Friday, June 26, 2009
Private tuition more popular than ever in England
One in five secondary school students in England are using a private tutor to help with their studies.
The educational charity, The Sutton Trust, commissioned Ipsos Mori to research the use of Private Tutors by secondary school students in England.
Across England 22% of those surveyed had used a private tutor since they started school.
In London the percentage doubled with nearly half (43%) of all those polled using a Private Tutor. This compared with 11% in Yorkshire and The Humber.
The figures were up from the last time the poll was conducted in 2005 when across England 18% had used a tutor and 36% in London.
The Sutton Trust responded to the results by saying the growth of the use of private tutors shows the gap is widening between the educational opportunities and achievements of the rich and poor in England. Private Tutors are an expensive extra, costing between £15 and £40 an hour.
Sir Peter Lampl, Chair of the trust said the results were "staggering". "The danger is that this boom in paid-for tutoring will widen the gap between the 'haves' and 'have-nots'. We already know that better-off parents are more likely to access private schools and to monopolise the highest-performing state schools. With fees of £30 an hour or more [for private tutors], this is simply not an option for many families."
Just as we are going to publish, the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown has announced that as part of the government's draft legislative plans for the next year, some learners in both Primary and Secondary schools in England will be entitled to Private Tuition paid for by the state under a new scheme.