Once you have decided that hiring a full-time private tutor is the way forward to educate your child, you need to determine how to conduct the recruitment process. A reputable private tutoring agency is best placed to understand what you need and what to look for in a tutor, but here are some guidelines to finding the right private tutor for you and your family.
Every child learns differently
Ultimately your goal is to ensure your student reaches their full potential by providing them with the correct learning environment so that they feel happy and confident. Actually stimulating them so that they learn more but enjoy learning at the same time is a skill that every private tutor should have. It is important to realise that no two students are the same therefore the criteria for a private tutor for one will certainly not match another.
All the candidates may appear to have the correct qualifications so to filter through them is a rigorous process and requires in depth knowledge and expertise which quite often is beyond the means of most family members. This is especially important if the student has struggled in the past and may require different avenues of help.
Look at evidence of different teaching styles and methods, or previous successes with students that appear to have similar difficulties, and talk to your child about what they’re looking for in a teacher.
You all need to get along
Other important factors that are often overlooked are the social factors; your private tutor needs to fit seamlessly into your world. You will need to be quite specific about your likes and dislikes, for example you may want a non-smoker. A good match will be a candidate that has the correct qualification, but also fits into your everyday life.
In order to get the right private tutor it might be necessary to look internationally, quite often the correct individual will not already be local to you and so this throws another complication in the mix.
So in essence you need a private tutor that has the correct educational qualifications, the best match socially and can stimulate the student in the right way for the individual to realise his or her full potential.
Spend time with the final candidates to see if they are a good fit in your family – they will be spending a lot of time with you and your children.
How do tutoring agencies help?
In order to get the right private tutor, you need to find a tutoring service that will be by your side every step of the way and filter out any poor applicants, leaving only the applicants that meet your every requirement. They should listen to your exact needs socially and educationally and any specific requirements that the student has. (e.g Attention Deficit Disorder or Dyslexia)
To help identify a fantastic service you need to make sure the company concerned will:
1) Meet with you and the student(s) to discuss your exact requirements, they should record all of your preferences and meet every expectation.
2) From this meeting you should then see a detailed job specification for the private tutor which you must agree with before the recruitment phase commences.
3) You should then be kept updated frequently with the progress of events.
4) After a period of time (and this can take a few months) you will then see a couple of candidates that match your criteria for your ultimate decision.
The recruitment and background checking process is quite arduous so that only the highest calibre candidates get through, but it’s something that the tutoring service should do on your behalf, interviewing dozens of candidates before presenting the final selection for you and your family to have the ultimate say.
Why get help to find a tutor
Getting the correct match is paramount to success. Don’t be fooled into thinking that previous employment in a school guarantees quality as 9 times out of 10 this is not the case. A professional approach to hiring a private tutor is the only way to guarantee a successful outcome.
