When I first started tutoring, I majorly prioritised knowing the content and explaining it clearly. While that is an extremely important part of what tutors do, another more underrated priority I’ve discovered is building your students confidence first to make sure that my explanations stick.

A lot of the time, my students didnt struggle because they couldnt understand the work. They struggled because they didnt believe they could. I’ve had students who actually knew the steps to solve a problem, but still said “I’m bad at this” before even trying. Others would look at me after every line just to check they weren’t wrong. It wasn’t a knowledge or ability issue, it was self-doubt. So i ended up pivoting how i tutor and asked more leading questions to get them to explain the concept to me. Once they started getting more and more answers correct, they became more confident to try and get the answers right. They conversely were less discouraged when they got the answers wrong.

This shift also majorly changed the way I saw my role as a tutor. I stopped feeling like I had to be the one with all the answers and started focusing more on creating a space where students felt safe to think out loud and make mistakes. Sometimes that meant sitting back and letting the silence linger while they worked through a problem themselves. Those moments might feel small, but they’re powerful because I’ve realised that when students know they can solve something on their own, it sticks far longer than anything I could explain.

Annaliese Lakis