One of the most common misconceptions about tutoring is that it’s primarily about fixing or solving a student’s weaknesses. This can perpetuate ideas that the student is behind or lacking which can be highly discouraging to students. But effective tutoring is far more empowering than that. At its heart, tutoring is a partnership and a safe collaboration to further existing knowledge. Tutoring provides an opportunity to collaborate with the individual student, meeting them at their specific needs.

Rather than focusing on correction, tutoring is about collaboration and alignment. Alignment to each student’s needs. It’s about meeting students exactly where they are, not dragging them toward a predefined goal, but working alongside them with support and encouragement whilst helping them build confidence in their own process. Each student is unique. Their learning styles, pace, interests, and even the way they express understanding vary greatly. That’s why tutoring doesn’t just reteach content. Instead, we adapt, listen, and guide, molded specially to the student. This allows students to see their own thinking more clearly. Tutoring should empower students to reveal their strengths, not only just their weaknesses. This is highly effective as students commonly respond better to positive reinforcement whilst learning, encouraging them to utilize their strengths to work on their weaknesses. For students, tutoring can often be quite vulnerable, thus highlighting the importance of collaborating with students and meeting their needs to create a safe environment to learn without judgment.

This approach respects the student’s intelligence and values what’s already working. Often, this leads to better outcomes because the student feels less pressure to “get it right” and more freedom to explore what’s possible.

Jessica Ciappara