Why Tutoring is Going Mainstream Post Pandemic
Thursday, 27th July 2023Children are being tutored from pre-school right through to professional exams, as the number getting extra help has almost doubled over the last 10 years.
A recent article in The Times highlighted that children as young as 3 are starting to receive tutoring to get into the school of their choice. That seems incredible but such is the need for extra support.
Demand dropped during Covid as people were furloughed or lost jobs, but has nonetheless risen 30 per cent in the past five years, as parents seek to fill the gaps from lost learning. The stigma and secrecy surrounding tutoring has also now disappeared, with parents less likely to be embarrassed and tutors collaborating with children’s teachers
Amy Ting has a tutor for her daughter, aged eight. She said: “It was almost unheard of to have a tutor when I was at school, or if someone did have a tutor they kept it a secret. But today I don’t know any of my daughter’s friends who don’t have tutors.
“When Covid closed the schools, I was working full time from home and my husband was a key worker in the NHS. So our two children — then aged five and seven — had to rely on the online lessons offered by their school, just using their devices.
“I feel that they both missed some crucial learning and they have gaps in their knowledge. My youngest in particular missed out on basic early maths learning so she’s had a tutor for the past year to get her up to speed.”
However, experts say that the boom in tutoring will widen the gap between rich and poor, as tutoring rates up to £100 per hour are commonly charged. This is out of reach for too many families, so unless the National Tutoring Programme is fully funded, or more affordable options are available, the gap will widen.
A report by the Sutton Trust found
- 30 per cent of school children had experienced tutoring, and 27 per cent were being tutored, the highest since the social mobility charity’s annual polling began in 2005.
- Analysis of private tuition of those in Year 10 and 11 in 2021 found 32 per cent of children in the top quarter of incomes had tutoring, against 13 per cent in the bottom.
- Tutoring was highest among children at grammars, followed by independent schools and comprehensives.
- Those in professional or managerial households were more than twice as likely to receive tutoring than those in families with manual jobs.
- Those with a graduate parent were twice as likely to as those without.
- About a third of black African, Indian and Bangladeshi pupils received tutoring, twice the rate of white pupils.
- Pupils in London were more likely to be tutored than in the rest of the country.
Education and social mobility experts worry that despite the work done by the National Tutoring Programme to provide help for disadvantaged children, the gap will widen again. Sir Peter Lampl, founder and chairman of the Sutton Trust, said: “In an increasingly competitive environment for school and for university places, inequalities in access to tutoring are set to grow, widening the attainment gap.”
Lee Elliot-Major, professor of social mobility at Exeter University, said this week that young people were facing the starkest gaps in progression to higher education for a generation, adding: “This is a sign of the education arms race we have been observing in recent years, in which middle-class families are investing more resources to secure a good education for their children.”
But should it just be for the middle-class families? Lisa McCartney Co-Founder of Plytime Learning said “Every parent wants to do the best for their child but, being parents ourselves, we understand how expensive extra support can be. In the current climate it’s out of reach for many people which is why we are passionate about making tutoring more cost-effective and affordable. Our 1-to-1 primary maths Focus Tutoring starts from just £12 per week and being an NTP partner either parents or schools can pay for the tutor.”
As Robin Walker, the former schools minister and chairman of MPs’ education select committee, said: “Embedding tutoring into the education landscape as we move forward will be vital if we are to close the gap in attainment.”
Whoever is paying for the tutoring – be it parents or schools – 1-to -1 tutoring support is on the rise and very much needed to help each child reach their potential!