Do you help your children with their homework? Well, of course you do. I’m sure you give them every bit of assistance with their studies as you can. Perhaps you even employ a private tutor.
But not all students enjoy the same benefits. A report by the charity The Sutton Trust, whose aim is to improve social mobility, discovered a large gap between students from poorer backgrounds and their more well-to-do peers.
Here are a few of the report’s findings:
- Year 11 pupils spend an average of 9.5 hours each week in extracurricular tuition
- Ability has little effect on the amount of extra tuition. 32% of low-achieving children from well-off families receive one-to-one tuition whereas just 7% of high-achieving poorer children get the same
- 30% of pupils overall have taken private tuition but 48% of students living in London have received it
- Amongst 15-year-olds, Scottish children do more extracurricular study (17.8 hours per week) than those in any other country in Britain. English pupils do the least (15.6 hours)
- Ethnic background affects education. 56% of Asian pupils and 42% of Black pupils received private tuition but only 25% of White pupils did so
And it’s not just extra tuition the study looked at. It also found out that the parents of poorer students give less help with their children’s homework. Just 50% of 15-year-olds from lower-earning families regularly get help from their parents but 68% of those from higher-earning backgrounds did.
Of course we all want to help our children’s education but private tutors can be very expensive. Most charge around £25 per hour. But, for less than half that you can have a month’s subscription to Education Quizzes. For just £35 per year you’ll get unlimited access to over 4,000 quizzes which follow the KS1, KS2, 11-Plus, KS3 and GCSE curriculums. You will also find valuable sections on other subjects such as books, nature, world religions and classical music.
It’s an affordable way to boost your children’s education. Just like having your own personal tutor inside your computer – but at a fraction of the cost!
Is there another aspect of education you’d like to find out more about? If so, then our Knowledge Bank page is the place to go. It has articles which aim to answer parents’ questions on schooling together with advice on parenting issues such as child development and the importance of sleep. Why not take a look?