Firstly, there’s our new online tutor forum.

And secondly, the new Tutor Pages group on LinkedIn.

The confusion will cause a major headache for organisations which have been preparing for the July kick-off of the scheme.

Self-employed private tutors, for whom the VBS is not a statutory requirement, will be no doubt be watching the ensuing chaos with a sense of relief that they don’t need to get involved. Other tutors won’t be so lucky: they’ll still be affected because of their employment by schools or other so-called Regulated Activity Providers (RAPs).

The good thing is, the information in our recent interim statement on private tuition and the VBS still holds true.

We therefore urge all parents, tutors and others concerned about child protection in the private tuition industry to familiarize themselves with the issues by reading it at:

http://www.thetutorpages.com/media-room/june-2010-child-protection-interim-statement.pdf

Find it on The Tutor Pages website under our Media Room, or at the following link:

http://www.thetutorpages.com/media-room/june-2010-child-protection-interim-statement.pdf

We urge all parents, tutors and anyone else involved in private tuition to read it. We hope that our perspective will be informative and that it will encourage debate on the topic (soon we’ll also have a forum on The Tutor Pages so you can voice your comments too).

Child protection is a complex area, and the more you look at it, the more you realise that what is perceived as helpful may not actually be so.

The statement should help clarify the issues for those parents and tutors who are no doubt concerned or confused about this whole area.

Finally, we’ve no idea yet what the new government is going to do about the VBS scheme, so much of this information may change.

Watch this space!

It also mentions an academic research project we’re in the intial stages of colloborating with on this subject.

Any feedback v welcome!

Henry

However, one issue of particular relevance to tutors is the risk of identity theft. According to a Get Safe Online report last week, a massive 1 in 5 (21%) of UK internet users have been the victim of online identity theft.

If you advertise your tutoring services on the internet, you need to take extra care that you’re not increasing that risk by posting sensitive data online, for example, by including your CV.

According to the Metropolitan Police, criminals need only three out of 15 key pieces of information to commit identity fraud, with the average CV containing eight pieces of information.

All of the information below, commonly found in CVs, can help the identity fraudster:-

• Full name
• Marital Status
• Place of Birth
• Driving Licence Status
• Number of dependents and ages
• Date of Birth
• Current Address
• Email address
• Phone numbers
• Employment History including referees and current employer
• Schools / educational establishments attended
• Personal information such as hobbies and interests

(source: www.denisatlas.co.uk)

At The Tutor Pages, we minimize the risk of identity theft both by collecting minimal data from tutors during sign up, and restricting the amount of personal data displayed online. For example, tutors do not enter their date of birth or home address, and only enter the first half of their postcode. In addition, we do not display tutor email addresses online, and ask that tutors do not include their phone number(s) in their online profile.

The below is a cautionary tale:

Caroline Coats, a company director from Montpellier, was in Birmingham doing some Christmas shopping when she was arrested after visiting her bank to get some money out. In less than an hour she was in a cell and questioned by police through the night. Why? Because she had been the unwitting victim of internet fraud after posting her CV on a jobs website. (see www.denisatlas.co.uk/TrueStories.asp for the continuation).

The Times Educational Supplement last week published new research by Emma Dunmore into student motivation. It concluded that while rewards such as points, stickers or treats can improve behaviour in the short term, over time they actually tend to cause pupils to lose motivation. This is because rewards can be perceived as bribery, and cause students to lose their sense of autonomy. In Ms Dunmore’s words:

Receiving the reward may reduce the individual’s sense that they were doing the task because they chose to … Instead, they felt that they were doing it for a reward, and so were being controlled by someone else.

So, what’s the answer? In fact, Ms Dunmore’s study simply feeds into what is already known about student motivation. In the clearest book on this subject, Motivating students to learn (1998), Jere Brophy explains that motivation depends on both students’ expectations of success and the value they place on the task. As the diagram above neatly illustrates, if either one of these is missing (i.e. zero) then there will be no motivation.

Brophy has identified a number of useful strategies that teachers can employ to increase both expectation of success and perceived value.

