Geoff Buckwell: Advice for Parents
The truth about private tuition
Parents may consider employing a home tutor for a variety of reasons: it may be to help their child keep up with school work; to prepare them for a particular exam, or to improve confidence.
Overview of the private tuition market:
About Tutoring Agencies:
Things to consider before selecting a tutor:
Will a tutor know my child’s curriculum?
Do practicing school teachers make good tutors?
What about Kumon?
Overview of the private tuition market:
Private tuition is widespread across the UK and has been growing for the past 5 years. On average 22% of students receive private tuition in the UK. There are large variations however with almost half of young people in London (43 per cent) receiving some form of private tuition, whilst only 11% in Yorkshire. (Sutton Trust 2009. See full report)
Private tuition in the UK is currently unregulated. This should be of great concern to parents as it means that anyone can advertise as a private tutor and therefore the burden of identifying and selecting an appropriate tutor lies completely with the parents.
The benefits of one-to-one tuition are well recognised. Research has shown that it boosts a student’s grades, particularly in Mathematics and especially for boys. (ESRC Research
Project 2005. See full report)
About Tutoring Agencies:
Tutoring agencies essentially act as a matching service between parents and tutors, and once a match is made the agency’s involvement generally stops, other than collecting commissions from the tutor. Agencies do attempt to vet tutors by ensuring they have references and a current CRB check, (this is a police check that identifies if a person has any criminal convictions). They always use a disclaimer however to ensure the ultimate responsibility for checking references still lies with the parent.
Things to consider before selecting a tutor:
When employing a private tutor it is very difficult to know if you will get a competent tutor who is good value for money. Simply holding a degree in maths does not qualify you to teach maths. If the tutor has a teaching qualification, such as a PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate in Education) or holds a QTS (Qualified Teacher Status) this will imply that the individual has been professionally trained to teach.
Will a tutor know my child’s curriculum?
Providing effective tuition in mathematics requires an up to date knowledge of the current curriculum. For example there are over 12 different exams types that can lead to a GCSE and the GCSE qualification has changed every year for the last 3 years. Keeping up to date with changes to curriculums, at all levels, is a challenging and time consuming task. For individuals that do private tuition alongside their main job “as a bit of extra money”, it may not always be possible to devote the time and energy required.
Do practicing school teachers make good tutors?
Although school teachers have the best possible qualifications and experience to work as private tutors, they may not always make the best private tutors. Some teachers can be responsible for teaching as many as 200 students each day. They are required to prepare all of their school lessons in advance and have unrealistic administrative burdens placed on them. This means it is not always possible for a school teacher to have time to prepare thoroughly for any private teaching they do at the end of their challenging school day. Obviously experiences vary widely from teacher to teacher and depend on whether the teacher is full or part time.
What about Kumon?
Kumon can be a very successful and effective form of teaching mathematics. It involves the student attending a local Kumon centre 2 or 3 times per week. The parent is required to mark their child’s work and the student is generally required to do maths homework every day for at least 10 minutes. However Kumon do not provide one-to-one personalised learning and cannot be used to prepare students for a particular exam. Their programmes are essentially one size fits all and do not offer the flexibility to match what the students is currently learning at school. From our experience, students that have used Kumon extensively in their early years, (pre secondary school) show exceptional mental calculation skills.
If you would like to discover why Maths Doctor is unique in its provision of professional tuition services, then please call us.
