Month: August 2017

Does Tutoring Work?

We are getting nearer to the end of the summer holidays and many parents are starting to think about children’s school uniforms, bags, pencil cases, PE kits, name labels and the like.  The practicalities of school might not be all that you are preparing your child for.  You might have had a report that concerned you at the end of the summer term.  You might have concerns about SAT’s this school year, you might be sending your child to a Grammar School and they need to practice for the entrance exams.  Whatever your concerns, they are generally about confidence and self esteem.  You are probably more concerned about that than academic achievement.  But did you know they tend to go hand in hand.  The worries, anxieties and lack of self confidence will hold back your child’s chances of success.

It is natural that we want our children to be confident, to have high self esteem and to be able to succeed at whatever they want to succeed at.  However children are just like us and have worries and anxieties about their own abilities in life.  No matter how small they might seem to us, they are not small to them and can often become bigger if they are not addressed.

Growth Mindset is important because it is a mindset that is in all successful people.  They don’t sweat the small stuff, they enjoy making mistakes because they understand that is part of learning, they don’t rush to complete tasks and they see the value of small achievements as a journey towards a bigger picture.  They see long terms aims as a valuable to their aspirations.

‘Students’ mindsets significantly impact their success in school. Years of mounting evidence shows that growth-minded students tend to have better academic outcomes than their fix-minded peers. In addition, they are more likely to be intrinsically motivated, enjoying learning for the pleasure of learning rather than just to reach an external goal.’  (https://rsi.gse.harvard.edu/research/growth-mindset)

I am currently running INSET’s in schools for teachers on this type of teaching and learning.  We all need to consider that  in order to achieve, we must believe that we can achieve.  That effort and hard work is part of success, but also we need to relax, we need to know that it is OK to make a mistake, that it is important to know we cannot do everything right first time and in fact we need to make mistakes to learn.  How can we improve if we never make a mistake?  Short answer is we don’t improve if we don’t make a mistake.  We need to have a culture of understanding that it is OK to acknowledge a mistake, to realise what it was, and to work out what we need to learn from that.  What challenges do we set ourselves to move on from that?

I offer tutoring to children with or without special needs because I believe children need to believe in themselves, in order to be successful academically.  Children with ASC are more susceptible to a fixed mindset and I often work with these children on Growth Mindset sessions but it isn’t just children on the Spectrum lots of us (adults and children) have fixed mindsets.  Studies have proved that having a Growth Mindset assists learners to achieve and builds resilience.  I teach children academic skills to develop their progress in certain areas but also combine my therapeutic knowledge, Growth Mindset theory and teaching and learning theories to support my pupils in breaking down their barriers to learning.

They are then making positive changes to become successful learners because they know they can.  It is not about being the clever person in the class; as one of my pupils said nearing the end of our sessions ‘I am just as clever as ‘name of high achiever’ now!’  He didn’t believe in the beginning that he could be, that he could get full marks in a Grammar test, but by changing his mindset, working hard, not getting upset or worried and putting effort in, he was able to achieve those tasks that were challenges to him.  He aced his Year 6 SATs, because he believed and therefore achieved!  He made positive changes and I was immensely proud of him.

‘In conclusion, the current study aims to investigate the possible mediating roles of resilience in the associations between growth mindset, psychological well-being, and school engagement. Resilience acts as a partial mediator between growth mindset, psychological well-being and school engagement, implying that resilience might be the key factor in reaching the objective of positive education, not only to enhance the well-being of students but also their academic achievement.’

(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5147462/)

It is so rewarding to see my clients making positive changes to their thoughts and reactions to situations such as learning and achieving so much!  Contact me if you would like to book an appointment for a no commitment first session.