Daftar Isi :
A
recent survey
According to research from the education-focused charitable organization Sutton Trust, 21 percent of students taking their GCSE exams are receiving extra private tuition, up from only 10 percent ten years earlier.
What surprised me, being a parent of three kids who have taken important exams in the last five years, is that this percentage isn’t even higher. Based on an informal poll I conducted with my acquaintances, it appears to be nearly universal among them—about 100%. Some of these parents are already spending more than £20,000 annually on education.
private schools
do not remain untouched; rather, they add resources wherever necessary, particularly in the field of science – an area where even the priciest schools often face challenges in finding qualified educators.
However, it’s the students in state schools who are spending the most, resulting in what the
Spectator
referred to as the “state-private student”– someone who typically attends a public school yet receives substantial additional tutoring, causing expenses to rise significantly
private-school territory
One of my friend’s sons experienced such immense anxiety leading up to his A-level exams that his parents hired a separate tutor for each subject, along with a therapist and a personal trainer. They estimated their weekly expenses to be close to £500 as a result.
Helpful tips to manage panic buying for our kids
I understand this situation well since I’m also one of those parents. My second child is set to start their A-level exams this month, even though they’re quite capable and attend a highly regarded school. Despite having both a math tutor visiting our home and several online history tutoring sessions, whenever my daughter complains about knowing absolutely nothing, failing miserably, and facing a future without employment, rather than just nodding along absently like my own mother might have, I rush over to my computer hoping to find experts who can quickly help achieve the grades necessary for her college applications. Although I avoided such measures during GCSEs, somehow the high stakes associated with A-levels make me frantically seek out enthusiastic recent graduates alongside seasoned educators to bolster her understanding.
It begins in primary school, with those involved
11+ areas getting help
Starting from Year 5, numerous parents ensure their kids achieve high scores on their SATs—exams administered at the conclusion of primary school—to secure spots in advanced classes during secondary education. As a mother of three girls and an educator herself, Anna arranged for one of her daughters to receive tutoring as early as Year 2. “When my oldest child struggled with adding simple numbers at age seven, I felt shocked and embarrassed that this issue had gone unnoticed until then,” she recounted. This pattern persisted through secondary schooling, primarily concerning science subjects. Her brother once enquired about her daughter’s progress in GCSE Physics; however, her daughter disclosed that they lacked a consistent instructor over the entire semester, instead having substitute teachers filling in.
Each of her three daughters has received supplementary instruction at certain points, though she hasn’t calculated precisely, she estimates the overall expense runs well into several thousand dollars.
A different parent, whose oldest kid is merely eight years old, does not aspire for a competitive high school. Instead, this parent simply wishes their child to build confidence and have an enjoyable schooling experience. “It seems like she gets overlooked quite often,” the parent comments, “and when she faces difficulties, she doesn’t receive personalized assistance.” They add, “I really want her to gain self-assurance in math—something I always lacked myself.”
Carrie, a writer based in London, mentions that she has utilized these services for dual purposes. “Firstly, to help underperforming children pass their examinations, and secondly, to enable those who excel in certain subjects to achieve even better grades. Essentially, this serves both as a means of survival and as a way to further advance.”
The support doesn’t cease once school ends either. A friend discovered she had to arrange a math tutor for her son during their Christmas ski vacation because he mentioned feeling anxious about potentially failing calculus as a first-year student at one of the top universities in the UK.
The crisis in education
This resonates with Sammy Wright, who heads a school and is also an author.
Exam Nation
, which focuses on finding solutions to the crisis in UK education. “We’re seeing a significant rise in the utilization of tutoring services—whenever I speak with parents, the topic inevitably arises: ‘Should we hire a tutor?’ This has now become an integral part of our educational vernacular.”
Certainly! Here’s your revised sentence:
Of course, there have always been tutors like Laurence Colin, who has been
tutoring
He has been teaching physics and math for over ten years and jokingly likens himself to “someone from a Jane Austen novel”– yet there are fresh factors that have accelerated the surge in their usage.
Initially, we have the extensively recorded struggles
state education
Regardless of whether it’s accurate or not, numerous parents believe their child gets overlooked in bustling classrooms where extra focus could be directed towards students with higher support requirements. In the UK, class sizes typically consist of around 27 students as opposed to the OECD average of 21. Educational funding constraints between 2010 and 2019 were exacerbated by the pandemic, coinciding with an increase in the proportion of children receiving special educational needs (SEN) diagnoses up to 18%, all without a proportional boost in available resources.
This influenced Anna’s perspective. “I firmly believe that with proper instruction, my kids can be at least A-students,” she states. “If this doesn’t happen, the fault lies with the teaching methods. In big classrooms where instructors frequently leave (which makes sense), these students might not receive the quality of education they truly merit.”
Many people also calculate just how much cheaper tutoring can be compared to private schooling. “If you enroll your children in public schools, you don’t feel bad about supplementing their education with tutors when needed,” explains Bea, a lawyer who has hired tutors intermittently over the last fifteen years.
