How many A level students have tutors?

My DD did well in GCSE's, but found it much harder to maintain the same level at A level, even though she did work hard. In Chemistry especially the jump from GCSE level was a lot. She is now half way through her Foundation year at uni, and has done well in exams. I do think having a tutor at A level might have helped her to keep up, but I think it's worked out for the best.

Oops. Posted too soon.
DC has a tutor at A level for two reasons : 1) illness meant they went from almost full attendance to missing several weeks of school and
2) the teacher for that subject was completely unable to change his teaching style so anyone who didn't 'get it's with him, was stuffed if they didn't have a tutor.
DCs tutor took the time to find dcs learning style and taught accordingly. As it happened the tutor found that DC worked better if taught in a lecture style. DC felt passed A Level and went to uni. Their subject at uni was strongly related to the tutored subject. DC gained a Masters degree and now teaches. DC has also tutored and has a great success rate.
As long as the need is for reasons other than the student not working or being on a course that they were never equipped for ( maths/science grade c at gcse attempting a level maths, physics etc) then a tutor can be very helpful.

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Bog standard comp - all of high achieving students tutored in Biology - the syllabus was barely finished in time -22 pupils per class

• i honestly think it would have been very hard to get an A in this situation without a tutor

They still have to work hard, the tutor does not do the work for them.

Freddorika do you have a concern about your DD's specific needs not being met by her school or is this just something you feel is necessary for decent grades?

GRW I think your daughter is a very good example of what my friend calls knowing that everything you do is through your own efforts. I think it is much better to do a Foundation and feel that you have developed your skillset through your own trial and error rather than at the pace set by traditional A Level followed by Uni, which might not suit the rate at which some kids develop. I think in a lot of cases it is fear, and the belt and braces attitude to the A/A* level of achievement, the terror of a tiny chink of understanding not being plugged by a tutor's intervention. Unless someone is failing very badly, and my son certainly was not getting above D, in most cases he was E or U, I think there is a sort of hysteria around the top grades which doesn't do the child any services.

I was just talking to someone who was worried her child was going to get all A at Gsce and had hired a tutor to make sure of some of the more dicey subjects. That to me is piling the pressure on the child, as if it is disaster if they don't get As for everything? How can it be? And then it is a kind of race to the top, with everyone feeling like they have failed if they don't get absolutely brilliant grades. And the child is left wondering if they really got those grades at all, or without the tutor would they be able to manage anything?

I feel very conflicted about this. At least at the moment ds looks at his mediocre GSCE grades and thinks...I did that, because I didn't work hard enough, but I am still capable of something, off my own bat.

I fully intend to get dd3 at tutor when she starts secondary and keep it up as long as necessary. Essay writing techniques and maths.

Not happening at DD's school but we are definitely in a low income area. However I can see how it would benefit if a student lacks exam technique or is struggling with a particular topic.

My DD didn't have a tutor, and I knew she was struggling to meet her predicted grades, so I offered to get one for her but she didn't want it. She was at a grammar school and doing sciences. She ended up getting lower A level grades than she needed, but got into her first choice university with a foundation year. The tutor might have been a better investment than an extra year at uni, but she is very happy so that's the main thing.

Some parents are able to tutor their children. Some schools have smaller A level groups. Some children start from a baseline of acquired skills/better teaching earlier on. I don't think it is just about independent study. A tutor helps your child to study independently when they didn't know how to, they are not doing the work for them in the sense of writing their essays for them. But I wouldn't do it unless we had our backs against the wall. It doesn't feel right.

Ds1 (yr12) doesnt. We can't afford it so he will just have to communicate any difficulties effectively to his teachers so that they can support him.

Ds started off with no tutors and he had had no tutors at GSCE (which I now freely admit was a mistake) His confidence was pretty low and he began to flounder across the board. First I employed a music graduate to tutor him in theory (he didn't have requisite theory for A level) and then the tutor gave him some skills for composition. I don't think these things would have ever come independently in the time ds had to pick them up (ie six weeks)

Then he started to bomb English because he couldn't write a proper A level essay. Thirty in the class. Again in desperation I employed a tutor, another young graduate. Completely turned around his motivation and interest in the subject, as well as his essay writing skills.

I only wish I had also employed a Drama Tutor because he had to leave the drama course due to lack of skills... and an administrative cockup

Looking for a business tutor as we speak..another class with 30 in it. How are the poor teachers expected to give support to each and every struggling student if they have 30 students in the class?

Yes noble I'm sure it is more common in y13. Just like it's pretty common in y11 as they realise how much of the GCSE they don't know because they messed about too much in y10. Tbh I'd quite like some of mine to get tutors in y13, so I can get some of my frees back to do marking and planning.

I think it's pretty common around here. One of my friends is a Math tutor and she helps lots of A students become A*.

It's not as common at Y12 as Y13. Kids who bumbled along happily in Y12 then get really stressed about getting high grades when they start the UCAS process. Kids who messed up in Y12 because they didn't take it seriously enough then get tutors to help them through resits.

It's definitely more common than it used to be.

None of my y12 class have tutors. Any help they need they get from me, coming to speak to me at lunchtime, after school and in study periods (most of them share at least one free with me).

I teach maths, I don't know how many have tutors in other subjects. If it helps, it helps. As a parent, if you can afford it then you will pay to help give your child the best chance you can.

Don't forget MN doesn't reflect the whole population of A level students

It seems to the norm here on the Wirral. I see lots of girls in our hockey club, and I don't know any in the last couple of years that gained A or A* grade @ Alevel who weren't tutored. These are a mixture of Grammar school and non selective academies. Even the private school kids seem to have a tutor - image paying twice!

Just goes to show how ridiculous the league tables are really, school gets the credit for the high grades when in fact a lot are tutored...

Tutoring school children is a fact of life across the world. "Shadow education" (the technical term for out of classroom support paid for by parents) is a huge, but still largely fragmented, global industry.

DS doing AS's at moment and we've got him a tutor for maths and physics as he was losing confidence and think that's critical at this stage - will keep it up through AS's and onto A's if he thinks it's helping. Hoping if we keep up through summer holidays it will stop his brain completely shutting down as it usually does! For info we pay £70 per week for a 2 hour session that DS and tutor decide how to split between the 2 subjects each week (East Midlands)

We lost teaching hours when sixth form funding was cut, and class sizes have gone up too.

In addition, I've seen more and more of what we do at GCSE hitting sixth form too. Intervention for those not meeting targets, constant monitoring and chasing. Lots more pressure on kids. They don't know how to study because they weren't taught to at GCSE, hence more tutoring.

It's nothing like uni

odd sixth form funding has been slashed. Many students are trying to get very high grades from minimal teaching hours.

In addition, to get top grades at A level, you need to hit the sweet notes of the marking scheme.

It's not like study at university at all.