4th March 2016 1:00
By Blue Tutors
Education charity The Sutton Trust has recently raised concerns over social mobility, pointing out that prestigious professions such as politics and law are dominated by privately educated graduates, while British film stars are also likely to have been privately educated. The trust said that a child’s chances of reaching the top are still overwhelmingly determined by their schooling and contacts. A research fellow at the trust Dr Philip Kirby pointed out that private education not only advantages students in terms of academic results, but also provides them with essential social skills such as confidence and articulacy in addition to a social network which can help support them in their careers. The focus on the non-academic advantages provided by private education is an interesting development, and leads us to ask whether private tuition can offer the same advantages as private schooling.
The majority of parents who hire private tutors do so because they want to ensure that their children keep up academically and ensure that they get the best exam results that they can. This is evidenced by the fact that many tuition requests come in six months to a year before GCSE and A level exams, and specifically request help with exam revision and preparation. However, what many parents may not consider is the non-academic, social benefits of hiring a tutor. Dr Kirby of the Sutton Trust makes an excellent point that less tangible skills such as confidence and articulacy can make an enormous difference to children’s futures. So is it possible to get this from a tutor where it isn’t available at school?
The short answer is usually yes. When hiring a tutor – especially a tutor who is a graduate of a top university – parents are not only providing their children with academic help, but with access to an individual who most likely has enhanced social and conversational skills. The benefits of this are hard to quantify. Having the opportunity to converse in depth about academic and social issues with a tutor can be a profound advantage to students, providing them with the chance to enhance their social skills and gain confidence in putting forward their views. This is the element that is often missing in state schools in which class sizes are much larger; students are rarely afforded a platform to discuss their own opinions and develop an argument. Whilst private schooling may provide a number of opportunities for this kind of development both inside and outside the classroom, an hour or so a week with a dedicated private tutor can certainly help students develop these vital skills.