Jennifer answers questions from a potential new Yipiyap tutor

We’re currently in the middle of our recruitment for next year’s cohort of Yipiyap tutors. Every year we get plenty of questions from candidates about the role, but perhaps there’s nobody better to answer these questions than one of our current tutors. Jennifer did exactly that, and for those of you who are thinking of taking a gap year, this Q/A session might be helpful to you!

How does Yipiyap support you as a tutor?

I am in touch with Richard, my regional director, on a daily basis. I know that if I have any problems or queries, I can speak to him. At the induction we were also introduced to the head of colleague support who is always on hand too should you need her. Once you have settled in at your placement school you really do become part of the team with the teachers supporting you in any way they can.

How did your placement school welcome you initially, and how have they helped you develop as a young professional over the year?

Across both of my placements the teachers have been very welcoming, and I have learned a huge amount from them. Observing each of their unique teaching styles, adopting their tricks, and listening to their experiences has really shaped the tutor I have become. They really want me to be the best I can.

In one of my placements the school had never previously used Yipiyap so we worked collaboratively together to quickly understand how they could utilise me. My other placement school, who I started with after Christmas, had previous experience with Yipiyap and because I already had four months of tutoring under my belt, when I started it felt very natural. Because I knew what my strengths were, I explained these to the head of English, and I was able to be utilised very quickly in the most effective way.

The students you work with, what is their age and level of ability? Did you struggle with less cooperative students, those that presented more challenging behaviour?

I have worked with students of all ages and ability levels from set 1 in year 11 to set 4 in year 7. Working with such a range is really beneficial; every day is different, and you’re always having to adapt and display the Yipiyap can do attitude.

The less cooperative students are more challenging to work with but once you’ve built a relationship with them, they come out of their shell. If you have a friendly and resilient approach, they will trust you and because I am similar in age to the students, I engage with them in ways that perhaps teachers sometimes can’t.

What about preparing and planning for sessions and monitoring student’s progress; is a lot of extra time required to do this in addition to my normal working hours? Will I get support from the teachers with the planning and monitoring; will they set me clear targets?

I have not had many occasions where I found myself working additional hours. Your placement school may allocate you ‘free’ hours within your weekly timetable which you can use to plan and prepare. I had the perfect balance; the head of English made sure that my ‘free’ hours were the same as theirs so I could speak to them if needed.

In terms of targets, the teachers will be very clear with you as to what their expectation are of what they want achieved with each of the students.

In the beginning did you find yourself out of your comfort zone and thrown in at the deep end or did you feel well prepared and confident in taking students out of their lessons for one-to-one sessions?

The induction was really informative; we did lots of different and engaging activities. We were split into groups and given scenarios that could potentially happen in a tutoring session. It was fun to role play and learn what we should do in a range of situations. The Yipiyap team explained everything about the role of a tutor through detailed presentations so when it came to my first day, I felt very prepared.

Despite tutoring at my old high school, it was still pretty nerve wracking! During the first few days I wasn’t expected to take students out of their lessons; I shadowed different teachers in their classes to enable me to introduce myself to the students and absorb as much knowledge as I could. This made it much easier when I started taking students out of their lessons, to tutor them one to one the following week.

Is all your tutoring done outside of the classroom?

You may be asked to support both in and outside of the classroom. In the first few weeks you will be familiarising yourself so don’t worry, you won’t be expected to provide any support that is beyond your capability. Initially you will work in different classes in a number of different ways; supporting in-class, writing on the board, and working your way around the room; working with a particular student or group of students ensuring they’re on task; or taking a particular student or group of students out of the class to help them prepare for their English Oracy assessments for example. The days go so fast when you’re in constantly changing situations. You’ll eventually discover what your strengths are, and the teachers will recognise these too and utilise them.

How do you measure your success as a Tutor? Do you feel you’re having a beneficial impact on the students?

I measure my success not only by the impact I have on the learners from an academic perspective but also by the impact I have on them as an individual too. For example, I love helping students improve their work by several grades, but I also love improving a student’s confidence levels.

You’ll leave work every day with a smile remembering a moment when one student had a lightbulb moment and finally understood a concept because of the way you explained it, or perhaps when a student whispered to their friend ‘that’s my favourite teacher’ when you walked into a classroom. It’s moments like these when I feel I am really making an impact; it’s very rewarding.