IN FOCUS TUTORING
Why tutor?
I
Classics tutor Josh Spero looks at why the UK is undergoing a boom in private tuition – and examines the key factors to consider when deciding whether your child might benefit from one-to-one tuition
FI RS T E L E V E N
IN FOCUS
f you are reading this, you are probably paying for your child’s education at an independent school. Like some parents,
you might also be having your child tutored. Like a rather smaller number, you might only settle for an Oxbridge-educated tutor to teach your child. And so on. The tutorial industry, benefiting from increased competition for places at the best schools and universities, has prospered in the past few years. While there is no comprehensive
study yet available for how widespread private tuition is, the Government has provided some evidence. In a paper published in February 2009, the Department for Children, Schools and Families found that 21 per cent of families in the social grade ‘A’ had had their children tutored, as had 16 per cent of those with annual household incomes above £50,000. However, as some of these were parents of children
44 FIRST ELEVEN SUMMER 2010
at state schools, the true proportion of parents with children at independent schools having their children tutored is thus unknown. Instinctively, one must suppose it is much higher. Prices reflect this too; the average price charged to parents in the survey was £21 to £55 per hour, clearly aiming at affluent parents with children at independent schools. Speaking to children, parents,
tutors and agencies, it is clear what has driven this expansion: fear. It may not manifest itself as such, but there is a deep and unsettling anxiety which has taken hold. The fear seems to be based on the belief that getting into the right school is the sole key to later success in life, and that failing to do so necessarily leads to unhappy results. Lucy Cawkwell, co-founder of tutorial agency Osborne Cawkwell, says, “Nowadays with the 7+, the 11+ and the 13+ [exams], parents think that if their child succeeds here, their educational path is then set until A-levels, so there’s a lot of pressure.” Furthermore, the expense of boarding schools has led to more children applying for places at day
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