"It definitely gave me a massive confidence boost!"

Would you be able to introduce yourself and the volunteering that you have been doing?

My name's Jessica, and I am a 3rd year Law student.

The volunteering experience I've taken on is with the charity Tutor the Nation, which pairs underprivileged secondary school students with university students for one-on-one tutoring.

How long have you been volunteering for?

I signed up about month ago, but there was quite a comprehensive matching process and there were a few checks to go through. As of now, I've done two sessions with my student. Already, it's been a very fulfilling experience and I'm really glad I signed up.

What type of tutoring do you do?

Generally, Tutor the Nation asks you to teach something you have experience with. But as I'm a Law student, it’s not exactly something I can tutor for in secondary school! Instead, I've taken on teaching English Literature because that's something where there's a lot of skill overlap and it’s something I did well at in secondary school.

What does a typical tutoring session look like?

We usually follow a bit of a plan, so there’s a mixture of structure and flexibility. With my student, before the lesson she’ll tell me which text she wants to focus on and will I look into it. And then in sessions, we’ll do a lot of skill stuff ­– planning techniques, essay templates, or just going through the text and exploring its meaning together.

What inspired you to start volunteering?

To be honest, I was partially just motivated by wanting to build up my CV. Another reason I chose this experience is because I like helping other people learn. I'm that person at the end of every school year who shares their flash cards with the group chat! So I thought that this was something I could do, something I would find fulfilling, and something that's going to help me out with a job later down the line.

Have you had any difficulty volunteering alongside your studies?

I've had absolutely no trouble fitting this around my studies. It is very flexible, so if you need to change things, you can. There's a lot of support from Tutor the Nation as well. There's actually a community online which it functions a bit like Discord, and you can ask questions there.

Is there anything that has been a particular highlight of your volunteering so far?

It definitely gave me a massive confidence boost when we were going through a Shakespeare text together. A lot of people hate Shakespeare and I totally get it, but I'm a true Shakespeare nerd. I wasn't sure if I was doing well, but then she said, ‘Thank you, this really makes sense. You're explaining it better than my teacher!’

And have there been any challenges that you've come across in your volunteering?

Originally, I signed up to teach at GCSE level, but as there weren’t many GSCE students I’m now tutoring an A-level student. At first, I was a bit worried as obviously I'm not an expert in English, but I took it anyway and I'm glad I did!

Would you recommend to recommend volunteering to others?

I would definitely recommend it! I would say that even if you aren't someone who wants to be a teacher, I think this is still a very good experience to have because you are given training and you're not expected to be a fully-qualified teacher off the bat. It is incredibly rewarding and it can help you feel more secure in your own abilities as well.

Thank you to Jessica for sharing her experience! If you are interested in Tutor the Nation, you can sign up as a Volunteer Online Tutor here!