Teaching style

Teaching style should tell you how a tutor teaches, not what they are like. Every tutor on Tutorperch can answer four questions about how they run a session, and their answers show on their profile.

The four questions

These are the four questions you can answer in the 'find a tutor' Wizard, and tutors answer the same four about how they teach. Neither answer is the better one.

When planning sessions, which matters more?

A plan set in advance, worked through in order
Flexible week to week

Some students want a plan they can see ahead. Others want each session to follow that week’s content, homework, or a test.

For materials, which matters more?

Materials made for this student
Established resources the student may already be familiar with

Some students want resources made for them. Others want to build on materials they may already be familiar with.

When they’re stuck, which matters more?

Step-by-step guidance and worked examples
Prompts and space to work things out independently

Some students want clear steps to follow. Others want prompts and space to work things out independently.

For work between sessions, which matters more?

Keep work inside the session
Set work between sessions

Some students want guided practice between sessions. Others want the work to stay inside the session.

What parents said

The four answers on a profile are the tutor's own. Once enough parents who have had lessons have answered the same question on a review, we show what they described underneath, whether or not it matches.

Parents are asked the same four questions when they review a tutor. How we rank explains how their answers and the tutor's are combined.

Answering the questions in Find

Your answers change the order of the results. They never remove a tutor from the list, so skip any you have no view on, and a tutor who has not answered is not pushed to the bottom.

Teaching style only changes the order among tutors whose reviews already put them close together, so it never lifts a poorly reviewed tutor above a well reviewed one. How we rank sets out the detail.

How to use it

Teaching style is a way to shortlist, not a way to decide. A child who works well from a clear structure and a child who needs the session to follow whatever is in front of them this week are looking for different tutors.

Then confirm the rest in the first session. How to choose a tutor covers what else to check before you book.

Common questions

Why does a tutor's teaching style matter? +

A tutor can be well qualified and experienced and still not suit your child. The four answers tell you what a lesson is likely to look like, which is hard to judge from qualifications alone.

What should I look for? +

There is no style that is best for every child. Think about whether yours does better with a plan or with flexibility, with materials made for them or resources they already know, with close guidance or with space, and whether homework helps or causes friction at home.

Can I trust the tutor's own description? +

Treat it as a description until the profile shows that parents described the same thing. Where parents described something different, we show that rather than taking the tutor's word for it.

Why does this tutor's profile show nothing from parents? +

We wait until enough parents have answered that question, so a tutor with few reviews shows their own answer on its own. The count so far appears underneath.