6th July 2011 9:00
By Blue Tutors
More Australian students than ever are turning to a private tutor to help them with their HSC according to a recent article on the Sydney Morning Herald’s website. Research has been conducted by the Australian Tutoring Association (ATA), which shows that over 80% of students in New South Wales receive tutoring at some point during their HSC year.
The level of tuition for the competitive HSC isn’t really a surprise; the grade given for the HSC is relative, and students have become aware that they are competing with their peers. When someone hears that their classmate is receiving private tuition, the instinct is that they must do the same or risk or blot on their academic record.
It may come as a shock to many people that the research showed that, in general, it is the students themselves who seek out and make contact with a tuition agency. The common view is that parents push their children into extra lessons after school, but many of the agencies contacted said that students now appear much more self-aware of their situation, and how the HSC could affect their life. As a result students tend to be very pro-active when choosing private tuition as a means to boost academic success.
The prices for tuition seem to vary from $10 AUS an hour, for extra classroom lessons, to $120 AUS an hour for one-to-one lessons from a qualified teacher. The ATA were keen to point out that it’s difficult to attribute success to just private tuition, because parents and school teachers play a large part too, and they feel that anyone looking for a tutor should first contact the ATA.