While the benefits of taking learning out of the traditional school environment are numerous, Tutors International warns parents that, without additional support, the lack of one-to-one attention received by online learners could be the downfall of digital schooling initiatives.

Leading global provider of private tutors, Tutors International, today issued a warning to parents regarding “online classrooms”.

Although a logical step up from traditional schooling in today’s digital age, major report findings, documented recently by the BBC [1], found that children receiving their full-time education exclusively online were falling further behind in core subjects such as maths and reading, sometimes by the equivalent of up to an entire school year. This raises concerns over the lack of contact and one-to-one support available to these students and the distractions that are bound to come with entrusting a child’s learning to the internet.

Tutors International firmly advocates non-traditional learning environments, which can equal, and even surpass, school classrooms in terms of students’ results. Benefits of the homeschooling approach include individualized learning support, the freedom for children to pursue their own academic interests in their own environment and lack of pressure to perform in front of other students.

Adam Caller, who founded Tutors International in 1999, commented:

“There are still many advantages associated with non-traditional education. Tutors International supports any form of education that benefits children, but we can see that these online initiatives, when used alone, are still failing. This would appear to boil down to the lack of individualised attention being received by students and the challenge of retaining a child’s focus on a digital platform riddled with distractions. The number of students per teacher in these situations makes it difficult to track individual progress so it is no wonder that some of these children are falling behind. We believe that, while taking learning out of the classroom is an extremely positive step to take, having a tutor on hand who can engage the student one-to-one, discuss and expand on material, and address their specific learning needs is also essential for long-term academic success, whether it be full-time or occasional support”

Having successfully placed tutors with families all over the world, in a range of different circumstances and situations, Tutors International are able to match tutors with students based on their individual academic needs and interests.

For more information on private tutoring options, or to find out more about Tutors International, visit tutors-international.com. Tutors can browse the latest vacancies and opportunities by visiting tutors-international.net.

Reference:

[1] Online schools ‘worse than traditional teachers’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34671952 Sean Coughlan. BBC News Business. 4 Nov 2015