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Become a better tutor · Module 5: Impact that lasts

Teach them to learn without you

The best consultants make themselves less necessary over time. The best tutors do the same, and families notice.

Written by the Brainhub Editorial Team Cites published research Updated 13 Oct 2026 6 min read

The course unlocks one lesson at a time. You can read this now, but it only counts once you’ve finished Tutor, not teacher.

Key takeaways

1. The consultant’s exit

Good consulting leaves capability behind. If the client can’t do anything differently when you leave, the change won’t last. For a tutor, the capability is the student’s ability to learn on their own: to know what they don’t know, practise it properly and check their work.

2. Teach the thinking behind the work

The Education Endowment Foundation rates metacognition and self-regulation, teaching students to plan, monitor and evaluate their own learning, as one of its highest-impact approaches, adding about seven months’ progress on average.[1]

In practice, model your own thinking out loud (“First I check what the question wants. Then I…”), then ask students to do the same. End lessons with: what did you find hard, and what will you do about it?

3. Teach the methods that work

A major review of study techniques rated practice testing and spacing practice over time as the most useful. Re-reading and highlighting, the methods most students rely on, were rated low.[2]

So don’t just set homework; teach how to do it. Show students how to make flashcards that test them, how to do a “blank page” recall and how to spread practice across the week. Our free student course covers these in detail.

4. I do, we do, you do

Rosenshine’s principles describe a gradual handover: model the task, guide practice with support, then require and monitor independent practice. Over a tutoring block, the same pattern should play out across weeks, not just within a lesson.[3]

Weeks
Who leads
Looks like
1–3
Tutor models
Worked examples, thinking aloud
4–7
Shared
Student attempts, tutor prompts and checks
8–10
Student leads
Student plans revision, marks own work, asks targeted questions

Try this: In the last ten minutes of a lesson, let the student set their own homework from a choice of three. Ask them why they chose it.

Try it now

Test yourself on this page

Answer in your head first, then check.

  1. 1. What do metacognition and self-regulation mean?

  2. 2. Which two study methods did the review rate most useful?

  3. 3. What does “I do, we do, you do” describe?

Your next steps

  • Think aloud while modelling one question each lesson.
  • Teach one study method explicitly this week.
  • Plan where each student’s block moves from “we do” to “you do”.

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Sources

  1. Education Endowment Foundation. Teaching and Learning Toolkit: Metacognition and self-regulation. educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/metacognition-and-self-regulation
  2. Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J. and Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4–58. doi:10.1177/1529100612453266
  3. Rosenshine, B. (2012). Principles of instruction: research-based strategies that all teachers should know. American Educator, 36(1), 12–19, 39. aft.org/sites/default/files/periodicals/Rosenshine.pdf

This lesson is general professional guidance for tutors. Always follow Brainhub’s safeguarding policy and use your own professional judgement.