For new sailors, a gybe is a much more intimidating maneuver than a tack. You don't have the luxury of a few seconds in irons to get things sorted. The forces on the sail change quickly. The boom swings from one extreme to the other (watch your head!) and you might get an unexpected amount of fight in the tiller.
These problems can (unintuitively) be often mitigated by "going faster" but to a new sailor uncomfortable with the situation, maybe a 290° turn (incorporating a tack, with a much low boom-swing) is a safer bet.
So the question is: when the wind is up, how brave are you?
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