23rd October 2015 1:00
By Blue Tutors
Thousands of children across the country have recently taken the 11+ exam to determine who will win places at grammar schools across the country. For many years now it has been common for parents to hire tutors to help their children prepare for 11+ exams. This tuition can include general help boosting literacy and numeracy skills, but also practice exams and intensive test preparation. A recent survey showed that parents are now spending up to £5,000 per child on tuition to prepare for the exam. The response from schools to this has been clear – they don’t want parents to have their child tutored for exams. But should parents feel obliged to take school advice?
Many grammar schools have issued warnings to parents about tuition for exams, ranging from advice that private tutors are a waste of money when it comes to exams, to warnings that tutors may hinder their child’s chances of doing well at exams, or even damage their development. It is usually more productive if parents and schools have a good relationship, and obviously desirable that parents should feel confident in their child’s school. However, as a recent survey showed, parents are not willing to listen to school advice when it comes to private tutors. Understandably, parents are willing to do whatever it takes to get their children into the best schools. So is private tuition actually of benefit for students taking the 11+ or are parents working on false assumptions?
The answer to that is, as with all private tuition, it depends on the tutor. A tutor who understands a child’s needs and works with them at an appropriate level and an appropriate pace on literacy and numeracy will surely be a benefit to the child, in both exams and in their general school work. Conversely, a tutor who prepares children for exams by rote learning is likely to do them a disservice, especially with new so-called “tutor proof” exams that change their content frequently in order to thwart preparation by memorisation. Rather than telling parents not to use tutors, schools would do better to advise parents on the best kinds of preparation, in order to ensure that parents can do the best for their children.