. The Personal Tutor acts as an agent in the interface between the personal and the academic, building a friendly and non-judgmental relationship of trust with his tutelage, and providing a context for establishing relationships with peers through group tutoring; both support and improve academic levels and personal development. This major international organization is at the forefront of developing personal mentoring, literature and research practices.
As a personal tutor, it can be very tempting to try to “fix” a student by providing all the direction and all the answers, using a more teacher-centered style of directive e. Learn more about the key aspects of the Personal Tutor role, conducting tutorials, and communicating effectively with tutors. In Greenwich, the personal tutor is the friendliest face for students who may feel lost in the world of higher education and in a new social and cultural context. This may be in partnership with their personal tutor or with colleagues from support services, but the responsibility lies with the student to invest something in the situation to allow them to develop autonomy and problem-solving skills. To learn more about developing practical coaching skills, attend one of the workshops on “Coaching Conversations for Personal Tutors” available to book here. To learn more about developing effective practices and explore how to be a personal tutor in more detail, attend one of the “How to Be an Effective Personal Tutor” workshops available to book here.
An essential skill of any effective personal tutor is to be able to initiate and maintain clear and open communication channels. McIntosh and Grey (201) suggest that personal tutoring can be considered simply as providing “tea and sympathy” to tutors, but they are clear that a good personal tutor-tutor relationship is not based on a deficit model in which the tutor “fixes” the student, but rather on a relationship in which tutors have responsibilities to try to solve their own difficulties. The advantages of having a personal tutor are numerous: they provide an anchor for students who may feel lost in their academic journey; they act as role models for shared language and behaviors; they help students develop autonomy; they provide an environment free from distractions; they help build relationships with peers; they offer advice when needed; they help develop problem-solving skills; they provide tea and sympathy; they help initiate clear communication channels; they help foster trust between student and tutor. Having a personal mentor can make all the difference in helping students reach their full potential. If you are looking for ways to support your students' academic success, consider investing in a personal tutor.