In summary, these are:

Strategies for increasing expectation of success

• Provide opportunities for success
• teach students to set reasonable goals and to assess their own performance
• help students recognize the relationship between effort and outcome
• provide informative feedback
• provide special motivational support to discouraged students

Strategies for Increasing Perceived Value

• relate lessons to students’ own lives
• provide opportunities for choice
• model interest in learning and express enthusiasm for the material
• include novelty/variety elements
• provide opportunities for students to respond actively
• provide opportunities for students to interact with peers
• provide extrinsic rewards

It is the last strategy (‘provide extrinsic rewards’) which Emma Dunmore’s research relates to, and which can be controversial.

For a full explanation of Jere Brophy’s strategies as listed above, just read p.59 of our free e-book, Tutoring: The Complete Guide, available for free download here.

As well as featuring in the Times Ed Masterclass Series last month, it has now been made available by Careers Services such as those at Cambridge University and London University. The no.1 university careers portal Prospects.ac.uk has linked to the Guide as one of its recommended resources.

The Royal College of Music Graduate Services division has also been spreading the word, thus demonstrating that it is also a great resource for those interested in becoming musical instrument teachers.

The Guide contains relevant information and advice for new and established tutors alike. And what’s more, it’s free to download.

As an independent review by teachers at Schoolzone remarked:

Tutoring: The Complete Guide tells you all you need to know about how to set up and manage the business of tutoring, including managing tax, contracting clients, effective teaching and so on. If you are a tutor, or are thinking of becoming one, you should certainly read this!

I’ve recently had a number of enquiries from would-be tutors wondering what’s most important when setting up as a tutor. After a bit of thought, I’ve created a quick checklist which I thought I’d share: our five top tips for successful tutoring.

1. Establish your credibility.

Tutoring is an unregulated market in the UK, so you’ll need to establish yourself as a competent and reliable professional.

First, you should consider getting references from trusted individuals – perhaps an employer or university tutor. An up-to-date CV and any testimonials from previous students or parents will also help.

In addition, make sure you understand fully the issues surrounding child protection. If parents ask you, ‘Do you have a CRB certificate?’ and you don’t have one, make sure you have a ready answer. If the term CRB mystifies you, then read up on it in our e-book!

2. Get clear on exams.

If you’re tutoring an examination subject, obtain up-to-date information from the exam board as early as possible. While textbooks can be motivating and helpful in many ways, they are often surprisingly weak at explaining the exam itself.

Get in touch with the exam board and you’ll obtain all sorts of essential information, including specifications, syllabuses, notes for teachers, past question papers, mark schemes and reports on the examinations. Much of this information is available for free download from their websites.

3. Consider using a learning agreement.

Tutors differ in their opinion on whether it’s necessary to have a written agreement between the tutor and parent/ student. We would argue that a written agreement raises expectations all round, and demonstrates that you’re a professional. Even if you don’t use a written agreement, you should get very clear on your payment and cancellation terms – unless you want to be taken for a ride.

We provide more information on learning agreements (including a sample you could use) in our e-book.

4. Promote yourself.

There are various aspects to the promotion of your tutoring services. First of all, are you going to join an agency or use an advertising platform such as thetutorpages.com? Agencies can be a great way to gain credibility as a tutor, but they’ll also charge a commission for each hour that you teach.

Writing an article or two on your subject is also a good way to promote yourself, since it demonstrates that you’re an expert in your field. Thetutorpages.com lets you submit up to 4 articles on your expertise.

Finally, consider how you’re going to handle the initial contact with a student or parent. Given the choice between email or phone, always try to make a phone call. There are various reasons for this, not least that it shows you’re a real person to be trusted, not someone hiding behind technology.

5. Understand effective teaching.

How many tutors actually stop to consider whether they’re teaching effectively? In our e-book, we use the latest research to help you understand how to be the very best.

Since we can’t go into the details here, here’s a list of effective teacher characteristics adapted from Munn et al (1990). See whether you agree!

humorous, relaxed, imaginative, warm, firm, listens, fair, friendly, enthusiastic, organized, supportive, cheerful, flexible, encourages, sympathetic, responsive, enjoys the subject, makes work relevant, helps pupils learn, uses various methods, has high expectations, explains clearly, gives praise, applies sanctions fairly