Why use Private Tuition?

For as long as there have been students, there have been teachers willing to offer them bespoke guidance in the form of private tuition and it’s a topic on which a number of myths and errors have settled themselves. For example, private tuition has long been seen as the province of the wealthy and privileged; something called upon by ambitious parents to give their children a competitive edge in the classroom – regardless of whether those youngsters actually needed such assistance.

Both ideas persist although both of them have little or no fundamental truth about them. Of course, all stereotypes, by definition, have a grain of truth in them somewhere – and there are a number of parents who have, in all sincerity, written to luminaries such as Stephen Hawking to ask whether they would be able to offer their son or daughter personal assistance in the field of maths or physics.

But the vast majority of people who seek private tuition for their children are more humble in both their ambitions and their expectations and  are simply ordinary folk who have identified a weakness – or, indeed, a strength – which they believe can be best addressed by the application of that personal, one-on-one approach.

And private tuition does not need to be hugely expensive – and it doesn’t need to go on endlessly, either.

Most children, at some stage, in their academic careers, will hit a rocky patch, a time when things just don’t seem to be gelling in the way they should and this is the point at which parents need to decide whether external help is necessary even if on a purely temporary basis.

If the decision is made to bolster things with private tuition it is best arranged in consultation with the school concerned. Many parents shy away from this because they fear that teachers will be offended and perceive an implied insult to their abilities.

On the contrary, many teachers are only too aware that the size of secondary school classes today means that keeping all their pupils at the same point is a virtual impossibility and, provided the private tuition works with the curriculum and not against it, there shouldn’t be any problem.

Some people use family or friends while others approach agencies which have been specially set up to match students with suitable tutors both in the academic and geographical sense.

The important thing is to identify precisely where the help is required and most firms or individuals offering private tuition will be happy to carry out a personal assessment of the student to decide precisely what is required and how it can best be delivered.

Of course, one cannot pretend that there is no expense involved and parents who decide on the route of private tuition must be prepared to pay the going rate for the assistance they are seeking. However, competent and professional private tuition operatives will not stay any longer than necessary and will be keen to see the student comfortable back into the mainstream as soon as possible.

Topic: Family and Personal