Published online on 22 January, 2015

    There are many positive reasons and benefits of hiring a private tutor for your child. With school entrance exams such as the 11+ and 13+ becoming increasingly competitive, as well as the importance of GCSEs and A-Levels for university applications and future career prospects, hiring a private tutor can be instrumental in improving a student’s exam performance. However, with 25% of children receiving private tuition at some stage of their education (this number is higher in London) there are many other reasons why parents opt to hire a private tutor.

    Tailored Instruction

    In a typical school, a child will receive approximately 6.5 minutes of one-to-one classroom attention from a teacher every week in English or Maths. With a private tutor, students benefit from the undivided attention of a tutor who, for one hour, tailors the lesson to focus on the student’s specific weaknesses and areas for development. This allows the student to fully understand a topic, consolidate his/her knowledge and ultimately make more substantial progress. In some cases, advanced students use private tutors because they feel they are not sufficiently stretched or challenged at school.

    Confidence

    This is crucial to students if they are to enjoy their subject, excel in the classroom and perform well in exams. A student’s confidence begins to fall if they are consistently misunderstanding and not engaging with a subject. By helping a student to understand a subject or topic, the private tutor is able to bolster a student’s confidence immeasurably.

    Motivation to Study

    If a student does not enjoy or does not understand a subject, the chances are that he/she will not want to study it. The mark of a fantastic private tutor is someone who can share their passion and knowledge for their subject and bring it to life for the student by showing how it is relevant to them. Engaged learners are independent learners who are motivated to learn more.

    Flexibility

    Private tutoring fits around your commitments and other extra-curricular activities. Whether it be on the weekends or in the evenings after school, private tutors either visit you at your home or online via our learning platform.

    Broader Life Skills

    The ultimate point of private tuition is not really about passing exams. Of course passing exams is a reality of the system we live in, but in essence, we believe an excellent private tutor instils in students core life skills that are applicable in all aspects of life; whether it be communication skills, organisational skills, evaluating arguments, analytical thinking, creativity, structuring and forming arguments, asking questions; all of these skills can be developed in a one-to-one setting with a private tutor.

    For more information about private tuition, either in-person or online, please contact My Tutor Club via hello@mytutorclub.com or visit www.mytutorclub.com

    Cyrus Afkhami is Founder of My Tutor Club, a leading private tuition company based in London that provides private tutoring for all levels (both in-person and online) as well as Schools Advisory consultancy and school interview practice to students in the UK and abroad.

    Educated at Eton College, Cyrus Afkhami graduated from Oxford University in 2009 with a Double 1st Class degree in History and Modern Languages. A former investment banker at Lehman Brothers and Citigroup, Cyrus resigned from banking to start an education business. Cyrus became interested in the education sector after working part-time for a number of education charities while at school and university. Today, he is excited by how technology (internet, tablets, videos, learning platforms) can improve the quality and accessibility of education globally.

    Starting with one student in September 2011, within one year, and by expanding only through word of mouth in London, Cyrus had taught over 50 students. In October 2012, he established My Tutor Club which has since grown organically to 65 tutors, who have taught over 600 students across 14 countries worldwide. In its second full year, My Tutor Club was shortlisted as “UK Private Tuition company of the Year” for the prestigious 2014 Education Investor awards and in April 2014 Cyrus was invited as a guest speaker on Dubai Eye radio to talk about the role of technology in the classroom.

    My Tutor Club’s latest survey showed that in 2014, 94% of 11+ students won admission into either their first or second choice of school, 92% of GCSE or A-level students either met or exceeded their grade expectations and 85% of university students secured offers from either their first or second choice of university.

    In August 2013, My Tutor Club created the Learn and Give initiative in partnership with UK charity Children in Crisis. This initiative has enabled 5 girls in Kabul (Afghanistan), who had their schooling interrupted by conflict, to receive an accelerated primary school education in Maths, literacy and health education.

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