Tutoring very young children

[Spiceup]

My local FB quite often has requests for tutors for children in yrs1-4 (and older, but I'm writing about the little ones).

No one ever says "don't be ridiculous, you don't need it, let them enjoy being a child", there are always plenty of recommendations and people offering to do the work.

Is it really necessary or beneficial to tutor such young children? What do schools/teachers make of it?

I know someone who tutored very young children for a while. She didn't really agree with it but decided it was preferable that she, an experienced Early Years teacher did it than someone who was going to give them loads of worksheets. She played practical maths games and read books together.

I don't see a problem with it, in most cases the tutor is probably hired to help a child catch up in an area they're behind in or struggling with, and rather than putting extra pressure on them, might actually relieve stress that they might be feeling about that subject.

Even very young children compare themselves to their peers and understand when they're struggling with something, and having some help from a tutor to get up to speed would actually help them feel happier about it when they're at school!

Don't forget children who are learning English as a second language too. They also need extra help to reach their full potential.

@Ozanj Was looking forward to hearing from you how the working class families are managing to pay for expensive tutors to keep up with the middle class families.

[quote Placido]@Ozanj
I am sorry you are talking total nonsense. Have a chat to a professional who supports the mental health of these children and you will find that both ends of the spectrum are suffering - those who have expectations put on them by overly ambitious parents and those who have no support at home. There is a middle way, and that is to support and be interested without putting on huge amounts of pressure or over tutoring to get in to a school beyond a child's natural ability. There is a terrible epidemic of mental health in selective schools, and it is down to pressure from the schools and from the parents.[/quote]
I think you need to bog off and understand that people have Idifferent experiences to you. I work in early years childcare and am involved in many different initiatives, working in partnerships with state and private schools on how to improve resilience and parental involvement / engagement, as routes to improved mental health.

I work in a part of the country where there are significant working class immigrant populations sending their kids to grammars and private selective schools and they tend to have malleable views of intelligence (that it can be improved) which is known to be associated with greater resilience. Yet the profile of the children who most often experience MH issues significantly enough to need referral is white, middle to upper middle class, with parents who think it should all come naturally and have extremely fixed views of intelligence & these kids are more likely to associate failing an exam or needing tutoring as a sign of personal failure. They are also less likely to receive tutoring until they desperately need it.

Even very young children compare themselves to their peers and understand when they're struggling with something, and having some help from a tutor to get up to speed would actually help them feel happier about it when they're at school!

Or (unless an actual special need has been identified), they could learn that everyone is different, we have strengths and weaknesses, we learn at different paces or in different ways.

People should not need to pay tutors to enable young children to feel happy about themselves.

[quote Placido]@Ozanj Was looking forward to hearing from you how the working class families are managing to pay for expensive tutors to keep up with the middle class families.[/quote]
By spending their last pennies & viewing education as an investment on the same level as monetary investments. In many parts of London it’s often working class black parents who prioritise private education because poorly performing state schools perform even worse for black kids & when you consider a failure to address gang culture either in or immediately outside the school it’s considered better value to go private either in the UK or outside. Just from personal experience I know hundreds of African and Indian / Pakistani / Bangladeshi children who have been sent back to their home countries by parents terrified they will get stabbed. In these countries the default is selective education. They then return to attend university here or the states .

@Ozanj
I respect your professional view, but I asked you how working class families (of any background) are paying for tutors (which you said they needed as they don't have the skills to tutor at home) especially in a place like London where tutors are £££££.
Also I am sorry but I have to really disagree about the white middle class/upper class families not tutoring their children (and them ending up in therapy)- this is so far from the truth as to be misguided. They are often massively over tutored (and pushed hard in sports and other extra curricular which is another thread) and can end up in educational establishments that they are unsuited for, and with parental expectation and school pressure /threat of managing out, their mental health implodes. I see it time and time again. These particular parents don't seem to believe intelligence only comes naturally, they do seem to believe it can be banged in to shape by rigorous tutoring to get in to high profile schools, disregarding their child's aptitude for dealing with stress or the fact that they might just be, you know, happier in a less high functioning environment.

@Ozanj Our posts must have crossed in the Cloud, will read yours now, thanks for answering mine, really interesting to read - I really respect the fact these families are giving up so much of their income to helping with education. But many, many, many of the working class families in London can't even pay their bills let alone pay for tuition so I think you are really talking about a teeny minority who can square up to middle class over tutoring (not who want to.)

@TheOrigRights People should not need to pay tutors to enable young children to feel happy about themselves.

I agree, but I didn't mean it that way - I'm not saying their entire happiness hinges on their academic success, just that being able to master a subject they were previously struggling with might be a positive thing in the child's life, and add to their overall happiness.

I just think that viewing tutoring as "extra pressure". might be a bit of a simplistic way of looking at it. Plenty of kids do music or sports classes outside of school, in addition to already doing P.E. and music at school. And that can be extra pressure when parents force it, but plenty of kids enjoy it. I don't see extra literacy or maths being that different. Obviously if the kid hates it then that's different. But I assume any good tutor who works with primary age children should know how to make it just as fun and engaging for the kid as a sport or music lesson would be.

I just think that viewing tutoring as "extra pressure". might be a bit of a simplistic way of looking at it.

I agree with this. Especially when it comes to children who are genuinely struggling at school. Tutoring then is the exact opposite of putting more pressure on. It’s giving the child the extra time, space and personal attention that they need to learn the same things that their classmates are learning, which should lead to them feeling less pressured and stressed at school. I’ve seen tutoring have a very positive impact on children’s confidence in the classroom.

Yes. Tuition is one to one support. Exactly what people would love schools to offer if needed. How does this suddenly become damaging when said teacher offers the service out of school hours. Support is support.

That said, I don't think tuition taking the place of real parental involvement and support is limitless in what it can achieve.

Ozani

“By spending their last pennies & viewing education as an investment on the same level as monetary investments.”

From my experience, Westerners generally regard tutoring as helping their children, but many ethnic minorities regard tutoring as helping their children and their future generations. When one thinks of it on a multigenerational basis it becomes easier to cost justify the expense.

My seven year old has a tutor. Just an hour a week for maths. She’s very bright, but in a small school and her cohort just happens to be on the weak side (and the school crap at differentiation!) and whilst we feel we can support her literacy extension, we don’t feel capable of teaching the maths curriculum. She loves it - if she didn’t, we’d stop. But she absolutely loves learning! Much as another child might love Brownies or ballet…

Surely it matters how it is done and how the parents view the tutoring.

If tutoring that gives their child extra practice in a fun engaging way it’s great. Kids can learn different methods and that working at something can improve their skill - whatever their starting point.

However parents think that tutoring will deliver X result and blame their child for not reaching parents’ expectations despite them ‘paying for tutoring’ can do a lot of damage to the child.

Unfortunately for some ethnic minorities the latter can be the case (I am from a family where that happened). However the emphasis on working at something and trying hard outside school is positive (just that you have to appreciate the child’s effort, even if they don’t perform ‘according to expectations’).