| -- End Ad Box ---> | | | | have the time to review a host of personal |
| Some 2500 years ago, Philip, King of Macedon, | | | | references, let alone conduct interviews. If parents are |
| arranged private tuition for his teenage son. The | | | | considering finding a suitable full-time tutor themselves, |
| scholar whom Philip engaged was Aristotle himself, | | | | they are facing a task which, in the time and |
| and Philip's son Alexanderknown to us as | | | | experience it requires, is simply unrealistic. |
| Alexander the Greatwent on to make his | | | | The obvious answer is a tutoring agency, and there |
| extraordinary mark on history. Along the way he | | | | are many out there. But here too, parents are left with |
| offered the following observation: 'I am indebted to my | | | | little information to go on. |
| father for living,' he said, 'but to my teacher for living | | | | The importance of using the right private tutoring |
| well.' | | | | agency |
| The increasing educational choices available to parents | | | | Fundamentally, the relationship between a family and a |
| 2500 years on, and parents still face a Gordian Knot | | | | tutoring agency should be a constructive partnership. A |
| of questions regarding their children's education. On | | | | tutoring agency should not be merely an employment |
| one hand, it can seem odd that such questions should | | | | agency or a temping firm. Instead, the agency should |
| be so persistent and so vexing. After all, parents have | | | | be engaged and available throughout the entire tutoring |
| access to reams of league tables, stacks of school | | | | placement to offer advice and support with the |
| guides, and piles of Ofsted reportssurely parents | | | | student's well-being clearly in view. After all, with so |
| are among the most informed people in the country | | | | much to be gained, as little as possible should be left to |
| when it comes to choices about education! | | | | chance. |
| On the other hand, it can feel more and more like the | | | | The problem is that most tutoring agencies focus on |
| questions being asked and the answers being offered | | | | providing tutors on the part-time, hourly, after-school |
| are somehow not matching up very helpfully. Perhaps | | | | model, and few of them have useful experience with |
| that's why private tuition is increasingly popular. Extra | | | | full-time tuition. Accordingly, parents considering full-time |
| help with homework, focussed exam preparation, or | | | | tuition face the question of finding a suitable agency to |
| an added boost in a tricky subject can help ensure | | | | begin with. |
| success for a student whatever his or her school | | | | Principles that can guide parents in the choice of |
| situation. | | | | private tutoring agency |
| An alternative private tutoring solution: full-time private | | | | There are several principles that parents considering |
| tuition | | | | full-time tuition can use to make the choice of tutoring |
| It is this sort of add-on tutoring, typically provided a few | | | | agency easier. |
| times a week for a limited period after school, that | | | | First, a tutoring agency should be willing to meet and |
| comprises the majority of tutoring situations in the UK. | | | | talk with the family in person, before any contracts are |
| But there is another sort of tutoring which has also | | | | signed, to fully determine what the academic situation |
| grown steadily in this country and internationally: | | | | is and whether or not the agency can fairly address it. |
| full-time private tuition in place of or as a major adjunct | | | | Second, a tutoring agency should be up-front and |
| to school. There are more and more parents who, for | | | | transparent in their policies and procedures. For |
| one reason or another, want something more for their | | | | example, they should be able to clearly describe their |
| children than a school-based education is always able | | | | tutor recruitment process, vetting procedures, |
| to provide. | | | | projected time-frames, and of course the costs. They |
| The reasons that a family might consider tutoring of | | | | should also be willing to detail their company's history, |
| this sort can vary widely. There could be problems in | | | | background, and track record. |
| school of various sorts, or special educational needs | | | | Third, a tutoring agency should be able to offer proper |
| that are not being adequately addressed. A family | | | | contracts for the relationships between themselves, |
| living overseas may want to provide a certain type of | | | | the family, and the tutor. |
| education for their child that is locally unavailable. Or a | | | | Fourth, a tutoring agency should offer a guarantee of |
| student might be in serious full-time athletic training, and | | | | complete confidentiality. A family should be assured |
| need education to fit in with those demands in a way | | | | that the agency, and the tutor that will enter their home |
| that school generally does not. Situations like these | | | | and come to know them well, hold confidentiality and |
| take almost as many forms as there are families, and | | | | discretion as basic principles of conduct. |
