Tutor time is one of the most frequently overlooked parts of the school day. In some schools, it becomes little more than registration, notices, uniform checks and waiting for the first proper lesson to begin.
In Maximising Tutor Time: Lift Attainment, Improve Behaviour, Boost Attendance, Nathan Burns argues that these small blocks of time can have a much greater purpose. Used consistently, tutor time can strengthen pupils’ learning habits, reinforce expectations, identify problems early and give every young person a dependable relationship with an adult in school.
The book is not suggesting that tutors should become counsellors, subject teachers, careers advisers and attendance officers all at once. Its central message is that schools should use the time they already have more deliberately.
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1. Tutor time is part of the curriculum
Tutor time should not be treated as empty space between arriving at school and beginning lessons.
Pupils may spend several hours each month with their tutor group. Across five years of secondary school, those short sessions add up to a substantial amount of time.
Burns encourages schools to think about what pupils should know, understand and be able to do as a result of tutor time. That means planning a coherent programme rather than relying on whichever activity happens to be available that morning.
2. Every tutor programme needs a clear purpose
Before choosing activities, schools should decide what tutor time is supposed to achieve.
Possible priorities might include:
- improving attendance and punctuality;
- developing better learning habits;
- strengthening relationships;
- reinforcing behaviour expectations;
- increasing pupils’ cultural awareness;
- supporting wellbeing;
- preparing pupils for future choices;
- creating a greater sense of belonging.
A programme becomes overloaded when every department and school initiative tries to claim part of it. Burns’s approach suggests beginning with a limited number of meaningful priorities and planning around them.
3. The tutor can become a pupil’s consistent adult
Secondary pupils may see ten or more teachers during a typical fortnight. Their tutor can provide continuity within that complicated system.
The tutor is often well placed to notice when something changes. A pupil may become quieter, arrive late repeatedly, stop bringing equipment or begin missing particular days.
Tutors are not expected to solve every difficulty. Their value often lies in noticing, listening and making sure that concerns reach the appropriate person before a small problem becomes a serious one.
4. Important messages need repetition
Schools communicate constantly about attendance, behaviour, respect, effort and responsibility. The problem is that important messages are often delivered once and then forgotten.
Tutor time allows schools to revisit them regularly and place them in context.
For example, an attendance message becomes more meaningful when pupils explore how missed days accumulate, what learning is lost and which barriers might prevent someone from attending.
Repetition should not mean delivering the same lecture every Monday. The message can be reinforced through discussion, examples, stories, reflection and practical action.
5. Assemblies should begin conversations, not end them
Assemblies are useful for establishing a shared message across a year group or whole school. However, listening to a speaker for 20 minutes does not guarantee that pupils have understood, remembered or acted upon what was said.
Tutor time can provide the follow-up.
Tutors might ask pupils to discuss one question, respond to a scenario or identify a practical action arising from the assembly. The idea can then be revisited later in the week.
This connection between assemblies and tutor time makes school messages feel more coherent and less like a collection of unrelated speeches.
6. Build the programme around the rhythm of the school year
The needs of pupils change throughout the year.
September may require work on routines, organisation and belonging. Examination periods may require revision planning and stress management. Option choices, work experience, holidays and transitions create other predictable priorities.
Schools should map these events in advance rather than responding to them at the last moment.
The content should also vary between year groups. Year 7 pupils may need support with settling in and managing equipment, while Year 11 pupils are more likely to need help with attendance, examinations and decisions about their next steps.
7. Use awareness events selectively
The school calendar contains an enormous number of national days, themed weeks and awareness campaigns. It is impossible to cover them all meaningfully.
A rushed activity about an important issue may give the appearance of engagement without developing any real understanding.
Schools should select events that connect with their values, curriculum and pupils’ needs. They can then devote enough time to introduce the issue properly, explore different perspectives and return to it afterwards.
Depth is more valuable than attempting to acknowledge every date on the calendar.
8. Creativity deserves a place in the tutor programme
Tutor time can become dominated by information, reminders and slides. Burns includes creativity as a central part of a broader programme.
Creative activities give pupils opportunities to make decisions, solve problems and produce something of their own. They may involve drawing, designing, storytelling, speaking, planning or responding to an unusual challenge.
These activities do not need to be elaborate. Even a short creative task can reveal interests and abilities that may not be obvious during conventional lessons.
Creativity can also make tutor time feel like something pupils participate in rather than something that is delivered to them.
9. Give pupils genuine responsibility
Tutor time becomes more powerful when pupils help shape it.
They might:
- present an interesting news story;
- recommend a book or podcast;
- introduce a personal interest;
- lead part of a discussion;
- organise a charity activity;
- celebrate another pupil’s achievement;
- produce advice for a younger year group.
This can develop confidence, leadership and speaking skills. It can also strengthen the group’s identity.
Participation needs careful management so that the same confident pupils do not dominate. Quieter pupils may need more preparation, smaller roles or the opportunity to contribute in pairs.
10. Teach pupils how learning actually works
Pupils are frequently told to revise, concentrate and work harder. They are less frequently taught what those instructions mean.
