What exactly is expected from a tutor and how can tutors manage these expectations?
I had a conversation with a casual acquaintance about tutoring. His daughter just began high school this year and was facing her first set of exams. According to my acquaintance, she was seeing a tutor three times a week and only around exam time. We then got into a discussion on what tutors provide for his daughter.
According to him, tutors today are nothing like tutors from when we were students. His daughter currently has two tutors and neither of them prepare materials nor do they teach anything new. It seems all they do is answer questions about his daughter's homework. If that is the case, it is pretty clear why my acquaintance does not seem to think it is necessary to have tutoring outside of exam period.
Tutors who do not provide original materials price themselves out of a job. Yes, I do have "sprint" students who only need me during exam period. However, the majority of my students are long-term and need me once or twice a week the entire semester. This is likely because I create new exercises that reflect what they're doing in class and give them extra practice on what they're learning.
Managing Expectations
On the other end of the spectrum, I have been asked by a parent to meet and continuously consult with the student's teachers on the work we are doing. This seems to me to be excessive. I create work plans over several sessions for my students and a session report after each one. These, I send to the parents (or students if they are adults), along with the exercises we did together, after each session. I have been asked by one parent to send these items to the student's teachers and to consult with them on the work plan.
I also have a parent who messages me at all hours. Granted, they have never criticized me for not responding immediately, but I have received middle of the night text messages asking me to prepare certain materials for the next day. Since I prepare my materials at least one day in advance, I question whether clients realize how much work goes into lesson preparation.
Understanding What the Client Needs
I often wonder what these parents would do with tutors who only provide homework help. Not to say they do not exist, but I do not know of any other tutor who develops a work plan. I also do not know any other tutor who provides session reports after each session. While I know there are tutors out there who put in long unpaid hours and provide even more support than I do, client expectations are becoming more demanding and I wonder if it is the tutors' fault for raising expectations. But then, I have conversations with parents like the one I had with my acquaintance and I realize not all expectations have been raised. It makes me realize that there is a vast disconnect on what tutors have to offer and how it is being communicated to clients.
My suggestion then, particularly for a private practice, is to communicate early on what the tutor is willing to offer and what would be considered as "extra". This continues to boil down to what the tutor considers to be their value and how much they are willing to give in terms of unpaid work, intellectual capacity, and additional support.
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