Love Tutoring

Written by former school leader Julia Silver, Love Tutoring: Be the Tutor Your Student Needs is an essential professional development guide for tutors at every stage of their career. Drawing on her acclaimed Foundations of Effective Tutoring course, Silver presents an enthusiastic and empowering vision of tutoring as a growing and increasingly important part of the educational landscape.

At a time when teacher retention and pupil attendance are at historic lows, tutoring offers a more personal, flexible, and student-centered approach to teaching and learning. Once viewed as a secondary option, tutoring is rapidly emerging as a respected and rewarding career in its own right.

The introduction of the UK government's National Tutoring Programme has brought greater attention to the profession. Over the past decade, private tuition has become increasingly common, with around a quarter of all 11–16-year-olds in England and Wales receiving tutoring, rising to more than 40 percent in London. As tutoring continues to expand, there is a growing need for more highly skilled and well-qualified tutors.

Combining theory with practical application, this book provides a strong foundation in the pedagogy of tutoring. Julia Silver translates key ideas from evidence-informed teaching and learning into approaches that are directly relevant to the realities of one-to-one and small-group tuition.

Supported by real-life examples and interviews with professional tutors, Love Tutoring offers valuable insights into the profession and explores the many ways tutoring can become a meaningful and fulfilling career. Part invitation, part provocation, and part call to action, the book examines the tutoring relationship at its heart and provides a roadmap for becoming the tutor every student needs.

Suitable for tutors of all ages, subjects, and levels of experience, as well as parents, agencies, schools, and organizations that employ tutors.

Praise for the book

"A practical guide for current and aspiring tutors that will give them the skills, knowledge and context to tutor more effectively."

"Love Tutoring is an important book: it locates the role of tutoring in its historical and current context. It's an element of provision that we all ought to know more about. Julia Silver is an expert in the field; she also has a gift for communicating complex ideas, and I certainly feel better informed and more appreciative of tutoring as a result of reading this terrific book."
— Mary Myatt

"Julia's passion for tutors and tutoring shines through in her beautifully thought-out handbook for thoughtful tutoring. She sets out big ideas and translates these into practical pause points and reflective moments which make the book informed, engaging, readable and practical. Superb."
— Fiona Aubrey-Smith

"Love Tutoring is a beacon of insight for both novice and experienced tutors alike. Authored by enthusiastic, experienced and passionate Julia Silver, this book is a treasure trove of practical wisdom, offering invaluable guidance on every aspect of the tutoring profession. It challenges prevailing narratives surrounding tutoring, advocating for its recognition as a vital and respected profession within education."
— Sue Atkins

This is a really important and useful book for those who already tutor, those who are thinking about it, and those who are wondering where all the classroom teachers went. Julia offers a thoughtful and personal account of what it means to be a tutor, and how important the role is in shaping children's lives. It's also an invaluable text for anyone curious about tutoring and its place in modern education.