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One in five teenagers educated at state schools who took their GCSEs last year were privately tutored, according to the social mobility charity the Sutton Trust.
While tutoring was once reserved for children preparing for the 11-plus grammar school tests or those who struggle with a particular subject, it has become a mainstream option for middle-class children throughout their education.
Some have a tutor for every subject and many have one throughout Years 10 and 11 for their GCSEs, then in Years 12 and 13 for their A-levels. Others continue to be tutored at university. The research found that 21 per cent of Year 11 pupils received private tutoring last year, compared with 10 per cent in 2013.
As the state school Easter holidays begin this weekend, the booming tutoring sector means many children will be heading straight to intensive revision camps to prepare for their GCSEs and A-levels. Some are residential courses and cost up to £2,000 a week.
Extra tuition is common among even the brightest pupils as they feel the pressure to gain places at selective sixth forms or at A-level to secure top grades for a place at university.
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The rise of online tuition during lockdown, when the offering by schools was variable, has accelerated the trend.
The revision specialist Oxford Science Studies, founded in 1997, said it had experienced a 25 per cent rise in pupils on its courses and at its revision camps this academic year, compared with last year.
Its Easter revision camp, held at St Edward’s School, a co-educational boarding school in Oxford for teenagers aged 13 to 18, costs up to £1,800 a week for residential GCSE pupils and £1,900 a week for A-level learners. Some pupils do the full three-week course, which is 9am to 5pm and includes a maximum of three subjects a week plus lessons in techniques and coping with exam stress.
Kirsty Donaldson, the marketing manager of the business, said most of the pupils were striving for grades 7 to 9 (A to A*). She said: “We have seen a rise in students attending for multiple weeks.”
The day begins at 8.55am with warm-up exercises, such as mindfulness, problem-solving and confidence-building, followed by subject lessons in 50-minute sessions and exam practice. Children can do any combination of three subjects a week. Evening entertainment includes mocktail-making, magicians and karaoke.
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Carl Cullinane, the director of research and policy at the Sutton Trust, said: “Extra private tutoring gives those who are able to pay for it an advantage. Tutoring is one of the best-evidenced interventions there is for boosting educational performance. If it’s based on those who can afford it, it exacerbates the inequalities that are already in the system.”
The pollster Ipsos, on behalf of the Sutton Trust, surveyed 3,600 pupils aged 11 to 17 across 66 state selective and non-selective schools about tutoring. It found that 30 per cent had been tutored at some point. They did not survey children at private school, where rates of tutoring are also high. Many are tutored to pass the entrance exam, then to keep up.
Tutors said rising competition for university places had partly fuelled interest in private lessons.
One grammar school pupil, who is being tutored for her A-levels this summer to help her achieve the A* A* A she needs to study at Cambridge University, said: “I have been with the same tutor since Year 4 [aged nine] when he helped me before my 11-plus exams. It’s as much about giving me the confidence that I can do it as it is teaching me the subject.”
Cullinane said: “There is more and more pressure on young people and their parents to perform well in their exams in order to get into the best universities and the best courses. This rise in tutoring reflects the increased competitiveness and the impact education levels have on people’s life chances.”
The trust would like to see a revival of the national tutoring programme, a government initiative launched in 2020 to help disadvantaged pupils recover from the disruption to their education during Covid-19. The scheme ended in August last year.
Chenaie Roberts, the head of tuition at Minerva Tutors, which was founded in 2014, said its pupil numbers had risen by 29 per cent year on year. It has doubled its network of tutors from 50 to 100 since 2022 to meet demand. While parents used to seek help in the core subjects of maths, English and science for GCSEs, they now asked for specialists in everything from psychology A-level to Latin GCSE.
Roberts said the most common time to be contacted was after mock exams when children do not get the desired mark. Minerva charges from £65 to £110 an hour for the most experienced tutors, which include former head teachers.
She said many working parents were often too time-poor to help with their children’s homework. “Families are so busy and don’t always have the time to support their children with their homework so I think that is a factor,” Roberts said.
One parent, a mother of two from Kent, said the pressure to get tutors for her children from primary school age had been “relentless”, particularly because they live in a grammar school area. They decided against tutoring and one of their children did not get into the local selective school. She said: “Parents who have used tutors in primary school for the 11-plus exams are now using them to help their kids keep up in secondary school.
“If Jonny has his hand held through all his exams, he’s going to do better than Peter, even if Peter is actually brighter. And does all this really help Jonny? Or would he be better off without the relentless pressure, finding his own pace and ending up with his own qualifications?” she asked.