Sinead

Tutors Response :

In the five years I have been tutoring this is just the second time (as far as I can recall!) that I have cancelled all sessions with a student. It is not something I ever want to do, and certainly not something I would ever do without good reason.

Across a period of ten weeks, Sarah cancelled three of our sessions. Our very first booking was cancelled, and then two other sessions in just the last few weeks were cancelled too.

I totally understand the occasional cancellation, but multiple cancellations in a short space of time is not ideal for myself nor the student. All of my other students attend their weekly sessions and only cancel when absolutely necessary from time to time. Ultimately, it is not fair for me to hold a weekly slot for a student who does not consistently attend.

The cancellations, however, were not the sole reason for ending sessions with Sarah. In the sessions that were attended, there were unfortunately multiple instances of lateness, cutting down important learning time for the student, as well as keeping me waiting around for an indefinite amount of time without warning. For one two-hour session, the student was over an hour late. Over the next few weeks the student was over twenty minutes late to multiple hour long sessions, again without warning. I have no issue at all with a few minutes lateness, but having to wait over twenty minutes across just a few weeks feels disrespectful to me and my work.

When I brought up the issue of lateness with Sarah she questioned how lateness could impact me when I am still being paid. I was upset by this because, to me, regardless of whether I am paid or not, I do not believe it is fair to have to wait for twenty minutes or more for a student to attend their session. I am also not comfortable with a client paying for full sessions when the student is only receiving tuition for less than forty minutes.

In regards to the mention of three subjects, this is not why I ceased sessions with Sarah. When we first started tuition we had two hours a week which was sufficient to cover three subjects, but from September Sarah reduced sessions to one hour a week, which I expressed was not ideal for covering three subjects. I spoke to the student and was informed last week that everyone agreed it would be best to focus on one subject. Thus, when ceasing sessions with Sarah (due to the frequent cancellations and lateness) it was my personal recommendation that the student would benefit from multiple hours a week with a future tutor if they were still wanting to cover more than one subject.

When I informed Sarah that I think it would be best to cease tutoring, it was a week and three days before our next booked session. I can appreciate that cancelling all sessions is frustrating, but I apologised for any inconvenience and wished Sarah the best in finding another tutor promptly. In all of our communications I have always been my usual friendly, patient, polite and helpful self.