Ionela, volunteer tutor and student at Aston University

Here is what Ionela says about her experience tutoring:

I really enjoy helping others and have always loved maths, so it felt like a natural choice to volunteer as a maths tutor and complete my placement with Action Tutoring. Finding out that I could contribute to closing the attainment gap by providing support to disadvantaged pupils really inspired me to apply for this role. Although I’ve been a maths tutor before, I had never tutored online, so this was a new and exciting experience for me. Besides wanting to share and instil my passion for maths in younger pupils, I also saw tutoring as a valuable opportunity to improve my communication, organisational, and leadership skills, which are all transferable to my Economics degree.

Recently, I had two more pupils join one of my sessions for a programme, and as we were wrapping up, one of the pupils said he hoped to have me as his tutor again next week and wished he was in my tutor group, which was really lovely to hear. This experience reminded me once again how important it is to build rapport with your tutees, even if it is only for one session. Being approachable, making them feel heard and adapting the session to their needs really does make a difference to their engagement with tutoring and, ultimately, to their academic performance.

The tutoring workbooks are very well structured, easy to follow and incredibly helpful when planning sessions as they also provide tips on how to explain different concepts and use the right language, so even if you are not very familiar with the topic or have been taught a different method at school, having that support really helps you deliver the session at your best. Furthermore, you receive an induction training before starting tutoring and there are multiple webinars focusing on different areas that you could take part in to improve your tutoring skills.

The programme coordinators are always friendly, super approachable, and have been extremely supportive with any enquiries I’ve had. They host weekly post-session debriefs where you get a chance to share how the session went, meet fellow tutors, discuss any issues you might have faced, and receive feedback.

You also get to complete a feedback form after each session where you can provide pupils with some feedback, share any concerns, and mention the template you used during the session, which I find extremely useful especially when I forget to make a note of the template I’ve worked on. Since I’m doing quite a few programmes, it can sometimes be overwhelming to keep track of everything and having that feedback form helps me plan the next session. Moreover, you are provided with a gap report that indicates pupils’ strengths and areas for development, based on the baseline assessment they sit before their first tutoring session. This is extremely helpful when planning sessions, as it allows you to provide personalised tutoring by focusing on the topics your pupils find most challenging and working on developing those skills.

Volunteering has helped me become more flexible and learn how to quickly adapt sessions to the needs of my pupils. Constantly having new pupils joining my groups, and sometimes volunteering as a cover tutor has taught me how to adjust my teaching approach to different learning styles and provide tailored support. I think being adaptable and able to embrace change is crucial for succeeding in an ever-changing workplace.

It has certainly given me sense of purpose. Seeing that meeting up for only one hour a week can have a huge impact on my tutees’ academic progress, and more importantly on their confidence has been very rewarding. Knowing that I can be of help to someone by sharing my skills and knowledge has made the whole experience very meaningful.

I would say being organised and self-disciplined is essential to maintaining a high standard across all your commitments. Having strong time-management skills as a placement student helps me a lot with delivering high-quality tutoring across all my 12 programmes. However, if you only sign up for one programme, you only need to dedicate one hour a week, so I think most people could easily fit that into their schedule and benefit from such a rewarding and enriching experience as volunteering as a tutor is.

You don’t have to be an expert in maths or English or a teacher to start tutoring. As long as you have solid subject knowledge, know how to explain concepts clearly and patiently, and are keen to make a difference, then you are more than ready to get started. The resources are very well structured, and you get lots of support throughout. By dedicating just one hour a week, you not only get to support pupils who don’t have access to private tutoring and make a positive contribution to society, but you also get to improve your own skills and develop new ones that are transferable to many areas of your life.

To new volunteers, I would say focus on building a strong rapport with your pupils from the first session, as this will greatly facilitate tutoring later on. Listen carefully, remember their interests, share bits about yourself, and use the starter activities in the templates which can be really handy for this. Finally, give them lots of encouragement. Many of these pupils can be quite underconfident and may already think that they are not good at the subject and never will be. So, adopting a friendly approach and praising their efforts and any contributions they make will help them open up and feel comfortable asking for help, boost their confidence, and positively influence their engagement with tutoring.