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Secondary education

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Original poster

How many A level students have tutors?

32 replies

dingit · 02/03/2017 21:17

Just chatting to Dd, and a significant number of her friends have tutors. One, who got an A for maths in her mock is being tutored as she needs an A star at the tune of £45 an hour.
Just worried I'm missing a trick here?

OP posts:
noblegiraffe · 02/03/2017 23:33

Loads for maths A-level at my school. Don't know about other subjects.

PurpleDaisies · 02/03/2017 23:34

Is your dd struggling?

Freddorika · 02/03/2017 23:35

Mine does. She got a D in her mocks though!

Original poster
dingit · 03/03/2017 06:51

She got CCC in her mocks. Just waiting for the next lot of results. She's predicted AAA! But I'm not confident. She had a maths tutor for AS. Still time to re employ him!

OP posts:
GetAHaircutCarl · 03/03/2017 07:56

Mine don't but I wouldn't hesitate if I thought it would help and the DC wanted one.

OddBoots · 03/03/2017 07:59

I didn't think it would be common as I thought most A Level students would be going off to university so really need those independent learning skills if they are going to manage the workload as well as all the other adaptations they will need to make when leaving home.

Freddorika · 03/03/2017 08:02

HOY was adamant dd didn't need one. Since she's had her tutor her average essay has gone up two grades. I'm happy with that.

Original poster
dingit · 03/03/2017 08:06

Oddboots that's exactly what I said. It may give them their high grades, but will they cope with a demanding university course.
Dd is working very hard, oddly despite her A at AS for chemistry, that is the subject she's struggling in.
She needs AAB for her offer. I want her to go to a good Uni, as I don't see the point of the same amount of debt for a low ranked one.

OP posts:
GetAHaircutCarl · 03/03/2017 08:08

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.

Freddorika · 03/03/2017 08:08

It's nothing like uni Confused

noblegiraffe · 03/03/2017 09:51

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.

dnamummy · 03/03/2017 10:27

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)

BoboChic · 03/03/2017 14:09

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.

Heifer · 03/03/2017 18:29

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...

BackforGood · 03/03/2017 18:54

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

MsAwesomeDragon · 03/03/2017 19:03

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.

noblegiraffe · 03/03/2017 19:49

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.

Bensyster · 03/03/2017 20:06

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*.

MsAwesomeDragon · 03/03/2017 20:27

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.

knittingwithnettles · 03/03/2017 22:47

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...Blush 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?

Littledrummergirl · 03/03/2017 22:51

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.

knittingwithnettles · 03/03/2017 22:53

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.

GRW · 03/03/2017 23:28

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.

GnomeDePlume · 03/03/2017 23:36

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.

Freddorika · 04/03/2017 12:24

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.

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