Private tuition has been booming in popularity for some time now, with recent figures from the Sutton Trust indicating that approximately 1 in 4 UK students receive private tuition on top of their usual education.
While ever-growing class sizes, overstretched teachers, and a competitive schooling environment go some way to explaining why parents may want to hire a tutor to help a child that is struggling with their grades, the sheer number of students receiving private tuition shows that it’s not just the academically challenged who are being privately tutored.
Indeed, while there remains a stigma that “tutoring is for students who are struggling academically,” there are many reasons why a parent or child may seek the support of a private tutor for some or all of their educational journey. To help shed light on the real and varied benefits of private tuition, and why it might be right for your child, we’ve identified some of the main reasons a child may need a tutor.
Your child REALLY loves a particular subject
While a lot of tutoring is focused on remedying academic weaknesses, which are often accompanied by an aversion to subjects, it is equally important to support enthusiasm. Sometimes your child, whether they are academically strong or not, will have a particular affinity for one subject and may even have a particular career in mind from early on in their academic career. When a child loves a subject, whether or not they seem particularly gifted in it, they should be encouraged to pursue their passion and given all the tools possible to push their interest as far as it will go.
In a traditional school setting, students are generally only permitted a set period of time to spend on each subject, and aren't afforded the extra time to spend on the topics they enjoy. By hiring a private tutor who is an expert in the subject your child loves, they can delve much deeper into the content and have the time to explore their academic passion much further. A private tutor will be able to completely personalise each students learning plan, identifying the areas they are most interested in and counteracting any knowledge or skill gaps that could prevent them from reaching their full potential in their subject.
Your Child is a GENIUS
Despite the common trope that tutoring is for children who struggle academically, if you have a child who is particularly gifted when it comes to their studies it is a great idea to invest in a private tutor in order to boost their existing talents even further. The way school classes are structured necessitates that they are geared towards students who are of average ability, with BOTH the academically challenged and advanced students suffering as a result.
Children who are academically gifted often find themselves uninspired of under-challenged, held back by the rest of the class and the teacher’s limited ability to provide them with individual attention. This prevents exceptional students from being able to reach their full potential and can even lead to misbehaviour due to frustration.
Hiring a private tutor to work with your child and support their school education is the best way to ensure that they retain their enjoyment of learning and are able to reach their full potential. Experienced private tutors are able to come up with creative and engaging lessons that will help push your child to their academic limits, whilst keeping learning fun. Lessons are tailored precisely to the student’s needs and a tutor can create a personalised learning plan that works alongside their school lessons but takes them further, allowing gifted students to flex their brain muscles and develop into the academic superstars they deserve to be.
Exams are around the corner
In an ideal world, students will have been able to give their all in their lessons throughout the year and have given themselves ample time to revise and practice for exams.
However, unfortunately even the best students generally find themselves at least a little unprepared when it’s exam time. After all, can you ever REALLY have done all you can before a test? There is a reason why, at Tutor House, we are at our busiest in the run-up to exam season, with students seeking out the expertise of experienced tutors to fill any gaps in their knowledge, hone their exam technique, and receive valuable feedback and advice on how to perform at their absolute best.
Working with a tutor for a few weeks leading up to exams is a wise move for every student, whatever their level and ability, in order to ensure they are able to truly perform to the best of their ability. Not only will tutors be able to give specialist and focused revision support, provide and mark practice exam papers, and advise top strategies, tips and techniques, they will also be able to support and reassure your child, making them less nervous and more confident when they enter the exam room.
With exams at every level impacting on a student’s future, it is important that every student is given the chance to perform at their very best.
Homeschooling
An increasing number of families are choosing to homeschool their child for some or all of their educational journey. There are a number of benefits to homeschooling your child, including having control over the quality and content of their lessons and allowing them to learn at their own pace and in a way that suits them. However, it can also be a challenge to ensure your child is meeting national education criteria and fill the role of parent and teacher on your own.
If you decide to homeschool your child, working with a private tutor to deliver some lessons is a great way to ensure your child is able to reach their full learning potential and get top exam results, without compromising on the independence and personalisation of a homeschool education.
Problems at School
A teacher leaving halfway through the school year, disruptive fellow pupils or bullying, a lack of school funds resulting in limited learning materials, a clash of personalities between teacher and student, and large class sizes minimizing individual attention – there are all kinds of problems which can crop up in a school setting and that are beyond your control.
Students who suffer from problems at school, including the aforementioned, are unlikely to be able to learn as effectively through no fault of their own. While schools will always do their best to address problems as they arise, students will rarely escape problems at school without any negative impact on their education.
As a result, if your child is having problems at school, even if there is not yet an evident impact on their grades, it is wise to work with a private tutor for at least a short period while the problem is resolved in order to ensure they are not disadvantaged in their studies.
Struggling academically
As seen above, your child doesn’t have to be struggling academically to benefit from the support of a private tutor. However, should your child be falling behind with their schoolwork and grades, either in one subject or more generally, working with a private tutor is the best way to ensure they are able to reach their full potential.
A private tutor is able to hone in on exactly which areas of their studies your child may be struggling with and create personalised learning strategies to help overcome them. From finding and plugging gaps in a student’s knowledge to developing study skills and techniques that will enable them to work independently and clearly demonstrate their knowledge, a private tutor will tailor lessons precisely to your child needs, ensuring that they get the help they need to thrive in school.
