Some 2500 years ago, Philip, King of Macedon, arranged private tuition for his teenage son. The scholar whom Philip engaged was Aristotle himself, and Philip's son Alexander-known to us as Alexander the Great-went on to make his extraordinary mark on history. Along the way he offered the following observation: 'I am indebted to my father for living,' he said, 'but to my teacher for living well.'
The increasing educational choices available to parents
2500 years on, and parents still face a Gordian Knot of questions regarding their children's education. On one hand, it can seem odd that such questions should be so persistent and so vexing. After all, parents have access to reams of league tables, stacks of school guides, and piles of Ofsted reports-surely parents are among the most informed people in the country when it comes to choices about education!
On the other hand, it can feel more and more like the questions being asked and the answers being offered are somehow not matching up very helpfully. Perhaps that's why private tuition is increasingly popular. Extra help with homework, focussed exam preparation, or an added boost in a tricky subject can help ensure success for a student whatever his or her school situation.
An alternative private tutoring solution: full-time private tuition
It is this sort of add-on tutoring, typically provided a few times a week for a limited period after school, that comprises the majority of tutoring situations in the UK. But there is another sort of tutoring which has also grown steadily in this country and internationally: full-time private tuition in place of or as a major adjunct to school. There are more and more parents who, for one reason or another, want something more for their children than a school-based education is always able to provide.
The reasons that a family might consider tutoring of this sort can vary widely. There could be problems in school of various sorts, or special educational needs that are not being adequately addressed. A family living overseas may want to provide a certain type of education for their child that is locally unavailable. Or a student might be in serious full-time athletic training, and need education to fit in with those demands in a way that school generally does not. Situations like these take almost as many forms as there are families, and they obviously raise far bigger questions than hourly after-school tuition could address. They also suggest a far more specialised educational situation than most tutoring companies are prepared to handle effectively.
The practical side of full-time private tuition
So how does it work? Take the following as typical. A family recruits a tutor to work with their child in their home for a year. The tutor has an academic background appropriate to the student's requirements, and ideally has proven teaching skills as well. The family provide the tutor with accommodation near their home, and transport to and from the home. They also typically provide the tutor with lunch during teaching days. The family and the tutor work out a schedule-four to five hours of tuition, five days a week for example. The tutor designs a curriculum that not only satisfies relevant external standards (such as those of the British National Curriculum, or the International Baccalaureate), but is also custom-made to the needs and personality of the student. Finally, the tutor delivers the lessons, working one-on-one with the student to make the learning both interesting and effective.
There is more to gain than simply an excellent education
This scenario, in one version or another, is played out all over the world. Tailor-made to their educational needs, personalities, and schedules, taught to standards of excellence that meet-and most often exceed-those of top private schools, students can benefit enormously from this unique form of education. What's more, in a good tutor a student gains not just a teacher, but also a friend, mentor, advisor, and role model. Full-time private tuition can truly make the difference in some students' lives.
The challenge of finding the right private tutor
But a bit of reflection will reveal a huge question: how to bring it about? Success in private tuition doesn't happen through the simple fact of having a tutor, but through having the right tutor for the educational situation. This means that private tutors have to be selected carefully, with an awareness of a number of factors that can affect the quality of the outcome. But how many parents have that sort of know-how? How many would have the time to sift through CV after CV, trying to identify which tutors have the strongest educational backgrounds and the most appropriate teaching experience? Nor would many parents know how to go about arranging background checks, or have the time to review a host of personal references, let alone conduct interviews. If parents are considering finding a suitable full-time tutor themselves, they are facing a task which, in the time and experience it requires, is simply unrealistic.
The obvious answer is a tutoring agency, and there are many out there. But here too, parents are left with little information to go on.
The importance of using the right private tutoring agency
Fundamentally, the relationship between a family and a tutoring agency should be a constructive partnership. A tutoring agency should not be merely an employment agency or a temping firm. Instead, the agency should be engaged and available throughout the entire tutoring placement to offer advice and support with the student's well-being clearly in view. After all, with so much to be gained, as little as possible should be left to chance.
The problem is that most tutoring agencies focus on providing tutors on the part-time, hourly, after-school model, and few of them have useful experience with full-time tuition. Accordingly, parents considering full-time tuition face the question of finding a suitable agency to begin with.
Principles that can guide parents in the choice of private tutoring agency
There are several principles that parents considering full-time tuition can use to make the choice of tutoring agency easier.
First, a tutoring agency should be willing to meet and talk with the family in person, before any contracts are signed, to fully determine what the academic situation is and whether or not the agency can fairly address it.
Second, a tutoring agency should be up-front and transparent in their policies and procedures. For example, they should be able to clearly describe their tutor recruitment process, vetting procedures, projected time-frames, and of course the costs. They should also be willing to detail their company's history, background, and track record.
Third, a tutoring agency should be able to offer proper contracts for the relationships between themselves, the family, and the tutor.
Fourth, a tutoring agency should offer a guarantee of complete confidentiality. A family should be assured that the agency, and the tutor that will enter their home and come to know them well, hold confidentiality and discretion as basic principles of conduct.
Critical questions to ask the potential private tutor agency
If all seems to be in order on those four points, parents can then consider the following:
? What sort of educational background and teaching experience can a family expect the tutoring agency to be able to provide in their tutor? If a student's goal is Oxbridge for example, will the tutor be up to the task?
? How extensive are the background checks that the tutoring agency carries out on its prospective tutors? After all, the tutor will be entering the family home and the family circle for an extended period, and it is essential for the family to feel comfortable with the tutor as a person of integrity and good character. Enhanced Criminal Records Bureau (ECRB) checks should be expected at a minimum for UK tutors, and the equivalent for tutors from abroad.
? A good tutoring agency should remain in regular contact with the family and the tutor throughout the period of the posting, and should always be available for consultation. Parents should confirm that the agency will provide that service.
? What sort of safety net does the agency provide should things go wrong or questions arise?
Ideally, a good tutoring agency will offer you all of this information from the start. You shouldn't have to work hard to find it.
If parents are satisfied on all of these points, they have reason to expect that the company will find them a well-qualified tutor for their unique situation. And they should never forget that all tutoring situations are unique. If a tutoring company doesn't start with that as its first principle of customer service, families should take that fact alone as a good reason to look elsewhere.
The cost of good private tuition versus the cost of a poor education
Good private tuition, particularly full-time, does not come cheaply, but the other side of the question is the overall costs of a less than satisfactory education for a child. In that light, the value for money of focused, one-on-one tuition can actually be excellent, especially if one tutor teaches more than one child in the family.
For families facing challenges of whatever sort with school-based education, full-time private tuition backed by a good professional partner can often provide the alternative that changes everything. It can be just the sword for some of today's academic Gordian Knots.
About Adam Caller
Adam Caller is an educational consultant specialising in private tuition. He is a member of the UK Society of Educational Consultants, and one of only two UK members of the Independent Educational Consultants Association of the United States. A qualified teacher and former tutor himself, he is the Founder and Senior Partner of tutors-international.com Tutors International LLP, based in Oxford.
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