About Aspire Higher Tuition
During my time teaching undergraduate Sociology and completing a two-year Postgraduate Certificate of Higher Education Practice (PGCHEP) teaching qualification, I identified that there was a student need for further personal tuition at university level than could often be provided within universities themselves, due to time constraints. Following the theory of 'situated learning' (Lave and Wenger, 1991), it became apparent that students needed more of an 'apprenticeship' and further tuition in the taken-for-grantedness of higher education practices - including understanding how they had been graded, essay techniques and the skills of academic argument. Lave and Wenger propose a theory of situated learning where: “the mastery of knowledge and skill requires newcomers to move toward full participation in the sociocultural practices of a community” (Lave and Wenger, 1991: 29). In essence, this concerns the process by which newcomers or ‘apprentices’ engage with and become a part of a community of practice which consists of other apprentices, ‘young masters’ and masters. They state that by transparency, the inner workings of the process, should be open to the learner’s inspection. Aspire Higher Tuition offers personal tuition and mentoring for students of the Social Sciences and aims to open up the inner workings of the process.
If you considered tuition at A-Level or GCSE, why not at university level?
It is common practice to consider additional tuition at the stageof A-Levels or GCSEs, however, it is quite unusual to undertake private tuition at university level. This is for many reasons, including a lack of freelance tutors who have previously taught at university level and know the system well, as most of these stay inside ‘academe’. In addition, some students may feel that university study is much like A-Level study, and the move over should be relatively easy. However, students often find the transition difficult, and they don’t ‘get’ what is expected of them by their tutors and lecturers until late on in their degrees, leading to poor grades and being demoralised about study. In addition, doing a degree is becoming increasingly expensive, and the massive competition in the jobs market means that those with a 2:2 or below face a difficult job hunt (Vasagar, 2010). Aspiring to achieve your own personal best is therefore essential, and personal tuition can help in filling in gaps and providing structure.
Aspire Higher Tuition seeks to support and tutor Social Science university students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels through offering a set of comprehensive services which reflect both best practice and experience gained in Higher Education.
