A teacher is usually based in an institutional setting, such as a school or college. Teachers follow a given curriculum using the pedagogical knowledge they have gained from their training. In a classroom environment, a teacher is responsible for the progress of up to thirty students. A teacher will often have to deliver and manage learning tasks to all thirty students simultaneously, meaning that a significant proportion of teaching is concerned with the logistics of facilitating learning with such a large number of students. A teacher must consider resourcing, behaviour management and meeting a wide range of learning needs and styles. Therefore, ensuring that each and every student makes consistently good progress in every lesson is a challenge for even the most competent and experienced classroom teacher.
A tutor is employed privately and can work in a range of settings, including online. In contrast to teaching, tutors often work on a one-to-one basis, meaning that all the tutor's attention is on that student for the complete duration of the session. A tutor aims to guide a student through their learning, with the ultimate goal being that the student becomes a self-sufficient, independent learner. What a tutor teaches depends entirely on the learning needs of the student. Often a tutor will support a student with a curriculum or syllabus that is being followed in school, with the aim of aiding the student to achieve their very best results in formal exams such as GCSEs or A-Levels. A tutor may also help students who find specific learning areas challenging, often in subjects such as Mathematics or Literacy. Tutors may also specialise in guiding students through processes such as passing the 11+ entry exam. What is covered in a tuition session is pinpointed to exactly what the student needs, making tuition a more precision-based learning methodology than classroom teaching.