CEO, Education Consultant and Founder of Tutors International, Adam Caller, maintains that by employing a full-time private residential tutor, parents can steer their child towards academic success, overcoming the current problems in education.
OXFORD, UK: Whether in the public or private sector, the last four years have been challenging ones in education. The impact of Covid-19, and the subsequent lockdown, only served to highlight the fact that there are problems that need addressing in the education sector: the effects of Covid-19 and the disproportionate learning loss, grade inflation in public exams and discrimination by universities against privately-educated pupils. Unsurprisingly, this has led to parents becoming more involved in their child’s education, keen to ensure that their child’s education is not compromised by the issues that our schools are currently experiencing.
Discrimination Against Privately-Educated Students
Adam Caller, CEO and Founder of elite private tutoring company Tutors International, is an international educational consultant with considerable experience within the education sector and is well acquainted with some of the problems that parents are facing:
“All parents want the best educational outcome for their child and many try to maximise academic success by sending their children to a private school. Compared to the state sector, the top schools have huge resources at their disposal, students are taught in smaller classes and are offered more teaching hours so it’s not surprising that, historically, many privately-educated people have ended up in the top jobs throughout society”.
“However, many parents have experienced a change in university admission policies. Many leading universities are trying to boost diversity by offering more places to students from a variety of backgrounds and as a result, are offering fewer places to those who are privately-educated. In many cases, students from state schools are being offered places at Oxbridge up to three grades lower than their privately-educated counterparts. Not surprisingly, parents feel that their children are now being discriminated against because of their decision to send them to a private school”.
Proof of this shift towards accepting fewer students from the independent sector came from the vice-chancellor of Cambridge who recently warned private school pupils that they will lose out on Oxbridge places to their state school peers:
“I would say we have to keep making it very, very clear we are intending to reduce over time the number of people who are coming from independent school backgrounds into places like Oxford or Cambridge.”
Mr Caller makes the point that parents now need to realise that sending their child to an independent school may not guarantee them a place in a top university:
“The time when entry to Oxbridge was awarded on merit is coming to an end. Now universities are more likely to take into account a student’s background with more of a trend towards accepting disadvantaged students from state schools. If you want your child to have an advantage, you are more likely to achieve this by sending them to a local school where they will have to then contend with larger class sizes and over-stretched, over-worked teachers struggling to cope with the broad range of educational ability within their class”.
Home-Schooling is the Answer
Mr Caller maintains that Tutors International has the solution to this: “A much better way of ensuring that your child has the best possible chance of entry to the top universities is to home-school them. Every one of our pupils has achieved outstanding results in public exams this year. Instead of committing to the ball and chain of private school, why not educate your child at home with a residential private tutor?”
“Home-schooled students are not restricted by an outdated curriculum set by politicians and bureaucrats but instead, can benefit from a flexible and personalised approach to education that addresses their individual requirements. This allows the student to feel more in control of their education, and brings with it a sense of autonomy, leading to greater commitment and more motivation to learn. We have learned from experience that students learn better when they have access to one-to-one support, a personalised curriculum, and a tutor who can recognise their strengths and incorporate them into the academic experience”.
Negative Effects of Grade Inflation
Another pressing area of concern that has recently made the headlines is the problem of grade inflation. Both GCSE and A Level exam results were lower this year compared to those in 2020 and 2021, but still higher than 2019. The teacher-assessed grades in the years preceding 2022 led to a significant increase in the top grades, which, in itself, caused problems for students entering university. Mr Caller elaborates:
“Ofqual aimed to ‘provide a safety net’ for students by grading exams more generously. However, as I predicted over two years ago, this has resulted in an increase in the drop-out rate of students at university. This can only mean that some students are struggling on a university course which assumed a certain level of ability or knowledge based on their exam grade, which, it turns out, was inflated”.
He continues: “2022 is described as a ‘transition year’ to reflect that we are in a pandemic recovery period, with the intention that in 2023, Ofqual will return to results that are in line with those before the pandemic began. Grade inflation may confuse students into incorrectly assessing their level of academic prowess leading them to follow a course of study which might not best match their ability. This means that, once again, we have a cohort of students entering university this month who may find themselves unable to cope academically with their course content”.
Benefits of One-to-One Tuition
Again, Mr Caller asserts that by employing a private residential tutor, students can feel reassured that they are receiving the very best education from exceptional private tutors who are perfectly matched to their individual needs. Students can be confident that they are fully prepared for the rigorous demands of university education:
“At Tutors International, we don’t put students forward for subjects that they aren’t going to do well in. This is one of the benefits of one-to-one education – we can take the time to get to know the individual student, identify where they will excel and where they need to put in extra work. There is no timeframe that is set in stone – the best time to proceed is when the student is fully prepared and confident. Instead of plunging ahead with AS or A-Levels, consider taking a year out for one-to-one learning time with a talented private tutor who can identify your child’s individual needs and devise a curriculum and learning activities to ensure that their talents are identified and nurtured.”
“In my thirty years’ experience in this industry, families are increasingly searching for a flexible and personalised approach to their children’s education, and private tuition can address their individual requirements far more effectively than a traditional classroom setting. From addressing specific educational needs through one-to-one support and an individualised curriculum, to accommodating other family, work, and travel commitments, even including schooling at sea, private tuition can be tailored to each family’s bespoke requirements”.
Mr Caller strongly advises that anyone considering a full-time private tutor should get in touch as soon as possible. He explains why:
“Families considering full-time private tuition – whether alongside mainstream schooling, or in place of it – lose nothing by sending an initial email to us. A preliminary enquiry can answer any pressing questions and allow parents to be better informed going forward with decisions about home tuition”.
“Whatever it is, we can help, but my advice to parents who are considering private residential home tuition is to contact us now so that we have the time to design the very best personalised home-schooled learning programme for your child.”
