By Francesca Burney

Wanting the best education for your child is natural. An estimated £100 million was spent on private lessons and classes last year. No longer just the privilege of the middle-classes, families on income support are putting money aside each week for extra tuition. So why are some parents choosing to supplement the school week with more classes?

Sara from Hammersmith, decided to try a tutor when her 8-year-old son Ed was having trouble with his maths. “The head mistress called me in for an ‘informal chat’ and told me he was struggling. I felt incredibly angry and guilty. I should have noticed it. I couldn’t do maths either. I know the dread of being asked a question in class and not having a clue and everyone thinking you’re stupid. I hated the thought of Ed going through that.” Sara says that several options were discussed, from altering Ed’s timetable to include a one-to-one lesson to keeping him down a year. Sara suggested private tuition. “Ed was desperate not to stay down a year and also not to have extra lessons at school. He didn’t want to miss out on the things he enjoyed like football club to make time for extra maths and we did not want him to feel he was being punished,” she says. The school’s Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENC) told her about the Lindamood-Bell Learning Process and she decided to give it a go. “I enrolled him in a six-week summer school and it changed everything,” she says. “His confidence grew so much. Ed will never be a mathematician but he is now about middle of his class and enjoying school so much more.”

A lack of self-confidence is one of the main obstacles to successful learning and in a large classroom individual needs may unintentionally go unnoticed. According to Tom Leopold, a Developmental Psychologist and Managing Director of The Tutors Group, one-to-one tuition provides an opportunity for a child’s belief in his or her own ability to grow. He says, “The first task of our tutors is to heighten a child’s self-esteem and build their confidence to say when they don’t understand something. They need to be actively involved in the learning process.”

While one-to-one private tutoring can increase your child’s confidence to learn and work on specific weaknesses, educational classes or learning clubs also provide the same opportunity. A popular one is Kumon Educational UK. Founded by Hiroshi Kumon in Japan, it teaches maths and English to 45,000 children in 560 centres in this country and is growing rapidly. The programme costs £15 to enroll plus a monthly tuition fee of £41 per subject. Pupils are taught in individualized classes, using special worksheets designed to gradually become more difficult at the student’s own pace. The worksheets have to be completed daily in order for the programme to be successful so you do need to be committed, but the evidence is this method works.

While the demand for extra tuition continues to grow, cynics see it simply as ‘hot housing’ children or ‘exam fever’ – an attempt by competitive parents to secure places in prestigious secondary schools. And if children are simply being coached to remember facts and pass exams, they would be right. A skewed SATs result may mean a child is put into a class or school that is too academic. They soon find themselves struggling to keep up or need hours of extra tuition each week to do so. “The worst thing you can do is set a child up to fail,” warns Leopold. “I spend a lot of time telling parents, fathers usually, why the school they went to is not suitable for their child.” A good tutor will teach children how to think and reason for themselves, skills that will enhance the learning process and make exams easier.

So if you feel extra tuition would benefit your child, how do you go about finding a good tutor? One place is The Association of Tutors. For £5 you can buy their guide ‘Finding and Working with a Tutor’, a comprehensive document that will answer many questions. It points out that, surprisingly, there is no regulation of this sector and qualifications are not necessary for non-specialist tuition. Leopold believes teaching qualifications can actually get in the way of being a good tutor: “Teachers are trained in crowd control and need to establish discipline from the outset. This is not an ideal approach in a one-to-one tutorial.” The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) says agencies are expected to make “reasonable” checks on tutors’ backgrounds and it is the parent’s responsibility to check credentials.

So where does this leave you? Many use word-of-mouth as a reliable method to finding a good tutor. This way you already know a bit about them before you call, not least, how much they cost. With the hourly rate in London varying from £15 to £40 it is worth establishing the price early in a conversation.

Some parents believe they are the best people to make a difference in their child’s education and opt to do it themselves. Others do so because of financial constraints. A DfES commissioned report, ‘Impact of Parental Involvement’ by Charles Desforges, concludes that parents can significantly increase their child’s achievements, at all ages. This does not mean sitting down with a textbook and working through exercises. The idea is to encourage your child to think in different ways by having discussions with them. Alistair Smith, founder of Alite (Accelerated Learning in Training and Education) and co-author of ‘Help Your Child To Succeed’, believes “the most important factor in learning is not income, social class or parental education but the level of interest and involvement shown by the parent or parents.”

In some cases however, your child may need specialist help. Special Educational Needs (SENs), is a phrase heard frequently these days. The definition of a SEN is simple: ‘anything that hampers a child’s learning’. It is worth remembering that as many as 1 in 5 children will at some time fall into this classification. Divorce, bereavement or even starting a new school can create special needs which require extra-tuition, increased support from teachers or more parental involvement.

If your child needs a specialist tutor, the British Dyslexic Association (BDA) has lists of those who are qualified. Another organization with a national index is the Professional Association for Teachers of Students with Specific Learning Difficulties. Going through either of these two organizations means you will find a tutor with up-to-date qualifications.

Tutoring is not always a question of overcoming difficulties; it may also be appropriate for exceptionally gifted children. Recognizing a gifted child is not always easy, some make it obvious by excelling in school but others don’t. They may be disruptive or intentionally under-achieve so as not to be different and may find making friends difficult. Tomorrow’s Achievers Masterclasses, run by Gabbitas, Truman and Thring, for gifted children, are not like everyday lessons and do not follow the national curriculum. Instead they focus on ‘stretching the intellect’ and develop lateral thinking whilst introducing new subjects like technology, philosophy, culture in small classes or one-to-one lessons. “We try to excite, challenge and stimulate interest in these very interactive classes, whilst providing the opportunity for the children to make friends with others like themselves,” says Rosemary Brown, Executive Director of Gabbitas. It is not just for the privileged few, there is a grant giving facility so children from low-income families can also get involved.

Private tutoring and classes can offer invaluable support to your child. Whether they are struggling at school or finding a particular subject difficult, good extra tuition can boost their confidence and ensure that they get the most out of their education and hopefully enjoy it more too.

Resources

ALITE
tel: 01628 810 700

The Association of Tutors

British Dyslexia Association
tel: 0118 966 2677

Department of Education and Skills

Gabbitas, Truman and Thring Educational Trust
tel: 020 7734 0161

The Kumon Educational UK
tel: 0800 854714

The Lindamood-Bell Learning Process
tel: 020 7727 0660

The Tutors Group
tel: 020 7602 2012

Educational Books

First Maths Dictionary
£5.99 (Oxford University Press)
Introduces key mathematical words and ideas.

BBC Primary Learning
£2.99 (BBC Worldwide Limited)
Ideas for building on skills in everyday life.

Mental Maths and Spelling Today
£2.99 (Andrew Brodie Publications)
Provides exercises to practice and repeat.

Bond Assessment Papers
£5.50 (Nelson Thames)
Preparation for the 11+

Home Learning and Revision
£4.99 (Flametree Publishing)
Endorsed by the National Association for Primary Education, provides guidance on working towards KS1 and KS2 SATs tests.

KS1 and KS2 Teaching and Learning Series
from £2.99 (Letts)
Reinforces classroom learning.

Further Reading:

Help Your Child to Succeed
B. Lucas and A. Smith
(Network Educational Press)
Can be purchased through the ALITE website for £6.95.

The Thinking Child
N. Call and S. Featherstone
£16.95 (Network Educational Press)