Much of what we do as tutors is shaped by the learning needs of the students we teach, whether lessons take place online or in person.
Building trust, understanding a student’s learning goals and planning a personalised pathway are central to that work. Behind each lesson, there is often a significant amount of preparation. To personalise learning well, tutors may identify a student’s gaps, align these with the curriculum, monitor progress and decide what to teach next. This is thorough and careful work, and it also brings an administrative load that usually takes place outside teaching hours.
The work behind curriculum alignment
Many tutors refer to the Australian Curriculum, using codes such as AC9M3N01 or AC9E4LY01 to check that their teaching aligns with school expectations. These codes identify content descriptions, which set out the knowledge, skills and concepts students are expected to learn.
Aligning learning with the curriculum involves more than reading the codes. It can help to consider three connected layers:
- Content descriptions (the “what”) describe the knowledge, skills and understanding students are expected to learn in each year level.
- Elaborations (the “how”) are optional examples that show how a content description may be taught or demonstrated. They can help tutors picture what a student’s understanding may look like in practice.
- Achievement standards (the “expected level”) describe the quality of learning expected by the end of a year level, including the depth of understanding and the sophistication of skills students may demonstrate.
Considering all three layers together can help tutors interpret a student’s work and plan next steps with greater confidence.
Why curriculum mapping matters
When a student has a learning gap, knowing the sequence of topics may not be enough. Planning can be more effective when a work sample is considered against:
- the relevant content descriptions
- the elaborations that illustrate how understanding may be demonstrated
- the achievement standard for the year level
This approach supports tutoring that is aligned with school expectations, rather than based only on worksheets or topic lists. It also takes time, and for many tutors that time falls in early mornings, evenings and weekends.
The challenge for tutors
Layered curriculum mapping can be manageable for one student. As the number of students grows, it can become demanding. Challenges tutors may experience include:
- time spent navigating curriculum documents on the ACARA website
- the effort of interpreting codes and descriptions
- preparation behind each personalised lesson that is rarely visible to families
- pressure to stay aligned with the curriculum
- a wish to protect personal time
TutorPro Hub was developed to help with this challenge.
Introducing TutorPro Hub
After more than a decade running my own tutoring business, I wanted a more efficient way to develop personalised, curriculum-aligned lessons in response to each student’s progress, without lowering the standard of our work. For my own practice, the main goal was to personalise lessons while reducing preparation time. I also wanted to see whether the whole workflow could be made more efficient. That is why we developed the diagnostic engine inside TutorPro Hub.
How the diagnostic platform is designed to work
If you are looking to streamline your own process, the platform is designed to automate much of the curriculum-mapping workflow. Each student’s results are mapped to the relevant Australian Curriculum content descriptions, elaborations and achievement standard, and presented in a professional format for you to review and share. Here is how it works:
- Upload: Upload a student’s work sample, writing test or mathematics assessment to your Tutor Portal.
- Content analysis: The engine reviews the work against the relevant curriculum content descriptions.
- Curriculum elaborations: It interprets the student’s demonstrated understanding using the curriculum elaborations.
- Achievement standard check: It checks the work against the achievement standard for the relevant year level.
- Gap identification: It identifies specific learning gaps and outlines suggested next steps.
- Individualised learning plans: It generates a tailored learning pathway with clear teaching focuses, so you can see what to work on next.
- Parent reports: It produces clear, professionally presented progress reports that you can share with families through the portal.
The aim is to make curriculum mapping faster and more consistent. TutorPro Hub currently maps results to the Australian Curriculum. Tutors working with a state-adapted version of the curriculum may wish to adjust the results to suit. You can read more about the diagnostic logic in our overview of automated curriculum diagnostics.
What this may mean for your time
Curriculum documents provide a valuable framework. Interpreting them for each individual student, however, can take considerable time outside of lessons. When the platform handles the mapping, you may find you have more time for the parts of tutoring that matter most to you:
- building positive relationships with your students
- preparing lessons that are personalised to each student
- supporting students’ academic growth over time
- communicating progress clearly with families
TutorPro Hub has been developed with these goals in mind: to support tutors in delivering high-quality lessons while reducing the time spent on administration.
Join our early access community
TutorPro Hub is currently in its pre-launch phase, and we would be pleased to welcome you to our early access community.
By joining our early access email list, you will be notified when the platform goes live and will be among the first to hear about our upcoming Founding Member discounts.
To join, please enter your email address in the early access form on this page below. You will be added to the list and notified when we launch.
Tracey Hand | TutorPro Hub