Does my child need a tutor?

Most parents ask this question months after they first wondered about it. There is no clean line between a child who finds a subject hard and a child who needs help, so this guide describes what the difference usually looks like in practice — including the cases where a tutor is the wrong answer.

The signs that usually mean yes

None of these on their own is decisive. Two or three together, lasting more than a few weeks, usually are.

• They are behind on new work, not one topic. A single hard chapter is normal. When each new topic arrives before the last one was understood, the gap compounds, and classroom pace will not wait.
• Homework takes far longer than it should. If twenty minutes of work takes an hour and a half, the time is going on things that should already be automatic — times tables, letter sounds, reading the question.
• They avoid the subject. Leaving it until last, losing the book, needing the toilet whenever it appears. Avoidance is usually about feeling stupid, not about laziness.
• They have decided it is who they are. "I am just bad at maths." Once a child believes that, effort stops looking worthwhile to them, and the belief does more damage than the gap itself.
• You are the one teaching it. If most evenings end with you explaining the lesson, your child is already being tutored — by someone who did not plan it and is also their parent.
• The school has mentioned it twice. Teachers are cautious about raising this. A second mention usually means it has been true for a while.

When a tutor is the wrong answer

This is the part most tutoring companies leave out. If any of the following fits, deal with it first — a tutor will not help, and may make your child feel that even extra teaching could not fix them.

• It started suddenly. A child who was fine in March and struggling in May is usually telling you about something other than the subject. Changes at school, friendships, sleep and eyesight are all more likely than a sudden loss of ability.
• They cannot see the board. Undiagnosed short sight is one of the most common causes of a child quietly falling behind. An eye test costs little and rules it out in an afternoon.
• Every subject dropped at once. A whole-subject decline is rarely about a subject. Sleep, worry, or something happening at school is more likely, and a tutor cannot reach any of them.
• The problem is reading, not the subject. A child who cannot read a word problem fluently will fail at maths that they could otherwise do. Fix the reading and the maths often follows.
• They are simply young for the year. An August-born child in a September-starting class can be nearly a year younger than classmates. That difference is real, and most of it closes on its own.

What to do before you pay anyone

• Ask your child what the hard part is. Not "do you find maths hard" — ask them to show you a question they got wrong and talk through it. Where they stop talking is usually where the gap starts.
• Ask the teacher one specific question. "Which topic would you start with if you had an hour a week with them?" It is more useful than asking how they are getting on.
• Book a trial lesson and watch it. You will learn more from twenty minutes of watching a teacher with your child than from any amount of reading about tutoring.

What a good first lesson looks like

A trial lesson is a diagnosis, not a performance. The teacher should spend most of it finding out what your child can do without help, and should be able to tell you afterwards where the gap begins — not just that your child was lovely.

• Your child does most of the talking and most of the working out.
• The teacher goes backwards until your child is confident, then forwards from there.
• You are told something specific afterwards: the topic, where it broke down, and what comes first.
• Nobody asks for a card before the lesson.