Absolutely FASCINATING EU report about shadow education (private tutoring)

[Bonsoir]

I cannot recommend this report more highly to anyone interested in the shadow education industry, from whatever perspective:

www.nesse.fr/nesse/activities/reports/activities/reports/the-challenge-of-shadow-education-1

Happy half-term reading [hsmile]

Volumnia, I suppose the alternative to an individualistic approach would be to revive collective institutions that provided education outside of state control. I suppose free schools are the contemporary version of that, but I think they are going to have a very different sort of impact.

I think that collective organisation of learning outside of state control should be in addition to state schooling, and not a replacement of it. But the start of that has to be with large numbers of parents taking responsibility for their children's wider education.

fascinating stuff. As a qualified teacher who does tutoring and who has used tutors for each of my own dcs I consider tutoring a way of plugging the gaps either in my kids' lack of knowledge or in what is available, eg French lessons to get a student in a school with poor MFL dept through A level French or guitar teaching for the boy! I teach students who need extra help because they have SEN or whose schools have decided not to run a subject for A2.

The growth in the market is caused not only by pushy parents but by inadequacies in the state education system. I do fear for the kids though who are spending all the daylight hours at lessons instead of playing in the street/park

"I do fear for the kids though who are spending all the daylight hours at lessons instead of playing in the street/park."

In the French context, with school only occupying 24 hours a week at primary level, I find there is quite lot of time for extra-curricular activities and extensive park playing. Where it is a lot more complicated is later on: DSS1, in his penultimate year of lycée, does up to nine hours of lessons per school day and has lots of homework on top. The tutor has to be really nice and the added value tangible to him, not just us, to keep him motivated for his Saturday English lessons. He has asked for a French tutor, too - GOK when we'll squeeze that one in. And DP does a lot of maths and physics with him (DP likes showing off, so no issues there about squeezing it in at odd times ).

For example, it is now almost impossible to pass the first year of medicine at university in France without enrolling in parallel in a private école préparatoire (a crammer) to get through the exams. The crammer costs many thousands of euros, whereas university costs a few hundred euros. Is it right that only the children of wealthy families should become doctors?

Are you saying that only the wealthy medical students pass the first year exams?

Bonsoir I think you have pin pointed one of the proverbial problems with tutoting/enrichment.

I hear all the time on MN that parents have no concerns about their DC's education because they will simply pay for tutoring and enrichment. I always smile wondering how that one is going to play out with a teenager. Go to school all day and do another two hours with a tutor...

Interesting, I'll try and read it tonight. I suspect this shadow education, if it is really widespread, has a huge income on the school results as reflected in PISA. They might then mirror less the achievement of schools in a particular country as school + or - shadow education

Interesting- so tutoring is a 'parasite' that must be crushed & there's a danger children may cause a problem if they know too much already (according to the report) Some children are tutored every day incidentally. Is the elephant in the room society needs fewer leaders and more followers and a huge rise in tutoring (not just amongst a small group) means a potentially non- sustainable future scenario? The state knows best and tutoring is an evil that should be stopped?

confidence - yes!

Interesting.

I pay £28 a week for DS2 (Y6) to get 1 hour and 20 mins English tutoring as I fear that without help, he will not pass a GCSE when the time comes. He goes to Kip.

Tbh, I am not sure what the quality is like (unlike Bonsoir!) as I am not a teacher and am at a bit of a loss as to why DS2 struggles as neither DH or I did. I should explain I mean 'Because DH and I never encountered difficulty in accessing the state education that was on offer (we both have degrees), we have no insight into what factors cause DS to not be able to 'get it'!'- so we send him to a bloke who we hope will help DS bridge the 'D' to 'C' gap!

I wish he could access the help he needs within school but I recognise that
a) they can't meet all parents 'fears', some of which will be groundless, and
b) They claim DS2 is on track for a 4 in his end of Y6 SATS (though they themselves 'measured' him exactly a year ago and found he scored a 2a in Literacy!- start of Y5!). I say that when they discover he's not going to 'pass', it'll be too late,
c) IF he is 'on track', their standards are not high and
d) He HAS to be able to access English to be able to cope with the secondary curriculum!

If this is 'buying advantage'- bring it on!

The report at a first glance seems to be that something is happening that the EU hasn't regulated, so they don't like it. They also want to see what fiscal advantage they can gain from it (interestingly HMRC have just announced that private tutors are next in their sights).

I'm in Belgium - I am going to be reorganising language tutoring for ds in Dutch over half term until his GCSE next year as I am not convinced that he will get an A next year. His teacher is a very nice lady, but with only 4 in the class, I would be expecting better results than I am seeing so far. Lots of parents both in the UK and here use tutors in Year 10 and 11 as they realise the importance of the grades at GCSE for later life. To an extent, as a teacher, I tutor ds in exam technique, writing to answer the question, looking out for key words and phrases in the questions, and ensuring that the question on the paper is answered, not the one you would like to be there.

I have done a bit of tutoring out here, but for a friend's lass who was struggling with English essays, and it was gratis anyway. I have been asked to provide tutoring for the 11 and 13 plus, but I don't know enough to do it, and frankly, having to set up a business in Belgium isn't worth the hassle.

