Why Standard Tutoring May Not Suit Your Child

2 MIN READ

If your child learns something in tutoring today, they'll have forgotten just over 90% by next week's session. This is unfortunately an aspect of the human memory we have to deal with, but not to worry - there's a benefit to the way our brains forget things. Read on to uncover how we can harness this well-researched phenomenon!

As a student, I was constantly struggling to remember all the concepts I was flooded with each week.

I never understood it, until my teachers explained spaced repetition in assembly. Later that day, I rushed back home to research the idea behind it, desperate to figure out my frustrating situation, and here's what I found:

In 1985, Polish researcher Piotr Wozniak proposed the forgetting curve, based on extensive memory research by Hermann Ebinghaus. 

Researchers around the world pounced on it, and rapidly starting finding better and better ways to utilise this psychological principle for studying - there are now hundreds of research papers putting it to practise and agreeing with Ebinghaus' ideas.

Below, I've highlighted the retention percentage after 7 days:

A LOSS OF 95% RETENTION IN JUST 1 WEEK

If this is true, conventional tutoring is to be thrown out the window. If nothing is done to combat the forgetting curve, a concept learnt in one session will all but have faded away by the next time your child sees their tutor.

We must make sure students are keeping themselves updated between sessions to be sure they don't lose the knowledge they've worked so hard to gain. I first started working on this process in my clients' tutoring sessions in 2023, to much celebration from parents.

And it makes perfect sense. A quick refresh throughout a child's hectic week will help their mind prioritise the hand-picked topics their tutor has chosen for them.

I personally offer 'session summaries' - tailor-made worksheets which take everything learnt in a session and summarise it into a short question sheet to be submitted online within 3 days of each session.

They provide a refreshing spike in retention and can help keep the mind to focus on storing and categorising important concepts throughout the week.

This extra boost can really help struggling students and I'd love to introduce them in your child's tutoring journey.

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