12th April 2012 9:00
By Blue Tutors
An article, recently published on our website, claims that private tuition harms social mobility. This was based on figures from the Sutton Trust’s survey, which reported that 25% of teenagers from ‘rich’ homes employ a private tutor, whereas in ‘poor’ homes the figure is 15%. Whatever the distinction between rich and poor, it may seem like a worrying trend, albeit not an unexpected one.
The figures of 15% and 25% are probably closer than many people would imagine, a common misconception among new tutors is that 90% of tutored students are at expensive schools and come from middle class families. In truth, many parents who send their children to expensive independent schools don’t seek the help from a tutor, believing that the tuition fees paid to the school should be enough for their child. Also, some parents choose to send their children to a state school, and spend money, which would have been spent on a school, on private tuition.
There are a few important factors which influence the discrepancy in tuition between rich and poor students though, and without knowledge of these factors, one’s view of private tuition is understandably skewed to thinking that it harms social mobility.
The assumption is that, in a perfect world, everyone would have a tutor. There are families who struggle financially, and yet see education as so important that they earmark some income for tuition. Another family in the same financial situation might not value education so highly and so won’t employ a tutor. If we assume that a good education is an indication of future wealth, then it’s not surprising that richer families are more likely to seek tuition; having benefitted from their own education, they want to give the same opportunity to their children.
In a wider sense, the correlation between wealth and exam performance is one that will persist because of parents’ attitudes. We want to believe that every child is born equally, and that natural intelligence isn’t determined by family wealth, and even if this is true, it can’t be denied that better educated parents are likely to seek to provide a better education for their children outside school, whether provided by themselves, or a tutor.
The important consideration should be to give students access to private tuition if they, and their parents, want it, and to make students more aware of the process of tuition so they feel that it’s more accessible. The ‘No Child Left Behind’ scheme in the US has been criticised for a number of reasons, but what’s undeniable is that the intention is positive: trying to ensure that every student has access to a tutor if required.