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BY JENNIFER 01 Jun 2010 04:06
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Hiring a tutor used to be an admission of failure, now it's a status symbol, says Helen Kirwan-Taylor...
My sister-in-law advised me never to give out the contact details of my builder. I didn't listen and published his name in a book. What I won't hand out for love or money (or even a date with George Clooney) is how to get hold of my children's tutors. These numbers aren't gold dust: they're gold bars. And if you are a headmaster or Oxford don reading this and think your students got their place on merit, think again. One parent I know hired a university IT professor to coach his child on taking the computerised Eton test. Tutors have also been known to write personal statements for clients' Oxford applications.
Some years ago, a mother at my son's school boasted about how her offspring had managed to get into Westminster Under School without any coaching. 'That's funny,' I said, 'because your son has been seen the past six Saturdays in tutorials along with the 20 other children in his class.' Back then, coaching was something you hid (the insinuation being your kid was thick). Today, not only is tutoring budgeted into your year's outgoings (taking at least one tutor on holiday is standard in some neighbourhoods) but you boast about it. When Madonna's children's French tutor came to see us, she interviewed me, not the other way round.
'When I first set up my business, tutoring was something people were ashamed to admit,' says William Stadlen, co-founder of Holland Park Tuition. 'There has since been a sea change. Now people brag about it. There's brazen competition for the best tutors.' When Stadlen says 'brazen', he's being modest. To secure London's best tutor, Oxford- and RADA-educated James Bonas (now a successful opera director, so don't even think of calling him), I virtually had to offer my body. He only agreed to help my son prepare for Common Entrance at the last moment when I burst into tears and begged. I was competing with not only the richest but also the most influential members of London society, though fortunately, Bonas (and most of the top tutors) only really cares about the children. When my son passed, we called James first. We have remained friends ever since.
Tutors have gone from being hustled in the back door with a sack over their heads to being picked up by drivers. The shift says Charles Bonas of Bonas MacFarlane, provider of some of the most sought-after tutors worldwide (James is Charles's cousin), is because of the funnel-shaped school system where too many children fight for too few places (this applies to both state and private schools). Bonas MacFarlane trains tutors and also advises on choices of schools from nursery to university. Though some schools threaten students with expulsion if they are caught with tutors, most now work closely with agencies. 'We're returning to the days of Jane Eyre,' says Bonas. One of his tutors is living in a hotel five minutes from his charge's elite boarding school: 'His parents want him to get the grades.'
In the US and Hong Kong, the celebrity tutor is already a phenomenon. 'You see the faces of the top Chinese tutors on buses,' says Bonas. 'In New York you get bidding wars. It hasn't happened here yet because the tutors are not mercenary enough.' The parents, though, are mercenary, so when one of London's top tutors was booked up a year in advance, a mother offered to triple his fees (tutors are paid between £30 and £60 an hour). Bonas increasingly finds himself having to turn clients away. 'I know I'm going to be sued one day for not getting a child into the school of his choice,' he says. So far he has a perfect batting average, as does Stadlen.
Tutoring can be a glamorous job. Stadlen, also an Oxford graduate, is sending a slew of tutors to Moscow this summer to work for an oligarch family, and to Dubai. Parents in Dubai, he says, often have the tutors work in their private planes as they move from Nice to London and back again. Stadlen employs hundreds of tutors, though he admits it's getting ridiculous. 'I went to see a family in Hampstead [land of the tutors]. The child was two years old. The parents nervously asked me, "Did we leave it too late?"'
As for the tutors, let me paint you a profile. When Hugo Chittenden arrived to help my son with his French, James Blunt (a pal from Harrow) called him on his mobile. After his session, Hugo played me his new documentary The Volunteer (the official screening is on 2 June – it will be a Who's Who of London as he has invited all his pupils and their parents). The film is about volunteering to build a primary school in Uganda. His various documentaries include appearances by Blunt, Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Jeremy Hunt (all family friends). 'Our tutors are so grand these days that we're thinking of having the parents sign a disclaimer about the tutors not the other way round,' says Bonas.
And coaching for the American SATs is a booming business as parents pay extra for SATs tutoring. Top US tutors make several hundreds of thousands of pounds a year. The lean economic years were great for business; in boom years, these Oxford graduates would have gone into the City. Now many are using tutoring the rich as a way to supplement their state-school teaching incomes.
It's not just kids fighting over cerebral flesh. Holland Park Tuition increasingly sends tutors to work with grown-ups. 'We sent a tutor to Ibiza for a whole summer because the client [a wealthy Russian] wanted to discuss politics with an Oxford graduate,' says Stadlen.
But I have Hugo's mobile number and I'm not handing it out to anyone.
