Myths of Tutoring
Is Tutoring Cheating?
9 minute read
It is a question that quietly sits behind many conversations about tutoring.
If one child has a tutor and another does not, is that fair? Is tutoring simply giving some children an advantage?
The answer depends on what we believe tutoring is trying to achieve.
Key ideas
- Tutoring supports learning; it does not replace it.
- Professional tutors help learners think, not simply give answers.
- Many forms of education involve additional support.
- The goal of tutoring is independence, not dependence.
Support is not the same as unfair advantage.
Children receive support in many different ways.
Parents read with them.
Teachers stay behind after school.
Schools run intervention groups.
Coaches help young athletes improve.
Tutoring belongs within that wider picture of learning.
Helping someone learn is not cheating.
It is education.
Great tutors do not do the work for learners.
Professional tutors are not there to complete homework or provide answers that learners copy.
They ask questions.
Challenge misconceptions.
Encourage independent thinking.
Their role is to help learners become increasingly capable of succeeding on their own.
The essay.
A learner asks, "Can you just tell me what to write?"
A professional tutor replies, "Let's work out your ideas together."
The learner writes the essay.
The tutor helps them become a better writer.
Education has always involved guidance.
Every learner benefits from guidance.
Teachers explain.
Parents encourage.
Mentors advise.
Tutors provide another opportunity for thoughtful learning.
Guidance is not the opposite of independence.
Good guidance helps create it.
If tutoring creates greater independence over time, it is helping learners become less—not more—reliant on support.
Fairness is an important conversation.
Access to tutoring is not equal for every family.
That matters.
It is one reason why schools, charities and community organisations continue exploring ways to widen access to high-quality tutoring.
Improving access is an important goal.
It does not mean tutoring itself is inappropriate.
The challenge is not that tutoring exists.
The challenge is making excellent tutoring available to more learners.
What matters most.
The purpose of tutoring is not to create an unfair advantage.
It is to help learners understand more deeply, think more independently and approach learning with greater confidence.
Those are aims every educator can support.
What makes support fair?
Think about the different kinds of support children receive throughout their education. Which help them become more independent, and which simply do the work for them?
Tutoring should make itself unnecessary.
Great tutoring is not about creating dependence or giving learners answers they have not earned.
It is about helping young people develop the knowledge, confidence and independence to succeed without their tutor beside them.
That is not cheating.
That is education at its best.