Tutor House’s Alex Dyer speaks to our Chairman, Sir Peter Lampl, and cites findings from our Shadow Schooling report.

Recent reports have claimed that over 25% of state-educated 11 to 16-year-olds have enlisted the help of a private tutor at some point during their schooling.

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Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust and the Education Endowment Foundation, said:

“Private tuition is widespread and increasingly so. Nearly half of teachers have tutored and a quarter of teenagers have been tutored. But with costs of at least £25 per session, many cannot afford to benefit from this extra support, which exacerbates education inequalities.

“No-one wants to limit parents doing their best for their children, but we need to ensure that extra tuition is as widely available as possible. Otherwise, it will continue to widen the attainment gap.”

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A spokeswoman for the Sutton Trust said: “It is notable that girls are more likely to receive extra help than boys. This may reflect a more scholarly attitude among girls, which is reflected in their better GCSE results and ever increasing likelihood that they go to university. It is important schools address this new gender gap.

“The fact that BME pupils are much more likely to receive private tuition may reflect cultural differences in attitudes to education in their communities. We’ve seen big improvements in results in many BME communities in the last decade, and pupils from many Asian communities perform best at GCSE.”

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The Sutton Trust has called for more private tutoring companies to offer free tuition to a proportion of disadvantaged tutors and has put pressure on the Government to introduce means testing and a voucher scheme to make tutoring more affordable for low-income families.

It certainly seems that the demand is there with 43% of teachers having offered tutoring services at some point during their career. Naturally, a Government subsidised scheme has proven most popular with tutoring agencies and tutors alike who should not be penalised for offering a paid for service when the call for private tutoring services is only becoming ever more apparent.

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At Tutor House we are taking steps towards offering a fairer platform for students from all walks of life and want tutoring to be affordable for everyone who wants or needs it. All our tutors choose their own rates which helps to make tutoring more affordable and provides a range of options for those interested. We have also contacted the Sutton Trust to discuss arrangements for setting up free tutoring sessions on weekends in the London area for children from low income families.

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Read the full article here.