Coaching and Tutoring – What’s the difference?

Academic Coaching

  • Long term focus on developing core academic skills.
  • Skills can be applied across all subject areas and used throughout their academic career.
  • Weekly sessions reinforce their skills by providing the opportunity for the student to incorporate the skill into their regular school-work and receive regular feedback from the coach.
  • Weely monitoring creates routine and structure.
  • Coach provides motivation, discipline and builds confidence.

Academic Coaching is most appropriate when:

  • Student is underachieving
  • Student is struggling across subject areas
  • Student is dependent on their natural abilities to succeed
  • Declining results are effecting the student’s confidence and effort

Tutoring

  • Short term focus on re-teaching content.
  • Does not address the reasons why a student is struggling with content.
  • Places responsibility for learning on the teacher and the the tutor, instead of the student.
  • On-going tutoring can create a dependency if the student prefers to be taught one-on-one instead of in a classroom setting. Tutoring can become a substitute for learning in the classroom.

Tutoring is most appropriate when:

  • Goals are short term and specific (eg. one coarse, a specific exam)
  • Catching up on missed content
  • Going back to improve basic math skills

 

“A tutor can prepare you for a test on Friday, but an Academic Coach can prepare you for a lifetime of learning.”