22nd August 2013 9:00
By Blue Tutors
More than a quarter of parents with students of primary school age are planning to hire a tutor over the summer holidays according to a recent report. Published on the BBC website, a tuition firm conducted a poll of over 1,000 parents and discovered the results which many people may find surprising. It’s thought that the reason for increased private tuition over the summer is to try and avoid the so-called ‘summer slump’; students doing little academic work in the summer holidays and performing worse upon returning to school in September than before the start of the holidays.
It’s widely thought that engaging in little or no academic activities over the summer can cause students’ grades to slip. However, the survey showed that around a third of parents gave no thought to how a six week break from school affected students’ grades, or least that the parents assumed there would be no change due to the break. The majority of parents did say that they were planning to undertake some sort of low-cost learning with their children, such as reading books, revising for SATs tests or a little online tuition. The more surprising result though, was that 27% of parents were planning to hire a private tutor over the summer break.
A number of tuition agencies confirmed the results. Explore learning said that the summer holidays are one of its busiest times with 2,600 new members signing up in July of last year, compared to less than 1,000 in the previous month. Holland Park tuition agreed, stating that they had seen an increase in tuition requests from parents with primary school children at this time of year. However, Blue Tutors sees a regular drop in tuition requests over July and August, but that is probably because their clients are primarily focussed on GCSE and A Level tuition.
These results aren’t necessarily seen as good news, and Dr. Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers said that “kids should be kids” and that they should be allowed time to play, which is itself educational. This is difficult to disagree with, but William Stadlen from Holland Park Tuition said that summer help can actually take the stress out of a child’s life, and that a student can see their tutor before going out to play.