5th July 2013 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Talks are currently underway between tutoring agencies, schools and research bodies to regulate the tuition industry after mounting concerns that lack of monitoring places pupils at risk. This is very necessary in order to protect students and their parents from unqualified tutors and fraudulent agencies. However, regulation of private tutors will not necessarily protect students from all the problems that can be associated with private tuition. One of the issues raised by schools is the pressure that is being put on children from a young age, by parents who hire private tutors to work with them throughout the week.
This is a serious issue, and one which will not be easily addressed by regulating the industry. Tutors may well not be aware of the amount of tuition that their students receive from other tutors or agencies, and so cannot formulate a tuition plan accordingly. Further, even if tutors are aware that their students are being ‘hot-housed’, it may be difficult for them to express their concerns if they rely on an agency for work. Regulation or no, it will still be up to the individual tutor to come forward to parents and suggest that their approach is damaging, something which can be very difficult, especially for young tutors.
One of the concerns raised by reception school teachers has been that children as young as three years old have been receiving private tuition in preparation for starting school. Some schools require children to take entrance exams for primary level education, and here it is even more likely that children will start tuition at a very young age in order to prepare. Ideally, the tuition industry as a whole would come to a broad agreement of ethics which would include refusing to provide tuition for very young students. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that all agencies would agree to that, especially as the market for it is growing. If the tuition agencies are unable to regulate themselves on this front, it behoves tutors to act professionally, responsibly, and always in the best interests of their students, even if that sometimes means refusing to teach them.