After tutoring for over two years, I’ve come to realise that no two students learn the exact same way, and what works for one student may not necessarily work for another. Whilst I found this to be a bit of a struggle in the beginning, I feel like it has helped me to become a better tutor and understand that it is about more than just knowing the content but being able to adapt the ways in which that content is delivered, to ensure that all students receive the most from sessions.

For example, some students learn better from visual examples, like diagrams or images, as it helps them to create a picture of what they are learning. However, this may not work for other students who work better with verbal explanations, like step-by-step examples and properly talking through examples in order to process the information more effectively. Regardless of learning styles, I have found that the best results do come from working through practice questions and reminding students to make mistakes, so that we can correct them as they go and ensure these mistakes aren’t made in the future.

It’s important to be able to adapt teaching styles because it can make a significant difference to a student’s learning and build confidence in the student by reminding them that there are different teaching methods, it isn’t a one-size-fits-all situation. I’ve had experiences where students have been unmotivated and confused in sessions, particularly in the younger years of maths, but when we used diagrams and physical objects to help go through the problems, they had a better understanding of what the material was.

Daisy Brenac