It is of interest to assess whether there has been an increase in the prevalence of tutoring in
England given the paucity of surveys to provide comparative data, especially for students in
primary school. Our findings suggest that rates of tutoring in England remain relatively low in
comparison with other countries. Our estimate of year 11 students who had mathematics
tutors during spring term 2004 (7.9%) is slightly lower than the figure reported for year 8
pupils in 1994-5 based on the analysis of TIMSS data by Baker et al (2001). Also, our
estimate of year 11 students who had a mathematics tutor during their school career (‘ever
had a tutor’) was within the range of 16 to 35 percent reported for German students by
Mischo & Haag (2002) and estimates were a little lower than those obtained in the PISA
survey (OECD, 2001), which asked about courses in the language of assessment, in other
subjects or additional courses outside their school. On the basis of this limited information,
we conclude that there has not been a substantial increase in the amount of private tutoring for
secondary school students over the last decade in England. Instead it would appear that
tutoring has been a hidden aspect of the private education market.
Our findings provide the first evidence on tutoring in year 6, which shows that 7.6% of
students had tutors for mathematics and 8.1% for literacy. The lack of research among
primary students in the past means that there are no baseline figures for comparison even
though it is well known that parents employ tutors to prepare their children for examinations
set by selective secondary schools in both the private and state sectors (Bunting and Mooney,
2001). Additional surveys are required to establish whether this market is expanding or not.
The higher rate of tutoring found among non-white ethnic groups as compared with white
Europeans was not predicted but is of interest and may reflect perceptions of tutoring in other
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