In this new ‘world’ we are living in, a lot of teachers have had to teach online and have started tutoring online.
There are many people who prefer one-to-one tutoring and others who prefer group tutoring and recently there has been a lot on social media about the pros and cons of these.
To be honest, as someone who has been teaching for 12 years and is a specialist A level teacher/tutor, I think it really depends on the a couple of things:
The student - there are some students who thrive in a classroom and there are those who prefer to learn independently.
The group - if the whole group are all aiming for the same grade and are starting at a similar stage, then this can be extremely motivating and give very good results.
Let me explain.
In a ‘normal’ classroom there are lots of different students who are all learning that subject for different reasons. So, for example, there may be a student who wants to do Physics at university and just enjoys Biology or there may be a student who wants to do medicine so needs a high grade in Biology.
Other students will have other aspirations, such as nursing or midwifery.
Just as all students have different aspirations, students also learn at different paces. Furthermore, they may not require the same grade to get into their choice of career.
The time an online ‘class’ can flourish, is if your students all have the same goals. I.e. they all need to get an A for A level due to the course they want to do at university, examples could be medicine or dentistry, both of which require an A or A*.
Imagine if the whole group had the same aspirations, they can motivate, support and push each other by sharing their experiences, their learning techniques and even being accountable for each other's learning.
Why can this not happen in a school environment?
It can, but it is very difficult.
In my experience, generally, there are always 5-6 students who end up leading the rest in the classroom but they do not have anyone to lead them apart from the teacher and of course the teacher has to work with all the students in the classroom equally.
So which do I think is better?
Personally, I think group tuition where the students have similar aspirations definitely helps in ways that one-to-one tuition cannot, however; that doesn’t mean that one-to-one tuition doesn’t work.
One-to-one is great for students who are really struggling with content and require more attention, whereas group tuition would work for students who are getting ok grades, but need that extra push and learning to get them the higher grades. These students are fine with content learning, but need other skills such as exam technique and practice.
I offer both one-to-one tutoring for students in year 12 and group tuition for those who are already on a C or B in A level Biology and need to get an A. The group will be no bigger than 10 students per class.
Below are the links to my website for both.
Group exam preparation course: https://www.biology-academy.com/courses/biology-exam-preparation-1sept
Please do let me know if you have any questions or would like me to write about anything in particular.
Aarti