Home tutors have to be highly motivated, self-disciplined and flexible and yet able to remain at a distance. Often it is this last requirement which is the hardest to manage as instanced by a phone call one Friday night from the tutor who, on finding that his pupil had been arrested, felt that he should go to the police station as an intermediary. But that is not our role, and encouraging tutors to act in the best interest of the child yet keep within a Home Tutor's role can be a difficult task. Even the most experienced teachers find it difficult at times to remain an unbiased educator and it requires a very high degree of professionalism to maintain objectivity in such a setting. In a school there are other staff to turn to for advice and support when you are on your own, or feel as if you are.
Tutors are very much on their own when they are at work.
Even in a seemingly straightforward case of a child with a broken leg the tutor will often spend their own time in contacting the school trying to obtain the often elusive coursework or textbook. Home Tuition is an embryonic service whose title at times is a misnomer. What we will be able to offer the pupils who come under our aegis in the future is hopefully an expanding range of options that for the older child will help prepare for an adult role in society. Where an absence from school has been unavoidable we aim to make the experience and memory of Home Tuition positive.