This incredible tutoring system brings consistency back to kids’ education

Dymocks Tutoring could be the education solution that you’ve been looking for. 

Ask any parent what they think about online learning and you’ll get a different answer.

Some kids are smashing through their assigned tasks in 10 minutes, then wandering the house bored looking for snacks. Often they jump into a side screen of Minecraft with friends and pull in other children who haven’t finished their work.

Other children aren’t coping with 30 kids all on Zoom at once. To be fair, that would do most people’s head in. Or the way some teachers drop the tasks for the day and then disappear. What are they doing?

Some kids are struggling to understand the assigned tasks and need a dedicated teacher to explain the concepts before they can actually start to practice. They look to their parents for help. But we’re also trying to work, and I won’t be the first person to admit that high school maths is really hard.

No matter where you sit in this spectrum, the shift to online learning appears to have exposed several gaps in Australia’s education system. 

And it’s time to think about how to get the kids back on track to consistent education.

Tutoring could be the way forward

A few weeks ago, a friend who was struggling to teach her primary school daughter (and work at the same time) told me that she had decided to hire a tutor. It was a revelation. 

Tutoring brings back the consistency in learning that kids need and even better, it’s one on one or in SMALL groups.

Dymocks Tutoring is one of the savviest companies in the business. Yes, that’s the same company as the bookstores.

Marketing Manager Megan Overton said the company has shifted to online lessons where lockdowns are imposed. But they do things so differently, that’s it’s tempting to drop online school altogether and just do tutoring. (But don’t do that.)

What is Dymocks tutoring?

Dymocks offers maths and English tutoring for children in grade 3 and above. It also offers several other HSC subjects for students in Year 11 and 12.

The company has two streams of tutoring: Excel and Success. Excel is for children that need more – the ones that are completing the set tasks in 10 minutes and getting bored in class. Success is for kids that need a little bit of help with their school work to master the concepts and the basics.

“Probably the biggest additional thing we offer is extended questions, additional work for the kids that need,” Overton said.

“And we also have what we call Study Max, which in layman’s terms is homework help. That’s a one-on-one tutor that you can book up to an hour a week and they will go through anything that you are stuck on in class.”

A case study in online learning

In normal times Dymocks Tutoring offers both in-person lessons and online. But right now, the company is really excelling at online learning. For parents,  it’s a great example of how online education can actually work. Or a way that you can fill in the gaps that are rapidly appearing in your child’s education thanks to the pandemic.

The small group tutoring has no more than five children in a group for primary school and eight students for high school. The tutors use online whiteboards and interactive quizzes to work through content with the kids. Each child completes the work in a Google doc and shares that doc with the tutor. The tutor has all five docs open at the same time and can give instant feedback both on the video call and in the document.

No disappearing. No leaving kids to tackle the task themselves. They get dedicated focussed attention. And that leads to consistent results.

When a child needs more, Dymocks will offer one-on-one tutoring help until they catch up to the rest of the class.

Extension and retention

Dymocks Tutoring is mapped to the Australian curriculum. They teach children one term ahead of what they will learn in school. That way the children who need extension get it. And the kids who need help with the concepts can use school lessons to reinforce what they are doing in tutoring.

“Tutoring builds confidence because you can take those lessons back into the classroom and understand what’s happening,” Overton said.

Connection on an uncertain world

But the kids in Dymocks small group tutoring have also benefited from something else – friendship.

Dymocks gives the kids time to chat, and with only five kids in the online room – they can actually talk and listen to each other.

And right now, that is worth its weight in gold.

If you’re interested in learning more about Dymocks Tutoring you can click on the button below to go to their website.

Tutoring online is only available in VIC and NSW

This article was produced in partnership with Dymocks and is a Holidays with Kids digital exclusive. Be the first to see more exclusive online content by subscribing to the enewsletter here.

All images © Canva

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