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BY JENNIFER 12 Apr 2010 03:04
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With exam season only weeks away, last-minute nerves are setting in for schoolchildren and, often, concerned parents. This makes it boom time for private tutors, a sought-after group who charge anything from £15 to £80-plus an hour.
Tutors are not only helping the elite. A survey by research company Ipsos MORI indicates that 43 per cent of 11 to 16-year-olds in London state schools have received tuition. Nationwide it is 22 per cent.
Education experts say that parents should — but often don’t — go to their child’s school with concerns before hiring a tutor, as schools may offer free help. But they add that one-to-one tutoring out of the classroom can be a fast-track way to iron out difficulties and boost confidence.
Sue Fieldman, of The Good Schools Guide, says: “All too often, the school is defensive and feels you are being critical, or it is a teacher who is the problem and your child needs support to overcome deficiencies of school provision.”
She says that word of mouth is generally the preferred way to find a tutor. This cuts agency fees, which can double a tutor’s rate, and she adds: “The best tutors don’t work for an agency. They don’t need to.”
While recommendations are ideal, parents can also browse tutors’ ads in local papers and websites, such as Schoolstrader.com. Then the onus is on parents to make thorough reference checks.
Madeleine Cardozo used Schoolstrader to find a science tutor for her son Jack, who is sitting his GCSEs this summer. She says: “We found a fantastic tutor in their listings. He is a fun guy who can really relate to a 16-year-old and engage him. He has a background as a research scientist in biology.
“Overall, he has been a godsend and Jack may well decide to take biology on to A level.”
Mrs Cardozo and her husband Damian, of Mere, Wiltshire, have six children. The couple have also asked Jack’s tutor to give occasional help to their daughter Lali, 14. They say that they pay £20 to £30 an hour, which is “enough”.
Established agencies tend to charge £40 to £60, but can offer added peace of mind in an unregulated industry.
Charles Bonas, of Bonas MacFarlane, says that his London-based company vets and trains its tutors, most of whom have Oxbridge firsts, using methods developed over 17 years, while some competitors are run by “kids with a parent’s address book”.
He adds that most of his clients (who pay £50 an hour) are keen to get their children into top prep and public schools.
“The idea is you get into the right school at 7, 11 or 13 and you’re OK — you shouldn’t need help at GCSE or A level. When it comes to it, some students do need help later, because universities want all As and A*s. One B in an arts GCSE can spoil an Oxbridge application for a BSc course.”
He says that a good tutor can achieve a lot even in the brief window between Easter and exam season, with a close focus on the exam syllabus. He adds: “If lessons are not based on a knowledge of what will be asked, you can have a great learning experience, but it won’t help to boost grades. In many cases the student only needs help on one or two difficult points.”
Malachy Guinness, founder of Bright Young Things Tuition, agrees that sometimes a few lessons are enough to make a significant difference. He says: “If things are properly explained once, students actually understand them rather than cramming material that they will inevitably forget.”
Most of Mr Guinness’s tutors are Oxbridge graduates in their twenties. He believes some agencies take themselves too seriously and parents want “bright young tutors their children will really like” to make lessons interesting and enjoyable.
One of his clients, who agrees, hired a tutor to stay with her family for two weeks at Easter before her son’s GCSEs. She says: “The cost was much the same as for an Easter revision course at a college, but for a much more personal service.
“He was a delightful Oxford graduate and the children idolised him. Our son was predicted Cs and Ds, but got that up to As and Bs. Having someone listen and take a real interest in his ideas has made him enthusiastic about work for the first time.”
Bright Young Things offers Easter revision ski trips and online tutorials. The lattter cost £40 an hour, as opposed to £45 an hour for face to face.
Online tutoring is a new and fast-growing area. Tutors can speak to children remotely, using a Skype headset, and work together on a virtual “whiteboard”. The technology is popular with families living in remote areas or overseas. Providers include several mainstream agencies, as well as specialists, such as Home Tutoring Online, which charges £15 an hour for tuition from current university students and £25 an hour for a professional tutor.
One advantage of online tutoring is that it makes shorter sessions viable. Home Tutoring Online offers 15-minute slots for only £3.75 or £6.25.
The Good Schools Guide praises Bonas MacFarlane as “the Savile Row” of agencies, but does not cover Bright Young Things. Ms Fieldman explains: “We don’t actually recommend tutors until they have a long enough track record, but the company may well feature in the future.”
Meanwhile, for good nationwide coverage, the guide recommends Fleet Tutors, an organisation with 5,000 tutors across the UK, most of them qualified teachers. The agency’s average fee is £30 an hour.
No matter how a tutor is found, Sue Fieldman says that parents should treat the first couple of sessions as trials and not feel under pressure to sign a contract. Tutors may offer a cheaper rate for signing up for a “package”, but they should be happy to work on a session-by-session basis.
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