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Tutoring 'can actually be detrimental to education'
Posted on 2nd July 2009
For Student/Child
Parents of independent school pupils who pay for private tutoring could put their offspring off learning, if one commentator is to be believed.
Starting these extra lessons at a young age could be particularly damaging, wrote Alice Thomson in a comment piece for the Times.
"Often it doesn't help their education," she said. "If teachers do their jobs properly, the school day should be long enough to teach pupils what they need to know."
Ms Thomson argued private personal tutors rob children of time they could be spending taking part in recreation – especially essential healthy activities such as sport.
She also suggested good teachers should be employed to impart their knowledge to a classroom, not a single pupil.
Her comments follow a piece in the Guardian which noted there has been a "boom" in the number of parents employing tutors.
Journalist Jenni Russell cited data from a recent Sutton Trust report, which stated 43 per cent of Londoners between the ages of 11 and 16 in London have been given this kind of help.
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As the founder and director of perhaps the most exclusive private tutoring company in the world, I feel well placed to comment on Ms Thomson's concerns.
There may be a case to suggest that children should be allowed to play and that schooling should be adequate. Unfortunately this case is weak in all circumstances where there is competition for educational opportunities and where grades matter. In many cases schooling is adequate and tutoring is only used for occasional top-up or to fill specific deficits. But for many more it is not, and the only way that parents can ensure that their children can compete is to secure the help of additional tutoring.
My experience shows something that few would disagree with, that one-to-one education is by far the best way to learn, and that the social interactions offered by schools is generally counterproductive in academic terms. Tutors International offers the select few the opportunity to have one-to-one education for children across the whole of the schooling, providing children with the very best education possible.Posted By Adam Caller on 5th July 2009