Stupid question time - Do tutors make a difference?

[EWeatherwax]

We have lots of tutored kids around us - some are very expensive.

Do they make a significant difference. Some kids here start at 6/7 for an hour a week ?

Would like teachers views as well as parents if possible - ie as teacher can you tell?

Sorry some of the tutors are very expensive - not the kids

Do you mean tutoring for an exam or tutoring to bring up to the average for the child's age?Lots of kids round my way are tutored for the 11plus the entrance score is so high a child would not stand a chance of a local grammar school place without it.
My DD has a tutor for French. She was doing fine at school, she just found the curriculum a bit limiting.
6 extra hours tuition a week is ridiculous, a child would be exhausted.

Sorry my very unclear posting style - they start at 6 or 7 years old for an hour a week -etc also do 4 or 5 after school activities.
weird rural area as very diverse intake some go on to private at 11 as bus to next town some are very deprived local income rural families

We are sort of in the middle

I'm trying to find a balance but also don't want dd left behind

That should say low income - need to come back when not trying to do too many other things

IMO a tutor once a week is not enough to really help a kid get better, say at maths. Its different for older children. I do a bit of A level tuition (history and Politics) and at that level I can give lots of guidance to a student once a week but really I am relying on the student to put that into practice in their own time.
But if you mean tuition to help a younger child with maths etc then my experience from dd1 is that really once a week just isn't anything like enough. They need little and often. To improve at a skill you need lots of practice. So if a parent looks on tuition as the solution I think they need to think carefully.

Depends what you want at secondary level. If you're going private then you might want one to pass the dntrance test but I know nothing about this. If state then I don't see why there would be a need. Is she doing ok at present school? Does she have any SEN that would warrant extra support? Is it just because 'everyone else does it'?

Not sure re private or not yet - will decide probably in yr 5 - lots of changes going on with local high schools so adopting a wait an see policy. Hence don't want her to get ''left'' behind if tutoring makes such a big difference.

She has slight dyspraxia but no real SEN

It depends why the tutoring is needed.

I've tutored children for entrance exams and what I'm being paid fir there is to go through and explain the questions found on papers but fir that to be worth it the child gets set additional work between sessions. I've also tutored struggling children who just sometimes need things explained a different way so it clicks or some extra focused practice. I do set them weekly exercises and drills but sometimes just a bit of one-one dialogue is enough to help them understand and once they've understood they're back on an equal footing.

It's possible to tell a tutored child though, especially a badly tutored one. In maths they number crunch what's been drilled into them, in other subjects they lack a certain spark - they know their stuff but for a tutored child that's often where it stops.

For your average non-struggling, non-SEN child extra subject tuition is no more than doing lots more Bond assessment papers. For a child who struggles to understand a specific subject the way it's taught at school (often kinaesthetic learners in maths IME) tutoring helps it click and for an SEN child who isn't supported tutoring helps provide them with strategies for coping on their own and ways of attacking the problem.

At the other end if the spectrum a very bright child shouldn't need subject tutoring but might need exam technique. Extra-curricular academics like Latin/an MFL or something else not taught in schools are better because it stretches them in a different way and gives them the additional knowledge they crave without sending them whooshing through the curriculum and ending up bored at school.

That said if every child is effectively doing an hours extra school a week with a tutor that standard becomes the norm and even an above-average child in terms of natural intelligence will fall behind because school will move faster, leaving the consolidation to the tutors, and the untutored children miss out.

I hope that makes sense. I think my overall answer is yes, you can tell and yes, it can be worth it but it's not necessarily a must or a desirable thing. Parental input on a daily basis beats an hour of tuition hands down.

Thanks does make it much clearer - Think we will just carry on doing home stuff and education city then maybe tutor for yr 5/6 if we decide on private or she is not doing well as she seams average at the moment which is fine by me lol

I had some specialist tutoring for my A levels as school was a bit rubbish and it made a huge difference.

"IMO a tutor once a week is not enough to really help a kid get better, say at maths."