I used to 'tutor' whilst teaching, in that I ran after school classes on a Tuesday,as part of my extra curricular activities contribution which covered revision, exam technique, how to structure answers, and to go over bits of the syllabus that some had trouble with. These were not just open to my Year 11 classes, but to all the Year 11s. As I examine, some found it useful to know what I would be looking for as an examiner; and also that I had time to go through things with them at a slower pace than we went at in class. In some cases attending that session from after the autumn half term to just before the GCSEs paid off with the increase of one or two grades on top of their predictions, especially for the lower end students. I think the comment in the report that 'tutoring' detracts from teaching if you do both is crap and painting teachers as unprofessional.

In an ideal world, no-one would need tutoring, but they do. Had my Mum paid for a maths tutor to explain it all to me in simple terms, I might have passed my O level; instead I failed it twice and got a CSE and a CEE, (the latter being an O level equivalent, so yes, I am allowed to teach!).

"To an extent, as a teacher, I tutor ds in exam technique, writing to answer the question, looking out for key words and phrases in the questions, and ensuring that the question on the paper is answered, not the one you would like to be there."

Many parents do this as a matter of course (it's part of their parenting style); if they are not themselves available to do so, they may employ a tutor instead. Part of the growth in tutoring is attributed to the fact that parents are not around to supervise children's homework and follow their schoolwork (because of increased work force participation) and therefore outsource that task.

That's called prep or boarding school Bonsoir, and is included in the fees.

I didn't say that parents didn't do it, but was trying to explain that having a particular skill set, ds gets the benefit of it - very useful as it's GCSE year this year. Not every parent has the nous to do the exam technique stuff though, and things have moved on since our day as well. I do it because I'm an examiner and have a fair idea of what is needed. Dh could explain the ins and outs of weaponeering to ds, but could not necessarily break an exam questipon on Julius Caesar down or show ds what is needed in a poetry analysis.

I am not referring to prep or boarding school, but to tutors who come to a child's home after school.

amicissima - it is the proper business of the EU to highlight such issues to governments; the EU does not however make educational policy, which is set at national/regional/local level.

Very interesting, and it answers many questions I've been asking myself recently... my DD is about to start Maths tutoring because most children in the top set in her year are doing it and I don't want her to fall behind. It's a vicious cycle...

It is interesting but tutoring is becoming more and more diverse I am finding. I get kids from the private school in town whose parents do it to keep up with other parents or because they want an extra edge because their child is aiming for Oxbridge or medicine/vet med (I tutor up to A-level chemistry). I have a girl for GCSE maths who has had a terrible teacher for 2 years and as such has fallen behind and lost her confidence. I get quite a few from the local High School who seem to have teachers who don't know the suject well, rely on printed notes and are one page ahead of the kids and last year I had a girl who worked in Asda on a weekend to pay for her own private tuition.

I do find that most tuition is making up for poor state provision which is possibly because of the subjects I teach being those that schools struggle to recruit for. Not sure who it was who said there aren't well qualified teachers in the state sector, I taught 5 years in the state sector with a PhD in chemistry before I went on sabbatical. There are good teachers but there aren't enough to go round.

krituer regarding state school teachers, I am sure there are many excellent ones, but it mut be very difficult in a large lcass of mixed ability to ensure that each and every child is meeting their full potential.

I can see how some pupils will slip through the net and you can't really blame their parents for using tutoring to make up the difference.

That said, I know some parents at DS's absurdly high achieving independent school still use tutors. Whenever I question them about it they mostly admit the absurdity and mutter somehting about confidence.

wordfactory - my DSS1 is in the penultimate year of French lycee, studying for a bac S (maths and sciences concentration), in a super high performing school. He says that half the class is helped at home (as he is, by DP) in one way or another and our general impression is that it is very hard for the (excellent) teacher to get through the syllabus at a pace at which even clever and motivated pupils can manage within the class time allocated. Overloaded curricula have a lot to answer for too.

with mixed ability classes it is really hard to make sure you are genuinely differentiating in terms of both teaching and outcomes, if that makes sense. So trying for all to reach 7c is impossible and trying for each to get their highest possible mark (which could be 5c or 7c) is just as taxing. 28 kids in a class with one teacher is difficult (not impossible but in real life it is hard). So parents ask what they can do and tutoring is an option. I never suggest it but if they say would it help...but I would be uncomfortable being paid by parent to privately tutor a child i teach.

I think it addresses a gap that parents and kids find. We have to have a way of bridging it and tutoring seems to be the way available.

Clearly one-to-one tutoring is able to cater to precise needs of individual children in a way that the most skilled and conscientious teacher of a class of 25/30 is never going to be able to do.

Bonsoir - I meant (and I am aware that you were referring to tutors who either go to a child's home, or the child goes to theirs), that often help with prep is available within the day in prep or boarding schools for no extra charge.

It is not the proper business of the EU to highlight these issues to Governments precisely because they do not make educational policy. They do enough damage with fisheries, light bulbs and 'elf and safety already, we don't need them tinkering in other areas as well.

Do you not think it useful for supranational bodies to analyse societal trends, scaryteacher? Do you think it is better for policymakers to remain ignorant of facts?

I think the EU is a complete waste of time, funds, and energy, and that the fonctionnaires do more harm than good.

The national policymakers can sort themselves out; they aren't stupid. The EU is the Nanny State writ large - those that call it the EUSSR aren't far off the mark.

I don't think tutoring is a 'societal trend' - it's something that has been around for centuries; Elizabeth Tudor's was called Roger Ascham. What has changed is that those who wouldn't traditionally have used tutoring are now doing so, and thinking outside the EU box, which the EU dislikes.

We shall have to beg to differ. EU initiatives, from Erasmus to the Bologna Process, do a great deal of good in opening up education markets.