That's a really sad story about the english tutor. I can see how you probably gave up in the end looking for a good tutor as you got *^*& over by the first two. I think the blame here resides not with people faking their credentials as Collin says, but rather that some people who get high scores i.e. 50, rest too highly on their laurels and expect that tutoring = turn up for an hour, answer people's questions and then $$$ comes.
I feel slightly annoyed at this fact because I tutor people myself. As all good tutors know, it takes a lot of work to prepare for each tutoring lesson. Even in mathematics subjects, tutoring isn't just about answering questions and explaining weird abstract concepts to students. It's about ensuring that these students achieve their best. You as their tutor, has some if not a large responsibility for their SAC scores and ultimately their ENTER score. It is this idea of responsibility which fails to hit an accord with some tutors. Some students which do tutoring with me after a term into the year have had some awful experiences with lazy tutors, tutors who say they got such and such score and don't do anything.
Moral of the lesson: if you want a good tutor, I don't neccessarily think a teacher is an imperative (I've had horrible teacher tutors as well) but I think this is the best way to do it:
During the summer break, contact 5 or 6 tutors. Organise a tutoring session with them and decide on the one thing that you will do with all of them.
*Maybe send them an essay and ask them to correct it and bring it to the session to brainstorm better ways of improving it. A good essay would be a language analysis as at this of the year I don't think you will be writing context or text responses yet.
This way you can see how good each one stacks up. If they don't do the preparation work, scrap them unless they had a legitimate reason (i.e. you sent them the essay the night before). At the same time, don't ask them to write a gazillion pages of notes because no one is superhuman. Be reasonable but have high expectations. If you know what you want out of a tutor, it helps them better shape their sessions to help you get the best out of them.
I hope you guys have every success in finding a tutor! Good luck!
I think this is unreasonable for the Mathematics subjects. A tutor cannot teach the course material in 1 hour per week. That is impossible. I ask all of my students to do the assigned work (by their teacher) and I cover their knowledge gaps when they get stuck on those questions.
The real trick, I've found, is in looking at the student's working and saying "ahah! that's where their thought process is leading them astray" and then going over the theory and saying "this is what you thought was happening, this is what's actually happening". If the student is from an under-resourced school, I bring past papers that they otherwise would not have access to.
I disagree about the responsibility thing, and think that it cheapens the students' efforts. Why should their study score be tied to their tutor? That implies that their tutor got their mark for them. I think that really undermines the students' own hard work and effort. Tutors have a responsibility to offer their utmost to their student in that 1 (or more) hour(s) per week. I do give out my mobile number/e-mail and instruct students to call/e-mail me if they have anything pressing they need ironed out before a SAC. However, it is incumbent on the student to do the work, and the tutor to guide and ensure that they're on the right path and not making errors/have knowledge gaps etc.
I'm fairly confident that two of my students (from highly under-resourced schools) will be making it into the Herald Sun high achiever's list this year. My contribution to that achievement was to guide them. Their motivation and work ethic got them that score, and I refuse to acknowledge any greater part than helping and guiding, because they earnt that score. Not me. I did not hold their hands in the exams/SACs, nor did I do the work for them. I offered advice, tips, help with problems, and extra coverage of theory not explored by the teacher, or not understood by the student. I motivated and challenged, but they did all the work. A student's mark is their responsibility, it is the tutor's responsibility to ensure that their student going for that mark is on the right path.
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