How common is tutoring?

Eleven Plus (11+) in Trafford

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Gargantuan
Posts: 20
Joined: Sun Aug 27, 2017 7:31 pm

Re: How common is tutoring?

Post by Gargantuan »

Just to add - it’s a stressful system because the more parents heavily tutor (whether it be DIY or privately is irrelevant), the higher the overall standard is and the less likely your own child is to pass without input.

In an ideal world, bright children should not need to be tutored at all for 11+. The sad fact is, those parents who are lying (“we don’t tutor little Bobby”) are only disadvantaging bright children who have very naive, trusting parents. Believe me when I say, parents in Trafford are putting their children’s names down for tutoring when they are in reception.

I had a friend at school once who used to say she hadn’t done her homework/coursework and tried to convince everyone they shouldn’t bother working hard. Left school with straight A* and we all found out that she was working through the night to get those grades. Always reminds me of Trafford....
Trafford32
Posts: 36
Joined: Tue Aug 07, 2018 1:58 pm

Re: How common is tutoring?

Post by Trafford32 »

Only approx 3,000 children in Trafford sit the 11+, right? That means there are a considerable number of children who are not even registered to take the test. This makes it more likely that those parents who go to the trouble of registering their child for the 11+ are likely to provide some form of preparation (either DIY or tutor) to their child. I would be surprised if there are many children who have had no preparation at all.

What concerns me more is the intensive tutoring from year 5 (or earlier) that many parents seem to do. So Trafford is in the rat race like the rest of the country.
Gargantuan
Posts: 20
Joined: Sun Aug 27, 2017 7:31 pm

Re: How common is tutoring?

Post by Gargantuan »

And yet, CEM claims their exam is “tutor proof”.
Catseye
Posts: 1824
Joined: Wed Oct 29, 2014 6:03 pm
Location: Cheshire

Re: How common is tutoring?

Post by Catseye »

Gargantuan wrote:And yet, CEM claims their exam is “tutor proof”.
There is no such thing as a "tutor proof" exam, it's a myth that we in the know don't believe in anymore.
Brainfreeze
Posts: 113
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2014 10:07 am

Re: How common is tutoring?

Post by Brainfreeze »

My personal experience is that most children who are going to take the Trafford exams have been tutored for at least a year. I don’t think I have come across many parents who have pretended they are not tutoring, but that may just be the circle I mix in. We are quite open about it discussing it, whilst not giving away too much about how our DC is coping. The standard response is to say your DC does the work reluctantly and that you are concerned about a couple of areas. No one wants to hear about how your DC skips into lessons and aces every paper.

CEM being tutor proof is a bigger myth than the existence of the tooth fairy.

I also believe it’s very doable to DIY the whole process but the folks round here are cash rich and time poor so private tuition is booming.

I’m not as passionately opposed to tutoring as some since the CEM prep covers lots of useful skills like wordy maths problems which aligns nicely with the new Maths GCSE being more wordy.
Catseye
Posts: 1824
Joined: Wed Oct 29, 2014 6:03 pm
Location: Cheshire

Re: How common is tutoring?

Post by Catseye »

Brainfreeze wrote:I don’t think I have come across many parents who have pretended they are not tutoring.....
The conversation between the 'well set' in Trafford is more along the lines of " which tutor are you using ....." :wink:

And it's not just 11 + but also for gcse and A levels :o
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