I'd totally disagree with this and have many students who are living proof that they can improve dramatically in an hour a week. This includes children as young as 6 or 7. Tutoring needs to be well structured and tailored to the child's age/stage (and fun!) but it can make a big difference and at its best is a far cry from just going through papers and explaining questions (though of course for some children it may include this). I don't set much homework for younger children. Usually just some sort of reading/phonics practice if this is what they are learning with me or something like learning a times table or maybe just one worksheet to consolidate a concept in Maths.

I do agree though that the more a parent gets involved, the faster children tend to make progress, but I have had students where the parent is too scared/unskilled in Maths to be of much support but the child has still made good progress.

A tutor once told me that an hour one to one tutoring is worth a month of maths at school.

They focus on the individual needs, no distractions and it usually improves confidence to the extend that a child is remotivated.

We did it for one term but it was too expensive, but it worked for one of my kids.

As someone else said, it depends on the reasoning.

I have just been reading about reading recovery and am impressed that 20 hours of very specific tuition can be so successful. Has made me think it may be worth it if she shows any ''problem'' areas. Thanks for everyone's input

Would be interested is any one else thinks an hours 1-2 is worth a month of school.

arh 1-2-1

I do think one to one can be much more valuable than what is done in school although thats partly because I've had some very bad luck in terms of the quality of the teaching my dds have received at school. I'm absolutely sure the tutors who have posted here do a very good job and add lots of value but there are so many variables - finding a good tutor for a start. At secondary level I come across people that do the tutoring to make money, first and foremost and take on jobs they really don't have the experience to do well. I've turned down work a few times and the agency have been impatient when I have said that I don't have the requisite experience to do a good job (or not without hours of preparation for each session.) What I'm saying really is 'if you want to make sure a job is done well then do it yourself'. An hour a week of focused time one on one may be a good idea. I considered getting dd1 a tutor for maths when I realised how behind she was getting at her infant school to get into the local independent I wanted to send her to at junior level. However, when I look back at what we were able to achieve at home by practicing most days there is no comparison.

Hmm I think I sound like Im saying don't ever consult the experts, I don't mean that. However, i do think that most primary level learning is of skills that require lots of practice to get better so to really make a difference you end up having to do stuff (your own work or what a tutor has set) at home to really make progress. (Exam technique or help over a particular hurdle is a different issue.)

My DS was tutored for half an hour a week from year 3 to end year 6 in literacy because he was struggling and it made a huge difference. Half an hour was tutors idea, not ours (I was expecting an hour), she was a very experienced primary teacher who specialised in tutoring. She said that was quite enough and she was right. She had a knack of making it fun and he looked forward to the lessons (I would not have been able to achieve this result....). He also did Toe by Toe reading scheme at school which also helped. As a result of both he moved from the bottom set in the class to above average and got a good grade in his SATS. More importantly, it boosted his confidence as other posters said. We also did the same for my DD in year 6 to boost her confidence in maths, as she didn't think she was good at it. I would only do for a child who needs extra help, extra confidence or for entrance exams.

1-1 help obviously makes a huge difference - but there's no guarantee that a tutor wil be able to make that difference. You can always experiment, but be prepared to get rid of any tutor where the goals and progression are not clear from very early on - I wasted £30 X 3 on an 11+ tutor (who'd been recommended) - she was rubbish. I agree with the comments above about tutorial agencies - they're out for a quick buck and don't really care if the tutor is competent - I know because many years ago they offered me work to teach things that in all honesty I wasn't up to teaching.

That's not to say that all tutors are bad and I'm sure there are some very good ones - just that it's hit and miss whether you find one. And recommendations are not necessarily reliable either.

I'd say, if you're up to it - do it yourself. No-one else knows your child better than you do, and you'll save time on discovering their level, as well as money, obviously. You can make huge progress - my DD went from a 4C to a 5A in maths in about 3 months, well in advance of expectations - but more importantly, it really builds up a parent-child relationship, in a way that getting a tutor won't.

Children do appreciate the quality time spent with parents. And it's a great way to demonstrate that you value education.

Only negative - it does eat into family time.

So horses for courses, I suppose.

Thats exactly it siverstreet.The tutoring was accompanied by lots of very relevant literacy practice using toe by toe. That sort of phonic practice really should make a big difference to literacy. BTW she sounds like a great tutor!