So something landed you here, and we're guessing it's the 'joy' of searching for the right tuition support for your child's 11+ journey. You have gone through many sites searching for the right 11+ tutor... only to suddenly realise that so many tutors nowadays are running classes rather than 1:1 lessons for the 11 plus! Now you posed with the dilemma of choosing between the two options available to you- What's the best solution for your child? 1:1 or group tuition?
There are many factors to consider when you are picking your child's tutor. Here, we summarise why we think group tuition is the way to go:
Pricing
1:1 tuition can be expensive. Charges of decent tutors begin from £30 with the very best tutors charging circa £50 per hour. When you consider there are generally 4 subjects to be covered (Maths, English, Verbal and Non-verbal reasoning), you will find that one hour a week equates to very little time to cover all elements. For this reason, most parents who use 1:1 tutors would usually use them to focus only on key 'weak' areas (like either English OR Maths). There isn't scope to cover more subjects without increasing sessions to two hour slots (which can then get quite pricey). On the other hand, group tuition would usually last 2 hours and would cover all subjects required for the 11+.
Your Child's Personality
In truth most children are quite accustomed to working in groups from school and usually a class setting wouldn't be a deterrent. However of course no two children are the same and in cases where your child may prefer to work alone it might make more sense to get your child a 1:1 tutor.
Competition
A huge advantage of joining group tuition classes for the 11 plus over 1:1 tuition is that your child gets to compete against other children in their cohort. Having passed many children through the 11 plus process, we cannot stress the importance of knowing where your child stands against others. It's so easy to think your child is at the standard required when there is nothing to compare them against. Marks would be standardised so that only a certain percentage of children are ever 'deemed selective' regardless of how easy or difficult the children in that cohort found the paper to be. You need to know how your child compares to others in order to work out if they are consistently meeting the 11+ standards.
1:1 Support
The obvious advantage to having 1:1 tuition over group tuition is the perception that group tuition would not offer the appropriate level of 1:1 support. This is one of the major factors that parents consider when tackling the 11+. The reality is that a key advantage of creating competition by working in groups, is that children automatically want to do well due to the competitive environment that's created in class. They work harder and are more driven than those that work alone.
We at Tutors 11 Plus, ensure we provide the required level of attention by knowing each and every one of our students- their strengths and weaknesses and the progress they are making in the time they are with us. We don't turn students away if they are not meeting the 11 plus standard because we believe all children have the capacity to excel if there is a will. However we are honest with parents and leave it to you to decide how best you would like to proceed. We provide continuous feedback to the parents of our students' progress and ensure that each child is fully supported. With two tutors per class we ensure there is 1:1 support when required during each class session.
In the end, choosing the right tuition for your child is a personal choice and a very important one at that. You want to make sure you pick the one that will result in your child's success. Give us a call on 0330 043 2983 to discuss your tuition needs and let us help you along your 11 plus journey to that end goal.