We encourage you to read the full article written by Rebecca Eckler. It’s titled, ‘The new tutor dynasty: Tutors aren’t just for underachieving kids anymore. They’re the new normal.’
Below is a summary of the article on tutoring trends, and our further words on the subject:
Tutoring is on the rise, and MacLeans has taken notice. We were recently interviewed for a lengthy magazine article on the trend to hire tutors in addition to regular school hours and teaching. As the owner of a tutoring franchise, Susan Cumberland was asked about the types of parents who ask for tutors, which surprisingly, is not what you’d expect. Sometimes young children who are learning to read are given tutoring hours by their parents. She has also noticed that many immigrant families who are worried about their child’s competitive edge in the school system will hire private tutors.
It’s true that as universities are getting harder to enter, the attitudes of parents towards their childrens’ education is shifting, and it’s noticeable. As a tutoring franchise, we have grown every year since we opened in 2002, which was also mentioned in the article. We also now operate out of six different cities.
But Susan was also quoted as giving this important tip to parents: the time to book a tutor is not the night before an exam! The real tutoring success stories come from consistent help with homework and learning. And that learning can be hard for parents to master, as the article pointed out when describing math problems that most grown ups don’t even understand. Plus there is the time issue – if parents are busy, it makes it harder to tutor their own child. That’s where services like those of School is Easy come in – to fill the gaps when kids just aren’t getting enough help.
But as the article points out, these days, tutoring is becoming more than extra help for struggling students. Getting ahead, and not letting any subject slip through the cracks is increasingly important to our parent communities.
Tutors themselves are also in no shortage. We are quoted in the article as having 1000 tutors on our list, and that’s because even the ones that have moved on to full time positions still want to know of opportunities to take on extra work. The thing that makes our tutors different is that we work with certified teachers, many of whom work professionally in the industry and are trained at what they do. This also makes a big difference when a child needs help with topics at school, which are based on the local provincial curriculum. Immigrant parents may not understand the topics requiring English, or they may not be aware of the sequence of learning, or the methods applied here in Canada. And for the parents that went to school in this country, well, remembering the way to calculate shapes in geometry is not exactly a skill we’ve all retained (as the article demonstrates).
Check out the full article linked to above! It delves much deeper into this subject and interviews other experts in the field you might want to hear from as well.
We were glad to have been given the opportunity to chime in on the subject, as the idea of ‘everyone getting a tutor’ is certainly becoming a cultural shift in our country, and one we are excited to be a part of. When our education system grows, so does our future!