Tutor time can introduce important ideas about memory, attention, practice and forgetting.
Pupils can learn why:
- testing themselves is more effective than repeatedly reading notes;
- practice needs to be spread across time;
- distractions reduce the quality of learning;
- mistakes can reveal what needs to be improved;
- familiarity with a page is not the same as knowing its contents;
- information needs to be revisited to remain accessible.
This gives pupils a more realistic understanding of learning and helps them make better decisions about independent study.
11. Develop pupils’ metacognition
Nathan Burns is particularly associated with metacognition: helping pupils think more deliberately about how they learn.
Tutor time can teach pupils to plan, monitor and evaluate their approach.
Before a task, they might ask:
- What am I trying to achieve?
- What do I already know?
- Which strategy should I use?
During the task:
- Is my approach working?
- Where am I becoming stuck?
- Do I need to change my strategy?
Afterwards:
- What worked well?
- What would I do differently next time?
- What have I learned about myself?
These habits need to be modelled and practised. Simply telling pupils to “reflect” is unlikely to make them more reflective learners.
12. Turn good intentions into practical routines
Tutor time can help pupils develop the small routines that support achievement.
These might include:
- checking homework deadlines;
- organising equipment;
- breaking large tasks into stages;
- planning revision;
- using a calendar;
- preparing for assessments;
- checking work before submitting it;
- catching up after an absence.
Schools sometimes focus on motivation when the real difficulty is organisation. A pupil may want to do well but lack a reliable system for remembering work, managing time or beginning a complicated task.
Repeated attention to these routines can have more impact than occasional motivational speeches.
13. Use short, targeted interventions
Tutor time creates opportunities for brief interventions with individuals or small groups.
A tutor might help a pupil create a morning routine, organise missing work, prepare for an assessment or identify why homework is not being completed.
The best interventions are specific and manageable.
“Improve your attendance” is too broad. A more useful conversation identifies the reason for the absence, agrees what will happen the following morning and establishes when progress will be reviewed.
Tutor interventions should complement specialist support rather than replace it. Clear systems are needed so tutors know when an issue must be referred elsewhere.
14. Address attendance before absence becomes established
Attendance is one of the three outcomes highlighted in the book’s title.
Tutors are well placed to make attendance personal. A message from a familiar adult is often more meaningful than a generic letter or percentage on a screen.
They can celebrate improvement, ask about emerging barriers and help pupils reconnect after an absence.
Attendance work should avoid simply blaming pupils. Illness, anxiety, transport, caring responsibilities, bullying and family difficulties may all contribute. The tutor’s role is to notice patterns and help the school respond intelligently.
15. Improve behaviour through consistency and belonging
Tutor time can reinforce the routines and expectations that support good behaviour throughout the school.
Tutors can clarify what standards mean, explore the consequences of poor choices and help pupils prepare for situations they find difficult.
However, behaviour is not only about rules and sanctions. Pupils are more likely to behave well when they feel known, valued and connected to their group.
A strong tutor relationship can help a pupil repair difficulties, reflect on a poor decision and begin the next day positively. Tutor time offers a regular opportunity for resetting rather than allowing a mistake to define the pupil.
16. Make enrichment available to everyone
Enrichment is sometimes experienced most by pupils who already have confidence, supportive families and established interests.
Tutor time can broaden access by introducing every pupil to ideas and opportunities beyond the normal timetable.
This could include:
- different careers;
- university and apprenticeship routes;
- books, art and music;
- voluntary work;
- scientific discoveries;
- community organisations;
- unfamiliar sports and hobbies;
- talks from visitors and former pupils.
Enrichment should broaden horizons rather than simply fill time. A pupil cannot aspire to an opportunity they have never encountered.
17. Combine current affairs and wellbeing with careful leadership
Current affairs can develop vocabulary, media literacy and informed citizenship. Pupils can learn to distinguish fact from opinion, question sources and consider perspectives different from their own.
Wellbeing activities can also help pupils understand sleep, stress, exercise, relationships, online behaviour and where to seek help.
Both areas require care. Tutors need suitable resources, clear guidance and preparation for sensitive discussions.
Wellbeing should not be reduced to superficial activities that place all responsibility on the pupil. A breathing exercise cannot resolve bullying, excessive workload or an unmet safeguarding need.
Similarly, current affairs should not become an unstructured debate in which the loudest voice wins.
The success of the entire tutor programme depends on good leadership. Tutors need a clear long-term plan, reliable resources, appropriate training and enough flexibility to respond to their particular group.
Schools must also evaluate whether tutor time is making a difference. Pupil feedback, attendance patterns, behaviour information and tutors’ experiences can all help identify what should be retained, adapted or removed.
The central message of the book
The strength of Maximising Tutor Time lies in its recognition that schools do not always need another initiative or another addition to the timetable.
The time already exists.
The challenge is to use it with greater consistency and purpose. Well-planned tutor time can help pupils feel known, develop better learning habits, access wider experiences and receive support before difficulties become entrenched.
It cannot solve every problem facing a school. But when registration, relationships, learning and pastoral care are brought together thoughtfully, those short daily sessions can become one of the most valuable parts of the school day.
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