WORKING WITH STUDENTS

PLAGIARISM

The Profs do not provide a writing service. We want our students to gain an understanding of the academic writing process and develop their writing skills with your help. As such, the Client Liaison Managers (CLMs) will do their best to make sure each student knows what they can expect their tutor to help them with. Unfortunately, this isn’t always sufficient and stress can get the best of them, especially when their deadline is looming! If your student attempts to involve you in anything that could be deemed academic fraud, please assert these boundaries again. If this continues, let the CLM know and they will be happy to get involved.

Please note that The Profs will remove (with immediate effect) any tutor we believe to have acted unethically regarding a student’s coursework.

Feedback vs. Editing: Your students will expect detailed feedback and valuable suggestions to their work, but please do not make any edits or changes. We suggest you act as a secondary supervisor and that any changes that are made, are only made by them!

REQUESTS TO GO PRIVATE

Most tutors will, at one time or another, be asked to go private, and to cut out The Profs’ commission. This can be awkward for tutors, but It needn’t be: all that’s usually required is a polite but firm refusal, and you can move on with sessions.

We believe that great tutors will receive more and better students through The Profs than they would independently, but we can’t continue to provide our services without the revenue from students, on which we depend. Sadly, if a tutor is found to have made private arrangements with a client, we will have to remove from them our network.

COMMUNICATION: SCHEDULING, SETTING BOUNDARIES

Although we prefer to help students as early as possible, we know that tuition is often provided at particularly stressful periods in students’ lives, and often under significant time-pressure, as deadlines approach.

This puts a real premium on prompt and effective communication, to arrange sessions, obtain/share materials, and allay concerns. While we don’t expect tutors to be constantly available, we do encourage all our tutors to keep an eye on their messages, and to respond within 24 hours. If you’re busy, or need more time to consider your reply, it’s still best to send a quick message to let us or your student know.

If a client expects more of your time than you are willing or able to give, (constant messaging, expecting immediate responses), it’s best to address this directly, and tell them what (if anything) you are able to offer outside of sessions. As always, if it becomes unmanageable, let our team know and they can step in to mediate.

MANAGING EXPECTATIONS

If you are working with a student that you feel is at risk of falling short of their aims, it is paramount that you approach this situation professionally. There is a temptation to reassure them in order to reduce stress but this can often lead to false confidence and expectations. It’s better to give a realistic impression of where they are at with their work, and then to talk about what can be done to improve this in the time remaining.

If you find that you need to limit the scope of your tuition to fit the time available, make sure that you explain this to your tutee, and that they understand the thinking behind it. Students will usually understand when tuition becomes a matter of damage-limitation, and it’s better that they know this before they get their results.

PLANNING & STRUCTURE

Prepare for success: When you are introduced to a client of The Profs, you will be sent their contact information via email and a summary of their tuition request. Your next step is to contact them directly to introduce yourself. This initial conversation (a phone call is usually more efficient!) is very important as not only will you be scheduling the time, date, and location of your first tutorial, but you will also have the opportunity to get as much information as possible from the client to help you plan the first tutorial and lesson plan.

It is key that you use this opportunity to ask the client what specific problems/weakness they would like to address. Ensure that they have sent over any supporting documents to clarify their needs, particularly any assignments or textbook questions that will help you to gauge both their level and the materials.

Once you have made sure that you know exactly what the tutee wants from your first tutorial, structure your tutorial around these topics. For the very best tutorials, set three to five specific learning objectives, and the steps that are necessary to understanding the process.

Engage Them: Our clients come to The Profs for a one-to-one experience. They are unlikely to respond well to a lecture-style approach so be active and engage them – ask questions, solve problems, and make the tuition relevant to their specific needs. There is nothing worse than a two-hour tutorial where the client has sat in silence and turned their brain off.

Practice makes perfect: If the student has their own university questions to tackle, then these should form the basis of the tutorial. Practice questions keep a tutorial focused on the client and can break up long chunks of theory. It is also the only way to truly gauge their understanding of the material. If they have identified specific problems to tackle, make sure that you can answer all these yourself ahead of the tutorial so you’re prepared and ready to answer any of their questions.

Top Tutor Tip: Never ask a student “did you understand that?” as most students will just nod to be polite or out of shyness. We suggest asking your tutee to demonstrate independent understanding by having them answer relevant questions on the material before moving on. If they make mistakes or still seem confused, they’re probably not ready to move forward!

CLOSING JOBS

Please set your jobs to “Finished”  on the system when they have come to an end. We would also appreciate letting the CLM know when this has happened so that they can get in touch with the student and try and get a review for you. The more 5* star TrustPilot reviews on your profile, the easier it is to get you more work! We’ll always let you know any time a student leaves a review for you.

If you have closed a job by accident, don’t worry! Let any member of the office team know and we’d be happy to re-open it for you.