Online Private Tutoring is Not the Best Way to Tutor Students, Says Tuition Expert

Oxford, United Kingdom, February 17, 2012 --(PR.com)-- With so many e-tutoring providers currently available, parents may feel that this is the future of private tuition. Tutors International (http://www.tutors-international.com), a leading private tutoring organisation based in Oxford, today announced that online tuition is rarely the best form of education. While they have provided private tuition remotely when asked, founder Adam Caller stated, “We try not to get involved in online tuition, preferring to tutor students face-to-face. It’s an important part of teaching to recognise when your pupil actually understands what they’re being taught.”

There are different methods of online tuition. For example, multiple-choice question papers with a point-deducting ‘hint’ system, or video-call style tutoring. But Caller states that both these methods have serious pitfalls:

“We once got involved with preparing an e-learning program for primary school maths, and ran into problems when you try to supply a hint for the sum 1+1. How do you teach a child how to solve that without sitting next to them? Skype-style video conferencing calls might appear to be just as good as sitting next to someone in the room, but you’re not factoring in experiential learning, scribbling things down on paper, grabbing a nearby object and getting the student to manipulate it to truly grasp the concept. They still do not permit the kind of non-verbal communication essential for a teacher to know that the student really understands something.”

The online tuition industry may offer a convenient and low-cost alternative to face-to-face full-time private tutoring, but there are few guarantees around the standard of tuition the pupil will receive. Low hourly rates arise from a saturated market, where anybody, without formal qualifications, can offer their time as a personal online tutor for a very low salary.

“Many tutors are being recruited from countries like India, where they command very low rates of pay and may not be familiar with the school curriculum. There are, of course, some great tutors out there, but the point is that as a parent, you don’t really know what you’re getting. Virtual learning can make it easy for a child to look up the answer, rather than work it out themselves, while Skype-type video calls can be hard to supervise.”

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About Tutors International

Tutors International is a worldwide organization providing experienced private tutors to work with children of all ages and nationalities. Tutors are available for full-time tutoring positions, for major support and tutoring outside school hours, or for home-schooling. Tutors International is able to source the best international tutors including multilingual travelling teachers to accompany families travelling around the world, or those whose lifestyle necessitates frequent travel, in order to maintain consistency in education in extraordinary circumstances.

Tutors International provide tutors in a wide variety of situations from helping students re-take critical exams, helping pupils with the transition of moving between international school systems, and supporting youngsters with AD/HD and dyslexia. They provide a bespoke service to find the right tutor that suits the child's needs and aspirations, and if a live-in tutor is required, it is essential that the assigned tutor is the right match for the family and fits in the environment.

Tutors International was founded by Adam Caller who has tutored students of all ages. He has received specialist training in dyslexia and Attention Deficit Disorder and is very sensitive to children's educational difficulties. He has now turned this expertise to recruiting, training and placing other tutors to help families.