25th August 2011 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Recently in East Anglia it was announced that 5 schools would be using a private tuition agency to teach students in afterschool classes. On the face of it, this may not appear to be a dramatic change; the last Labour government had dedicated a significant amount of funding to tuition within schools, and were in the process of recruiting tutors all over the UK to teach school students. The current government have also given their support to more one-to-one lessons in schools, and it is only because of the cuts being made throughout the public sector that have curtailed the move towards private tuition.
The difference in this case is that, for the first time, a school has conceded that the provision and ability of tutors working privately in their area, is better than out of work and retired schoolteachers willing to do the same job.
It has always been clear to us that schools and parents feel more comfortable when a tutor we provide has a PGCE or QTS status, and has experience working in a school. Obviously part of this reasoning is sound; teachers have to have an in depth knowledge of the syllabus, and requirements for the exams. However, we have always felt uncomfortable when a client rejects a tutor who is a fantastic one-to-one teacher, has great recommendations, and a flawless academic record, but no formal teaching qualifications. It seems as though schools have begun to share our feelings.
The truth is that the majority of private tutors graduated from an excellent university, but this isn’t true for the majority of teachers in schools. Also, even if a tutor isn’t with Blue Tutors, and so hasn’t gone through our teaching assessment, they are likely to have had much more experience at teaching one-to-one than the average schoolteacher. Something which is often overlooked is that schoolteachers have very little tuition training, their teaching skills are honed for classroom teaching (for good reason!). The result is that if you want someone to simply explain the syllabus and mark system then a school teacher may be your best bet, but if you want someone who can actually help students to understand concepts and ideas, then you’re really looking for a tutor.
Our hope is that more schools will begin to realise the value in employing private tutors who aren’t schoolteachers. If they do, students will have the best of both worlds, because schoolteachers will try to pass on knowledge of the syllabus, while tutors ensure understanding of all the ideas involved. It was interesting to hear the head teacher of one of the schools recruiting private tutors say that the decision was a pragmatic one, and that it’s about time we broke down the barriers between state and private education, and just thought about what’s best for our students.