How tutoring became mainstream
Furthermore, there’s the convenience akin to ordering from Deliveroo when booking tutors online. “Covid-19 has truly transformed tutoring,” explains Carrie. “Previously, finding a tutor required local referrals and they needed to reside close enough to travel to your home. Post-pandemic, one can now connect with highly skilled individuals regardless of their location within the country.”
She observed that the standard of offerings had improved significantly, allowing her to be quite specific with requests. “You can obtain precisely what you desire—whether it’s a single tutoring session focused on a particular area of physics or covering the entire math curriculum over six months. I managed to find a tutor who used to lead Business Studies at a leading school, and she conducted such effective online sessions onZoom that my child advanced by four grade levels.”
Frances Campbell from the tutoring company, MyTutor, acknowledges that the pandemic has reshaped the scene: “It’s far simpler and more precise nowadays compared to relying solely on personal referrals and finding someone nearby.”
The pandemic elevated the status of tutoring in yet another manner. The Department of Education’s recovery assistance program recognized individualized instruction as one of the most efficient applications of resources to aid those who experienced significant educational setbacks. This led to the implementation of the National Tutoring Program between 2020 and 2024 aimed at achieving precisely this objective. “This has turned it into something far more commonplace,” notes Sammy Wright. “By providing funding initially, implementing these programs, and subsequently withdrawing financial backing, we now find ourselves in an environment where unregulated activity within the private sector dominates.”
A significant number of tutors hired by parents continue to be employed by the government to supplement the education provided by schools. According to Laurence Colin, a tutor himself, out of the 45 teaching hours per week, 15 hours are arranged through his local council in North London for individual sessions targeting students absent from school due to various issues. Sammy Wright believes that tutoring conducted inside schools proves most beneficial when utilized for funding smaller class sizes; his institution adopted this approach via their Tutoring Program.
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The educator has the opportunity to converse with the mentor and determine what would be most beneficial for the student, as well as pinpoint areas of weakness. If not done properly, you might encounter an unhealthy situation where the teacher conveys certain concepts, but then the tutor excessively assists the child. This leads to the pupil returning their completed tasks to the teacher who assumes everything is understood when actually it isn’t; meanwhile, both educators may find themselves conflicted over different approaches.
Even though there’s a risk of mixing up lessons learned in school with those taught at home, Carl Cullinane—director of research and policy at the Sutton Trust—states that this approach has “some of the strongest evidence supporting its effectiveness in enhancing academic achievement.” To put it simply, for numerous students, it proves beneficial.
I hired a politics tutor for my daughter throughout her entire Year 13,” explains Anna, “the tutor was thoroughly familiar with the examination board’s content and helped elevate her grade from an A/B to achieving an A* in the final examinations.
This seems accurate even with numerous free online resources readily accessible.
My primary objective,” states Laurence Colin, “is not actually about teaching the topic since there are excellent videos that show you how to solve each math problem. Instead, it’s mainly about being someone who keeps students responsible and helping them understand how to study effectively and tackle exams.
I asked my daughter about her experience with tutoring sessions. She said, “There’s a lot to gain from these sessions, particularly because they help you find techniques that work best for you, something that can be harder to achieve when learning randomly from someone on YouTube.”
The increasing disparity in educational opportunities
Considering its efficacy and costs ranging from £30 to £70 per hour, could the increase in private tutoring, as suggested by Carl Cullinane from the Sutton Trust, worsen the disparities that already exist within the education system?
This concerns Sammy Wright, a member of the Government’s Social Mobility Commission, who thinks it is linked to a broader problem that he explores in his book.
He contends that education systems are organized based on middle-class standards and parental expectations, involving significant involvement from parents alongside school inputs. Consequently, this setup exacerbates the disparity between economically disadvantaged students and their better-off peers each passing year. Essentially, tutoring serves as an extra resource that wealthier families can afford, becoming increasingly critical for educational institutions.
I inquire of Carrie whether she experiences guilt over hiring assistance that many cannot afford.
No, definitely not. The entire educational system is absurd and forces parents into equally absurd behavior—it places excessive importance on exams and solely emphasizes academic achievement without offering alternative pathways.
What concerns her more, and something I also worry about, is that we’re disempowering our kids. She thinks that “giving them the idea that they cannot accomplish anything without an ‘expert’ nearby could be detrimental.” At some stage, they must learn to manage things independently; otherwise, how will they secure employment? Where should this stop? After their GCSEs, A levels, or perhaps only after completing a PhD?”
What is the number of students who have a tutor?
- Thirty percent of individuals aged between 11 and 16 say they have undergone private tutoring at some point, an increase from 27 percent before the pandemic. [Source: Sutton Trust, 2023]
- The private tutoring sector in the UK is valued at approximately £7.5 billion, indicating considerable expansion within this field [The Times, 2025].
- The highest demand for tutoring is seen in locations such as London, Surrey, the West Midlands, Kent, and Essex [Source: First Tutors, 2023].
- In 2019, the Tutors’ Association approximated that up to 100,000 private tutors were operating in the UK.
- Before the pandemic, it was estimated that almost half of the teachers (around 200,000) in the UK had previously tutored or were still tutoring. [Sutton Trust, 2019 source]