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

sample comprised 1254 students in year 6, 1214 in year 11 and 1147 in year 13. Of those who
identified their sex 52.2% were male and 47.8% female (Table 1).

The percentage of pupils who completed questionnaires and were eligible for free school
meals was calculated for each year group using pupil level data obtained from DfES. This
indicated that the mean percentage eligible for free school meals (14%) was very close to the
national average. Compared with the national averages in 2003 for primary schools (16.8%)
and secondary schools (14.9%) the achieved secondary sample was close to the national
average (12% in year 11 and 9% year 13) and the primary sample was somewhat more
socially disadvantaged (22%). When compared with regional figures for primary schools in
London (21%) and the West Midlands (15.7%), the discrepancy was smaller (Table 1).

Table 1. Sample characteristics

Parent samples. All parents of pupils in the sample were invited to complete a questionnaire.
A total of 1170 parent questionnaires were returned, representing 32% of the original pupil
sample. The proportion of returns was higher from parents of year 6 pupils (38%) than year
11 (29%) and year 13 (30%). Compared to the student sample, the parent sample was slightly
biased towards more educated parents in higher occupational categories, however this bias
was not great and there was an adequate representation of parents across the range.

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