Private tutoring at transition points in the English education system: its nature, extent and purpose

education system. For many families private tutoring is an affordable and flexible way to help
their children, however this inevitably places others at a disadvantage and serves to increase
inequality. Until now private tutoring has been a hidden aspect of educational support
provided by parents for their children. It is important to monitor the impact of this form of
private education in the UK and also in other European countries in future.

Acknowledgements

The research was supported by grant RES-000-23-0117 from the Economic and Social
Research Council. The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance provided by all the
participating schools and to thank all the students and parents for providing information.

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Beaton, A., Mullis, I., Martin, M., Gonzalez, E., Kelly, D. & Smith, T. (1996) Mathematics
achievement in the middle school years: IEA's Third International Mathematics and
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Bloom, B. S. (1984) The 2 sigma problem: the search for methods of group instruction as
effective as one-to-one tutoring. Educational Leadership, May, 4-17. Bray, M. (2006)

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