Introduction
Tutoring is an increasingly popular way to stop children from falling behind in school and further develop their understanding of a subject. Many parents are aware of the challenges in state schools, such as increasing class sizes and poor behaviour within teaching groups, so they decide to get a tutor for their child.
Some will decide on one-to-one tutoring, and others will go for group tutoring. Many parents know that group tutoring saves money, but what about the other academic and non-academic benefits?
Being a teacher, I know the many benefits of group tutoring that many parents are unaware of.
Group tutoring can take place online these days or face to face, but these online or face-to-face methods will not be covered here in this post.
You can also watch this short video before reading my full blog post here below.
Improving social skills
Often, when parents look for a tutor for their child, they usually go for a one-to-one tutor who is skilled and experienced enough to help their child succeed in a particular subject, such as chemistry.
When opting for group tutoring, not only are you helping develop their subject knowledge and understanding of a subject, but you are also helping with developing their social skills.
When children get to working age, they will have to work in teams, and often, the ones with good social skills are the ones that go on to become successful in their chosen careers. They develop great leadership qualities and people skills.
Being part of a learning community fosters a sense of belonging where they can work together and solve problems. They will work together as a team to share different viewpoints and give each other feedback through constructive criticism. Usually, it’s only the teacher giving the feedback. So, developing these skills early on will be great for future teamwork projects that they take part in.
Increasing levels of motivation
I have seen many students achieve a higher level of understanding in groups compared to how they performed when tutored individually.
Having some friendly competition is a healthy way to increase their motivation levels.
When students are in a group tutoring session and are working on a task to solve a problem, the progress of peers is a motivator that drives students to strive for improvement and achievement.
If they were only being tutored individually, there is no one to compete against, so the drive to solve the problem may not be there.
Sharing different learning methods
When students are given the same problem, if they solve it successfully, the answer will often be the same, such as in maths. But the methods for solving that exact problem are likely to be different.
Not so long ago, I was tutoring a GCSE higher-level group, which was made up of five students. All five students were given the same problem to solve on circle theorems.
Four students got the correct answers, but their methods differed. They applied their knowledge of circle theorems to solve the problem, but it was so interesting to see their other ways.
One by one, they shared their methods with the group, including the students who didn’t quite get the correct solution.
Every student listened carefully and learned many ways to apply knowledge of circle theorems and solve the problem. Even the student who didn’t get it correct now fully understood how to solve it by listening and using his creativity and knowledge of maths to solve the problem.
Being able to share these learning methods with other members of the group enhanced their understanding of the topic. All students felt comfortable sharing their techniques and realised how much easier it was to fully understand the topic when sharing their methods and strategies within the group.
Many of my colleagues who teach across different age groups and subjects have discovered this is also one of the fantastic benefits of group tutoring.
Costing less
Other important reasons exist for putting your child into group tutoring instead of one-to-one tutoring sessions.
Unfortunately, many parents only decide to do group tutoring when they realise how much less they will pay.
A GCSE maths tutor could cost fifty pounds per hour for a one-to-one session, but it may only cost fifteen pounds per hour if five students are in that group.
Yes, it will save parents much money. Still, a student will often gain many academic and social skills and other benefits from group tutoring that may not be possible during individual tutoring lessons.
Productivity and Time Management
Knowing the many academic and non-academic benefits of group tutoring, when booking sessions for my tutoring groups, I know how important being productive is and having excellent time management skills.
· Time management
Students are booked to attend the same days at the same time each week, so that gets them to organise themselves by knowing that this is the time for group tutoring.
As well as turning up on time to these sessions, when working together, they must break up the tutoring sessions, allowing for practice, discussion, assessment, and feedback time. You can see how this helps the group manage their tutoring time rather than relying entirely on the tutor, helping to develop their time management skills.
· Productivity
My students are sometimes given concepts to master by following some online short video course I recorded, together with other online resources they can use, which they can go through independently at home before the next group tutoring session.
When joining the following tutoring session, they already have done the homework to learn the concepts. Now, I give them different problems to solve, and they apply their knowledge from watching online videos at home.
Students can then discuss and share their methods with the group, leading to more productivity than what could be achieved by working on all the questions themselves.
Conclusion
It can be seen now that the benefits of group tutoring extend beyond cost savings, helping to create a winning ‘can do’ environment where students enhance their academic understanding and build essential social and life skills.
It’s a collaborative environment where motivation flourishes, diverse perspectives are celebrated, and time management becomes something for the group to achieve.
For our children, it’s an investment in their capacity to learn and grow together, helping both academic and personal development.
All this prepares them for the future; the collective learning and shared successes of group tutoring are stepping stones toward their broader academic and social achievements.
What has been your or your child’s experience with group tutoring? Share your stories below!