| Private tuition is booming in the UK at all levels. From | | | | While 'the more time, the better' is a key principle of |
| primary school students facing their 11+ exams, to | | | | private tuition, the question of timing is of course |
| secondary and sixth form students needing extra | | | | related to the academic situation. Tutoring situations |
| help or seeking a boost for university entrance, | | | | vary as widely as family situations do, and some lend |
| parents looking to give their children an edge are | | | | themselves particularly well to full-time tuition. |
| turning to private tuition in ever increasing numbers. | | | | Full-time tuition with a skilled and highly qualified |
| When should a private tutor be hired? | | | | private tutor represents either a replacement for, or |
| Despite this, there is a serious-even decisive-question | | | | major addition to, school education, and is carried on |
| that almost always goes overlooked: At what point | | | | full-time at home over an extended period, usually at |
| should a tutor be hired? It is amazing that this | | | | least a year. |
| question doesn't get the attention it deserves since, | | | | Real-life examples of full-time private tutoring |
| like any aspect of a good education, the decision to | | | | Consider the following real-life examples from around |
| hire a tutor should be the product of long-term | | | | the world, where full-time private tutoring was |
| thinking and careful planning. | | | | obviously the most appropriate option. |
| In some ways, the question of when to hire a tutor | | | | A family took a year out of their regular lives to |
| is akin to the difference between fire-fighting and fire | | | | sail around the world on their private yacht. They |
| prevention. No matter how good the emergency | | | | required two tutors to accompany them on their |
| services may be, fire prevention is far and away the | | | | journey so that their children could maintain their |
| preferable option. Similarly, although a good tutor can | | | | educational progress to standards that would allow |
| make a difference whatever the circumstances, | | | | entrance to top London private schools. |
| seeking private tuition once a problem has already | | | | The child of a family in the Middle East had a |
| manifested or deadlines have approached is just not | | | | teenage son with serious learning difficulties. They |
| as good as establishing a relationship with a tutor long | | | | required a highly skilled tutor who was experienced |
| before the pinch point. | | | | and fully qualified in addressing the son's specific |
| Hiring a private tutor before the crisis point may | | | | challenges. |
| prevent it altogether | | | | A well-known Hollywood actor required |
| There are two very simple reasons for this. First, | | | | home-schooling for his children. Not only was the |
| effective education takes time. Second, education is | | | | question of privacy important to the family, but also |
| most effective when it develops organically out of a | | | | the demands of travel between film sets and the |
| supportive, focused learning relationship. Of course a | | | | family's several homes internationally made regular |
| good tutoring situation will provide a framework for | | | | schooling impractical. |
| that sort of relationship, but there is only so far the | | | | A student was engaged in serious athletic |
| relationship will be able to develop if time is short. | | | | training, with a shot at the Olympics. A tutor was |
| If difficulties in school, personal or academic, are a | | | | required to provide education for him in the |
| factor, long-term thinking is especially important since | | | | interstices between training periods in a way that |
| confidence and self-esteem hang in the balance with | | | | regular school simply would not have been able to. |
| results. If a difficult situation is allowed to drag on, | | | | These examples may appear unusual, but the |
| the impacts on a student's performance and psyche | | | | circumstances don't have to be extraordinary for |
| can go very deep, making the process of | | | | full-time tuition to make an extraordinary difference. |
| improvement much more complicated later. | | | | Although still a relatively unknown educational choice, |
| With the luxury of time, a good tutor has the | | | | the popularity of full-time tuition is growing steadily |
| opportunity to make use of a variety of resources | | | | world-wide. For those families who can afford it, the |
| and approaches to tailor-make his or her teaching to | | | | opportunity that full-time tuition can provide their |
| the needs and personality of the student. This makes | | | | children to learn and excel is truly once-in-a-lifetime, |
| the teaching much more productive and the learning | | | | since a good tutor also becomes a friend, mentor, |
| much more enjoyable, which is of course the magic | | | | and role-model over the long term as well as a |
| formula for academic success. | | | | trusted teacher. There is absolutely no reason that a |
| Planning as far ahead as possible is critical when | | | | family should rule it out as a possibility before looking |
| considering private tuition | | | | into the educational possibilities it might offer. |
| For all of these reasons, parents should take the | | | | The competitive edge that private tuition can provide |
| longest view possible when considering private tuition. | | | | School and university entrance is not getting any |
| A few weeks-or even a few months-before exams | | | | easier, and although many parents dislike the |
| can't hurt in a desperate situation. But the results of | | | | competitive, stress-filled situation they find |
| a handful of weeks or months will naturally fall short | | | | themselves and their children in, they cannot deny |
| of those of a well-structured learning programme, | | | | that the old goal-posts have shifted when it comes |
| honed and refined over time, which allows a student | | | | to top-class educational opportunities. Today those |
| to prepare fully and confidently. | | | | opportunities have to be made and not merely |
| Families considering private tuition should consider | | | | sought. It is therefore no wonder that the boost |
| getting it in place at least a year in advance, ideally | | | | which private tutoring can provide represents a |
| more, if at all possible. It should begin long before | | | | reasonable and very attractive choice under |
| exams loom, or, in the case of challenges arising from | | | | contemporary circumstances. |
| school, as soon as the troubling situation is clearly | | | | As standards and competition increase year on year, |
| identified. To wait is to sacrifice day by day a | | | | it will be the students who have really learned, rather |
| student's potential performance, sense of well-being, | | | | than those who have simply memorized in haste, |
| or, worst of all, both. At the risk of sounding like a | | | | who will have the best shot at top school and |
| public-service announcement, when it comes to | | | | university places. Best of all perhaps, they will take |
| private tutoring, action is far more effective than | | | | that shot with the highest level of confidence and |
| reaction, and prevention far more efficient than cure. | | | | the lowest level of stress, both for themselves and |
| Full-time private tuition | | | | for their families. |