Most people would likely say ‘maths’ if they were polled about which subjects they liked the least in school. Deserved or undeserved, maths has a reputation for being challenging and difficult.
Interestingly, studies on this almost universal dislike for maths reveal one consistent truth: attitude influences performance. Specifically, one’s attitude towards the subject is related to how well they do in it.
If your child is struggling with maths, private tutoring services can help. However, your short-term goal should be to awaken your child’s interest in maths, make them motivated to take on its challenges, and develop confidence in their maths abilities instead of merely learning how to solve their maths problems. This way, you can secure continuous, long-lasting improvement in their mathematics performance.
In other words, you want tutoring that will help your child love maths so much they can’t help but become better at it. What can you do to accomplish that?
Your Choice of a Tutor: The Most Important Factor
Selecting a maths tutor for your child is the most important decision you need to make. Research says a competent teacher can improve a child’s perception of maths, and this is what you want because attitude influences performance, remember?
Additionally (and this is also backed by research), ineffective teaching leads to deficient maths knowledge and performance in students. It can also turn children off the subject, leading to a destructive, self-reinforcing cycle of maths loathing and poor maths performance.
Selection Factors: How to Choose a Maths Tutor for Your Child
What are the characteristics of an effective maths tutor? They are outlined below. Use them as a guide in choosing the best tutor for your child.
Superior Subject Knowledge
A tutor cannot teach what they don’t know. Therefore, find a tutor who has a thorough knowledge and understanding of the subject.
Is your child struggling with GCSE mathematics? Find an expert GCSE maths tutor. How about A-level maths? Find someone who knows A-level maths like the back of their hands.
An expert maths tutor can provide competent guidance whenever your child is stumped. They have techniques and strategies they can teach to help your child cope with difficult topics and questions.
How do you check a tutor’s competence and knowledge in your specific maths level and subject? Check their resume. Where are they studying? What program are they on?
Interview them, too. Sit in on a test class so you can observe as they try to explain a particularly complex mathematical concept to your child. A good litmus test is if their explanations help you understand the topic, too.
Contagious Enthusiasm
Look for a teacher who is interested, enthusiastic, and positively inclined towards maths. Studies show that a teacher’s own perceptions of mathematics influence how well they teach it.
Recall your days in school, and you’ll know this to be true. Didn’t you enjoy classes where the teacher obviously enjoyed their subject? The discussions were much livelier, as the teacher had a lot to say on the topics, and their enthusiasm was palpable and could not be contained.
Enthusiasm is contagious. Given a choice between a tutor who is extremely gifted in maths but is clearly bored with it, using it only as a tool to accomplish other things, and another tutor who is excellent at maths and is unmistakably enamoured with it, choose the latter. What they don’t know, they can easily find out because they are driven by their love for the subject.
Effective Technique and Style
Look for a tutor who exhibits the following teaching styles:
Why-Driven
A tutor who focuses only on how to solve a problem (memorising formulas/steps) may increase your child’s anxiety about solving maths problems. To build love for the subject, a tutor must be able to focus on and explain the logic that underpins formulas and steps.
Grasping the logic removes the mystery and fear. By eliminating the arbitrariness of maths (at least your child’s perception of it), it makes maths ‘conquerable’ and ‘solvable’.
Real-World Connection
Find a tutor who can customise word problems or examples based on what your child already loves (e.g., Minecraft, basketball, cooking, art). Math feels dry when it’s abstract. The right tutor can bridge the gap between the numbers in a textbook and real life.
The rote-like study of factorials can seem so pointless. However, if a tutor can make it relevant to your child, for example, by showing how they can apply it to creating secure passwords that withstand brute-force attacks, it can become much more interesting.
Emotional Intelligence and Patience
A child who is struggling can feel ‘stuck’. This is a considerable emotional barrier that can be more significant than the intellectual one. Therefore, you want a tutor who knows proper framing to empower a child. They can help transition a child from an ‘I can’t’ mindset to ‘I can’t do it yet, but I will eventually.’
Find a tutor who can create a safe space for your child to learn. They make your child feel safe enough to reveal their shortcomings (instead of just shutting down), a necessary first step in overcoming them.
An Effective Tutor to Help Your Child With Maths
Your child may be struggling with maths now, but research says a change in attitude can effectively improve maths performance. Private tutorial services can help, but it’s critical that you choose a private home or online maths tutor capable of engaging your child and igniting their love for maths.
AUTHOR BIO
Jinky Elizan is a content specialist at SEO Sherpa – Global Best Large SEO Agency Winner, focusing on SEO, PPC, Digital PR, and Search Everywhere Optimization. She has 19 years of experience crafting long-form content on various topics, including tutorials and education. She also develops WordPress websites in her spare time, enhancing her ability to optimize website copy for reader engagement and action.
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