The Australian Tutoring Association has released the results of a national survey of parents, and the support for tutoring to improve children’s learning and confidence is clear. Furthermore, most parents felt it was important that tutoring service providers were approved at a national standard.

Some information direct from the ATA’s report:

• 85% believed that training standards (accreditation) mattered
• SIGNIFICANTLY, 86% of parents surveyed also indicated that they want mainstream school to utilise appropriately accredited tutors for the remediation of illiteracy and innumeracy
• PISA results, NAPLAN data and other measures of educational performance have consistently revealed that at least 11-25% of Australian children are below the very lowest benchmarks of what is acceptable. Surveys of adult illiteracy indicate that over 45% of adults are functionally illiterate. This means that throughout their schooling these people were not identified, not supported and not managed. The ATA believes that this situation is unnecessary, untenable and that it can be remediated.

The ATA National Parent Survey also found the following:

• 35% of parents surveyed have used a tutor for the child for over 1 year
• A further 18.4% spend between $101 and $150 per week on tutoring
• Small group and one-to-one tuition are the preferred modes of delivery for tuition services for children in Year 10 and below
• 91% of parents believe that tutoring boost a child’s self-confidence
• 5% believe that tutoring supports a child’s specific and individual needs
• 82% of parents say that tutoring gives their child predictable academic support and
• 84% believe the investment supports their parenting in the educational space

Source: http://ata.edu.au/ata-press-release-parents-want-tutors-in-schools/

The results are clear: parents support quality, accredited tuition that provides more of the much-needed opportunities for students to work with a teacher individually or in a small group – utilising face-to-face, real teaching. Worryingly, this is not the standard offering that we see in tutoring around Australia today! When looking for a provider, look out for the accreditation symbol issued by the ATA.

Rachel Hayes