| they obviously raise far bigger questions than hourly | | | | Critical questions to ask the potential private tutor |
| after-school tuition could address. They also suggest a | | | | agency |
| far more specialised educational situation than most | | | | If all seems to be in order on those four points, parents |
| tutoring companies are prepared to handle effectively. | | | | can then consider the following: |
| The practical side of full-time private tuition | | | | What sort of educational background and teaching |
| So how does it work? Take the following as typical. A | | | | experience can a family expect the tutoring agency to |
| family recruits a tutor to work with their child in their | | | | be able to provide in their tutor? If a student's goal is |
| home for a year. The tutor has an academic | | | | Oxbridge for example, will the tutor be up to the task? |
| background appropriate to the student's requirements, | | | | How extensive are the background checks that |
| and ideally has proven teaching skills as well. The | | | | the tutoring agency carries out on its prospective |
| family provide the tutor with accommodation near their | | | | tutors? After all, the tutor will be entering the family |
| home, and transport to and from the home. They also | | | | home and the family circle for an extended period, and |
| typically provide the tutor with lunch during teaching | | | | it is essential for the family to feel comfortable with the |
| days. The family and the tutor work out a | | | | tutor as a person of integrity and good character. |
| schedulefour to five hours of tuition, five days a | | | | Enhanced Criminal Records Bureau (ECRB) checks |
| week for example. The tutor designs a curriculum that | | | | should be expected at a minimum for UK tutors, and |
| not only satisfies relevant external standards (such as | | | | the equivalent for tutors from abroad. |
| those of the British National Curriculum, or the | | | | A good tutoring agency should remain in regular |
| International Baccalaureate), but is also custom-made | | | | contact with the family and the tutor throughout the |
| to the needs and personality of the student. Finally, the | | | | period of the posting, and should always be available |
| tutor delivers the lessons, working one-on-one with the | | | | for consultation. Parents should confirm that the |
| student to make the learning both interesting and | | | | agency will provide that service. |
| effective. | | | | What sort of safety net does the agency provide |
| There is more to gain than simply an excellent | | | | should things go wrong or questions arise? |
| education | | | | Ideally, a good tutoring agency will offer you all of this |
| This scenario, in one version or another, is played out | | | | information from the start. You shouldn't have to work |
| all over the world. Tailor-made to their educational | | | | hard to find it. |
| needs, personalities, and schedules, taught to standards | | | | If parents are satisfied on all of these points, they have |
| of excellence that meetand most often | | | | reason to expect that the company will find them a |
| exceedthose of top private schools, students can | | | | well-qualified tutor for their unique situation. And they |
| benefit enormously from this unique form of education. | | | | should never forget that all tutoring situations are |
| What's more, in a good tutor a student gains not just a | | | | unique. If a tutoring company doesn't start with that as |
| teacher, but also a friend, mentor, advisor, and role | | | | its first principle of customer service, families should |
| model. Full-time private tuition can truly make the | | | | take that fact alone as a good reason to look |
| difference in some students' lives. | | | | elsewhere. |
| The challenge of finding the right private tutor | | | | The cost of good private tuition versus the cost of a |
| But a bit of reflection will reveal a huge question: how | | | | poor education |
| to bring it about? Success in private tuition doesn't | | | | Good private tuition, particularly full-time, does not come |
| happen through the simple fact of having a tutor, but | | | | cheaply, but the other side of the question is the overall |
| through having the right tutor for the educational | | | | costs of a less than satisfactory education for a child. |
| situation. This means that private tutors have to be | | | | In that light, the value for money of focused, |
| selected carefully, with an awareness of a number of | | | | one-on-one tuition can actually be excellent, especially |
| factors that can affect the quality of the outcome. But | | | | if one tutor teaches more than one child in the family. |
| how many parents have that sort of know-how? How | | | | For families facing challenges of whatever sort with |
| many would have the time to sift through CV after | | | | school-based education, full-time private tuition backed |
| CV, trying to identify which tutors have the strongest | | | | by a good professional partner can often provide the |
| educational backgrounds and the most appropriate | | | | alternative that changes everything. It can be just the |
| teaching experience? Nor would many parents know | | | | sword for some of today's academic Gordian Knots. |
| how to go about arranging background checks, or | | | | |