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Homepage Private Tutors Setting Goals With the Students You Tutor
3 min
January 4, 2022
All of the students you tutor will have different goals.
Tutors support students at lots of different points in their educational journey. Seeing students achieve their goals is one of the most rewarding aspects of being a tutor.
Setting realistic goals with students can help them to feel a sense of achievement and to see the progress they are making.
This blog will discuss some great tips for setting goals with the students you tutor.
If a student struggles with confidence, it can be hard for them to recognise that they are constantly achieving new things. By encouraging them to reflect on what they have achieved so far, you will help them to see the progress they have made and build their confidence in the process.
When reflecting, you may want to look at things the student has achieved in previous sessions with you, at school or in their personal life. Not all of their achievements need to be academic. As a tutor, you support them with lots of other skills, not just the academic subjects they work on with you.
Identifying what areas a student feels confident with can help to discover areas they find more challenging. It also provides them with an opportunity to show what they are good at.
Sometimes, the areas a student is confident with can help them to improve on areas they find challenging. You can use the skills they already have to help them master new skills.
Students can often tell you the areas they aren’t very good at. If they don’t like to acknowledge these, they can often be identified in their sessions as they can be more reluctant to work on these areas.
By identifying these areas together, you can reassure the student that you can also work on them together. You might also want to share challenges you have and how the student could help you with those.
Helping your students to see that we all have challenges can help them feel more confident.
Discussing a time frame, and what the student wants to achieve in this time frame, helps to make sure the goals that are set are achievable.
Some goals come with a time frame set to them already. For example, if a student is sitting an 11+ exam or other exam, their time frame will be clear. However, there are smaller goals and steps along the way you can use to break this down and help it feel more manageable.
Including the student in setting their goals will help them feel invested in what they achieve.
Agreeing on the steps you can take to reach a specific goal makes the goal manageable and achievable for your student.
It also reassures them that you will be with them every step of the way and that you will be supporting them. It can show them how you will be helping them and help them to understand why specific tasks are being completed.
Good luck and enjoy seeing your students thrive this year!
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Segment Manager: Private Educators
Beth is the Segment Manager for Private Educators at Twinkl. Prior to joining Twinkl, Beth worked as a Private Tutor for 8 years. In this time, she worked with children from ages four through to sixteen and supported them with their learning. She has worked with children preparing for exams, those who have gaps in learning, and children who were excelling and looking for a further challenge with learning. She loves seeing the change in a child's confidence once they have mastered something they previously found challenging!
