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Tutoring can be defined as supplementary instruction in academic subjects taking place outside of scheduled school time. Tutoring is no longer primarily geared towards low-achieving students requiring remedial instruction, but rather caters to a growing number of average and high-achieving students seeking to improve their learning and academic performance.
SCAL resources
The widespread use of private tutors is a new feature of the Canadian educational landscape. The tutoring industry has recently received increasing attention and undergone significant growth in North America. According to one recent study, [1]the number of tutoring companies grew between 200% and 500% in major Canadian cities during the 1990s. [I] In this section, we explore the demographics of Canadians hiring the services of tutors for their children and their reasons for doing so. We end with a look at the research evaluating the benefits and academic outcomes of tutoring.
One-third of Canadian parents with children aged five to 24 report having hired a private tutor or a tutoring company to assist their child with reading and/or writing, math, science, or other subjects. A logistic regression analysis was conducted to examine the characteristics of parents who hire tutors for their children. Specifically, household income, parental educational attainment, home language, as well as country of birth were included as predictor variables and parental reports of having hired a tutor was the outcome.Household income is the strongest predictor of parents' decisions to hire tutors. Families with annual household incomes greater than $100,000 are almost three times more likely (2.9 times more likely) to hire tutors than families making less than $40,000.
The logistic regression analysis (see text box) of the effect of parental level of educational attainment suggests that the effect of household income is moderated by parents' level of educational attainment. Further analyses indicate that parents who earn more money are generally more likely to hire tutors, except if they have less than a high-school diploma. In this case, higher-earning parents who did not graduate from high school are less likely to hire tutors for their children than lower earning parents at the same educational level.
Logistic regression
Logistic regression is used to predict the likelihood of particular outcomes, such as the likelihood that a parent will report homework-related stress. It also helps determine how certain characteristics of the respondents might change the likelihood of a given outcome. Because many demographic factors tend to interact, logistic regression is useful in separating out the influences of factors that tend to interact or covary. For example, since people with higher levels of education tend to earn higher incomes, it is useful to know whether homework-related stress is affected primarily by income or education, or both.
Immigrant status is not a significant predictor of parents' decisions to hire tutors: parents born in Canada and those born outside of Canada are equally likely to report hiring tutors. Home language is, however, a significant predictor. In homes where both English and French are regularly spoken, parents are more likely (1.7 times more likely) to hire tutors than in homes where only English or French are spoken. The same is true in homes where neither English nor French are regularly spoken (1.4 times more likely).
Parents who report that their children struggle academically (i.e., those who estimate that their oldest school-age child's overall academic performance is in the C or D range) are more likely to report hiring tutors for their children (see Figure 15). However, most parents who hire tutors (73%) estimate that their children's overall academic performance is in the A or B range. Thus, the majority of tutors are hired by parents of children whose academic performance is average to high achieving.
Figure 15: Percentage of parents who hired a tutor, by reported level of overall academic performance of oldest school-age child [II]
Source: Canadian Council on Learning. Survey of Canadian Attitudes toward Learning, 2007
Tutoring for average- and high-achieving students is typically sought for enrichment in specific subjects, but also in order for these students to become more competitive with their peers, in particular for senior high-school students making college or university applications.[2] The rise in post-secondary education enrolments and increases in the cost of pursuing a post-secondary education have increased competition for placements in prestigious universities and for scholarships and merit-based awards.[3]
Demand for tutoring services can also be understood in the context of the trend toward “intensive parenting,” which encourages typically middle-class parents to provide cognitively stimulating activities and environments for their children, including classes in music and sports, in order to enhance their children's competitiveness and chances of future success. [4] Private tutoring for average- or high-achieving students can be seen as one manifestation of this phenomenon, which for some middle-class families represents an affordable alternative to private school. [5]
SCAL data allowed for an exploration of a number of reasons explaining why parents hire tutors for their children. One possibility is that parents hire tutors because they are dissatisfied with the quality of education provided by their children's schools and SCAL data provide some evidence that this is, in fact, the case. Parents who have hired tutors are more likely than parents who have not to say that schools are falling below their expectations in a variety of areas, including teaching the basics and teaching students to love learning (see Figure 16).
Figure 16: Proportion of parents who say that schools are falling below their expectations in various areas, by reported hiring of tutors
Parents who have hired tutors for their children are nearly twice as likely as parents who have not to report that parents spend too much time helping their children with homework (see Figure 17). Parents who hired tutors are also more likely to agree that homework was a source of stress. Eighty-one percent of parents who have hired tutors, in contrast to 68% of parents who have not hired tutors, agree that homework was a source of household stress. Overall, these results suggest that parents hire tutors because they are concerned that schools are not meeting their expectations, because they feel that they spend too much time helping their children with their homework, and because homework is a source of stress in their household.
Figure 17: Proportion of parents who believe that parents spend too much time helping their children with homework, by reports of hiring tutors
The decision to hire tutors seems to reflect strong parental involvement in their children's academic success. Other research has pointed to similar conclusions. For instance, some research has shown that parents who hired tutors did not do so because they lacked time to monitor their children's homework or because they employed tutors to serve as after-school caregivers. Rather, parents who hired tutors reported spending significantly more time helping with homework and volunteering at their children's school.[6] Findings from this research also suggest that parents who hired tutors were more likely to indicate that they would send their children to private school or to home-school their children if financial resources permitted.
