The Importance of tutoring consistency

When a student is struggling, it is important to set up a regular schedule for tutoring, and to stick with it. Regular tutoring sessions ensure that the student and tutor can build on prior sessions, gaining the small victories necessary to make the bigger changes happen over time. A commitment to a schedule also shows your student that you are committed, and this makes it more likely for them to buy into the support. Having a student who is just going through the motions with tutoring is a sure way to end up disappointed with the results. A consistent schedule helps both the tutor and the student develop a rhythm and working rapport that will help bring about improvement in performance.

That is not to say the schedule never changes. Often, there is a period of time where the student is making up for lost time. Perhaps they have a poor grade and need to learn many concepts they did not fully understand the first time around. Maybe there is a lot of make up work to do. Assignments take longer when there are conceptual gaps, too.

But once the student is caught up, then the hours can be cut back. We always recommend keeping a regular session for a while to make sure the student does not back slide. It is much easier to maintain than it is to catch up after a student has skipped a few weeks and slid backwards! The key to not slipping is consistency, which means making the tutoring session a priority over other activities that pop up.