A parent recently asked the question: ‘Who should I listen to – the tutor or the teacher? The teacher says my child should be held back from sitting an upcoming exam; the tutor says my child is more than ready for the exam. Both have been teaching my child for the same length of time.’

The answer given was that the parent should listen to what the teacher says since the teacher spends more time with the child and therefore knows the child better.

There is also that implied hierarchy of authority and responsibility that the teacher has over the child and the environment in which the exam is to be sat.

That said the tutor also knows the child fairly well having provided teaching in a setting where there is less chance of the child’s individualisation becoming lost among the other 25 or so pupils. It would seem such a shame that a child could miss out on an opportunity due to a misunderstanding of what he or she is truly capable of.

But perhaps we should ask our own question: Are the teacher and tutor roles the same? Or two: Does the difference come down to setting, or is there more to it?

One-to-one tuition model

According to the UK government guide published to support the roll out of the national one-to-one tuition programme (which actually offers a number of very good models for all tutors regardless of whether they are teaching on the programme or not), the teacher and tutor roles are not the same at all.

‘Teaching one-to-one is not a scaled down version of whole class teaching, and it requires a different approach from that used in group work,’ it states.

The uniqueness of the tutor role can be found in the basis of one-to-one pedagogy: with just one child to attend to the tutor’s approach to lesson planning and teaching is of course tailored to the child’s particular needs. We can therefore ‘pass quickly over the things we know they can do, and spend time improving the way they perceive and apply the learning so that their weaknesses are resolved and their successes are consolidated’.

It is one of the triumphs of one-to-one teaching over any other method to cut through the tape, hone in and tackle the problem at large.

Tutor view versus teacher view

The one-to-one tutor guide outlines a model for understanding the way the tutor and teacher role complement one another in their differences rather well – but does it also highlight the reason why a teacher and tutor may come to different conclusions about the capabilities of the same child?

The very nature of one-to-one tutoring means you spend more time addressing a child’s personal and internalised learning processes. The one-to-one guide describes the tutor’s role as more of a coaching one, helping a child to address personal learning issues, and to identify and put in to practice personal problem-solving strategies. Tutors are primarily asked to help children to identify things they haven’t understood but which the majority of their peers have, and to tackle this.

The tutor should encourage discussion (with the student speaking three times more than the tutor) to uncover strategies that the student can take away and use in other contexts.

Tutor and teacher – what’s the difference?

So back to our question – well, a new one: How can we best understand the difference in roles between the tutor and teacher?

The most useful way is to look at the two as complementary. Even better if this could be more than an ideal. With the one-to-one programme tutors and teachers can discuss and share thoughts and expectations for the student; there is then less chance of conflicting views – but then the programme is designed to work that way.

By way of contrast, as is the case most of the time, when tutoring and teaching occur unconnected in their own settings (and often oblivious of one another), how can tutors ensure their students benefit all round?

And what does a tutor do when faced with a question such as that posed at the opening of this article?

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