Why are Private Tuitions on the Rise in the UK?

Why Are Private Tuitions on the Rise in the UK?

The market in private tuition for school subjects represents approximately £2 billion per year in the UK today. This considerable sum makes UK one of the worldwide top spenders on tutoring.

According to new researchers,the private tuition industry in the UK is booming since pupils are paying for tutors to help them with school work and grammar school entrance exams. More than 40% of pupils in London have private tutors because of increase in educational inequality in the UK.

The increasing tutoring trends in the UK is despite the fact that private tuition offers no advantages in terms of tax breaks.

Ethnic background was shown to influence the likelihood in receiving private tuition in the UK - 54% of students of Asian ethnicities reported that they have received home tuition at some point in the last three years, which was more than double the overall national average of 25%.

More pupils are moving over to tutoring websites like Superprof that allow pupils to browse and connect with qualified tutors in all manner of subjects. These online tutoring platforms offer greater flexibility and more competitive pricing for both the pupils and teachers.

The report which claims to provide the most comprehensive analysis of the private tuition market in the UK till date reveals that many school teachers in the UK have an enormous increase their income through private tutoring According to reports, the percentage of pupils who had private tutors is up from 18% in 2005 to 25% in 2016 and stands at 42% in the capital. The report says that one in ten of all state-educated 11- to 16-year-olds in England and Wales were tutored, in the past year alone.

Sir Peter Lampl, chair of the Sutton Trust, said: “Private tuition is widespread and increasingly so. Nearly half of the teachers have tutored and a quarter of teenagers have been tutored. But with costs of at least £25 per session, many cannot afford to benefit from this extra support, which exacerbates education inequalities. The trust is recommending that the government introduce a means-tested voucher scheme to enable lower-income families to provide tuition for their children.”

According to data from the private tuition agency Tutorfair, maths is the single most tutored subject with which pupils struggle the most and pupils require the most extra help with English to enable them to develop literacy skills. These are followed by Science, Spanish and French.

Children from wealthier backgrounds are the main beneficiaries of private tuition as likely to have received private tuition as well as school education.

Among pupils aged between 11 and 16 from disadvantaged backgrounds, the proportion of pupils who are eligible for free school meals is 17% (FSM), having received private tuition at some point in their schooling, compared with 26% of non-FSM pupils.

The most common reason given for requesting extra support of tuitions in the UK was the common intervention with central schoolwork. Most percentages of pupils have private tutors to help them with GCSE exams and grammar school entrance exams. The most popular subjects are maths, English, chemistry, physics, biology, Spanish and French.

Private tuition can be taken at any time of year, unlike the school and university system. Pupils can also enrol at any time. Flexibility is one of the many great advantages of private tuitions. The peak of tutoring is during the summer months. In the summer months, thousands of children across the country spend hours cramming with GCSE and A level tutors in preparation for exams. The top private tutors find themselves increasingly busy when the average school teacher is enjoying ten weeks of holiday over the summer break. Highly competitive entrance tests to secure a place at the top private schools encourage many of the wealthiest parents to shell out for extended tuition over the holidays during summer.

The director of The Good Schools Guide Education Consultancy, Susan Hamlyn, said there were both good and bad reasons for engaging private tutors. “At its best, it can increase confidence, plug gaps and supplement less than adequate school provision,” Ms Hamlyn said. “At its worst, it panders to unnecessary parental anxiety or ambition and can actually be counterproductive. What is essential is that children who need additional support in mainstream schools are identified early and receive adequate in-school support so that everyone has equal opportunities.”

But for the pupils who struggle with their academics, tutoring can boost their confidence and give the underperforming children a track record of success. Tutoring is also useful for pupils who need a confidence boost and children with special needs or for those who require help with work discipline.

Part of the reason for this is that, while it’s always a welcome addition to any CV, tutoring is for many a way to supplement a primary income, rather than a primary career. The number of private teachers is in the tens of thousands in the main disciplines. Most private teachers are students who look to round up their monthly salaries while some are also full-time teachers who tutor in addition to their main jobs.

Some private tutors include certified teachers working as part of the national education system.

The flexible and unregulated nature of the tutoring market is one of the reasons why it is so challenging to estimate accurate figures. Anyone, from the age of 14 and above can work as a home tutor, without necessarily holding any formal qualifications, sometimes to the disquiet of those taking lessons.

The reports based on polling by Ipsos MORI and the National Foundation for Educational Research and data from private tuition agencies claim to be the “most comprehensive analysis to date” of the UK's private tuition market.

The trust is calling on the UK Government to introduce means-tested vouchers that will enable lower-income families to access additional educational support and provide quick remuneration to participating tutors and agencies. It also is urging agencies to provide a certain proportion of their tuition to disadvantaged pupils for free.