Tutoring, whether provided as supplemental or remedial instruction for low-achieving students or for enrichment or competitive advantage to high-achieving students, is generally perceived as a valuable investment benefitting students; however, the quality of tutoring services is notoriously difficult to assess. Tutors differ with respect to their qualifications, training, age, and even motivations for tutoring. There is no guarantee that private, independent tutors can or will offer quality tutoring, as the most common characteristic of tutors is that they are older than the students they are tutoring. Tutoring companies, although they likely employ qualified and trained tutors, differ in the quality of instruction they provide and their orientation toward learning and education.[7] A common criticism of many tutoring companies is that they teach rote learning rather than comprehension of principles.[8]
Nonetheless, there is evidence that tutoring can be effective. For example, findings from a meta-analysis of studies on the effectiveness of tutoring showed that tutored students showed higher academic achievement than non-tutored (control) students, as measured on examinations.[9] In another study of students at risk for academic failure, peer tutoring (in combination with parental involvement) was found to be effective in helping students make gains in classroom-based and standardized mathematical achievement tests. The tutored students obtained higher scores than the (control group) students who were asked to practice their math lessons on their own.[10],[11]
Although the demand for tutors is typically in the area of mathematics—and some studies have shown that larger gains result from tutoring in mathematics than in other subjects such as reading [12] —tutoring can also be an effective supplemental instructional strategy for reading. A recent study revealed large improvements in sight-word acquisition, and smaller gains in reading fluency and comprehension, among students identified as being at risk for reading failure and who participated in a peer tutoring intervention. [13]
In addition to improving academic outcomes, some evidence suggests that tutoring positively affects students' self-confidence.[14] Tutored students develop positive attitudes toward the subject in which they are tutored, [15] particularly in a subject like mathematics where negative attitudes have been observed to be common. One-on-one tutoring, in particular, can help students overcome the anxiety often encountered in classrooms where rewards are based on performance. By contrast, the reward for tutored students is usually the learning process itself, and success is based on effort and practice. [16] Similar gains in self-confidence are made by at-risk students, [17] who also show improvements in classroom behaviour and self-control.[18]
Research reports positive effects from tutoring on the tutors themselves. In Cohen, Kulik, and Kulik's meta-analysis, students who were tutors performed better on examinations and had more positive attitudes toward the subject being taught than (control group) students who were not tutors.[19]
The underlying assumption is that tutors benefit from tutoring because of the positive cognitive effects associated with teaching. In short, this suggests that the tutor's own learning is enhanced by preparing to teach others. In preparing for tutoring, tutors find gaps in their knowledge and improve their understanding of the material.[20]
While tutoring fosters improved academic outcomes for many students, it is not generally an option available to all students. Given that SCAL data indicate that household income is one of the strongest predictors of whether parents do or do not hire tutors, it is very likely the case that the cost of tutoring prevents many parents from hiring tutors for students who would benefit from additional academic support. Hired tutors are not, however, the only effective form of tutoring: peer tutors can also be effective. An additional advantage of this approach is that peer tutors often benefit personally from the tutoring experience.
In short, many Canadian students would likely benefit from initiatives focussing on peer tutoring. Barriers to tutoring also present themselves for families living in rural areas, where the demand for private tutors might be greater than the supply and where tutoring companies are likely less interested in setting up a business venture. In these instances, peer tutoring can be a practical solution. As well, online tutoring programs offer accessible alternatives to conventional forms of tutoring, which might not be easily available to rural families.
[II] Grades reported by parents are not necessarily the grade of the child receiving tutoring.
Also: The analyses and opinions expressed in CCL publications related to SCAL are solely those of the Canadian Council on Learning.
[1] Davies, S. (2004). School choice by default? Understanding the demand for private tutoring in Canada. American Journal of Education, 110, 233-255.
[2] Bray, M. (2006). Private supplementary tutoring: Comparative perspectives on patterns and implications. Compare, 36, 515-530.
[3] The Daily. (November 7, 2006). University enrolment. Statistics Canada.
[4] Davies, 2004.
[5] Davies, 2004.
[6] Davies, 2004.
[7] Bray, 2006.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Cohen, P.A., Kulik, J.A., & Kulik, C.-L.C. (1982). Educational outcomes of tutoring: A meta-analysis of findings. American Educational Research Journal, 19, 237-248.
[10] Fantuzzo, J.W., Davis, G.Y., & Ginsburg, M.D. (1995). Effects of parental involvement in isolation or in combination with peer tutoring on student self-concept and mathematics achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 87, 272-281.
[11] Fantuzzo, J.W., King, J.A., & Heller, L.R. (1992). Effects of reciprocal peer tutoring on mathematics and school adjustment: A component analysis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84, 331-339.
[12] Cohen, P.A., Kulik, J.A., & Kulik, C.-L.C. (1982).
[13] Kourea, L., Cartledge, G., & Musti-Rao, S. (2007). Improving the reading skills of urban elementary students through total class peer tutoring. Remedial and Special Education, 28, 95-107.
[14] Topping, K.J., Campbell, J., Douglas, W., & Smith, A. (2003).Cross-age peer tutoring in mathematics with seven- and 11-year-olds: influence on mathematical vocabulary. Strategic dialogue and self-concept. Educational Research, 45(3), 287-308.
[15] Cohen et al. (1982).
[16] Topping, K.J., Campbell, J., Douglas, W., & Smith, A. (2003).
[17] Fantuzzo et al. (1995).
[18] Fantuzzo et al. (1992).
[19] Cohen et al. (1982).
[20] Bargh, J.A. & Schul, Y. (1980). On the cognitive benefits of teaching. Journal of Educational Psychology, 72, 593-604.