To be effective, a tutor must have excellent communication skills; she must not only be able to share information, she must know how to listen to her clients. She must have good study skills herself so she can share them with her clients. She must understand critical analytical skills in order to help clients develop their own skills.
The tutor should know some of the accepted concepts in education. For example, educators recognize that learners utilize a wide range of learning styles; some are visual learners (they learn best when they see it), some are kinesthetic learners (they need to touch it) and some are auditory learners (they learn best when they hear the lesson). In addition, the tutor must always remember that he works with learners in a support role; it's not his job to do their homework.
Tutor training includes an understanding of the role of tutoring in the learning process; the best practices for running a tutor session, the skill set of an effective tutor, record keeping; and ethics for tutors. A number of organizations represent the interests of tutors, including the International Tutoring Association and the Association for the Tutoring Profession. These organizations identify a set of standards for tutor certification.
Tutor certification has its benefits, including higher pay. In addition, many parents and students prefer to work with someone who has completed tutor training and who can document several hours of tutoring experience.
It's unfortunate that a visit to the tutoring center seems to carry with it a stigma, a suggestion that a student isn't quite up to par. Believe it or not, it isn't the weakest students who seek assistance from tutors most often, it's the strongest learners, the learners who want to improve their grade from an 88 percent to a 95 percent.