"We are failing our children by not pushing them hard enough from an earlier age" : Tutors International comments on recent BBC article
(PRWEB UK) 16 March 2015 -- Adam Caller, educational consultant and founder of world-leading full-time private tuition agency, Tutors International, today claimed that "the UK must stop trying to enforce a top-down approach to raising academic standards, as we're failing our children by not preparing them for the next stage of their academic development."
Mr Caller stated in response to a recent BBC article on the creation of a grammar stream in a Kent academy [1] that “it’s our job as parents and as educators to push our children to the best of their ability and to equip them with the tools they need to succeed in the next stage of their development. We can’t push them to succeed simply at intervals or to pass the next exam. They need better education right from the start.”
The grammar school system is a hot topic [2] at the moment, with some claiming it represents an unfair class divide and prevents social mobility, and those who believe it represents the last vestige of the excellent standard of education that the country is world-renowned for.
The BBC's article reports that Knole Academy in Kent has created its own ‘grammar stream’ that employs the rigours and depth of grammar school teaching for a particular stream of pupils at the school. The head teacher Mary Boyle says the grammar stream pupils are aiming for top universities like Oxford and Cambridge.
Tutors International believes that this example from Knole Academy, and the pressure on top state schools and grammar schools, indicates that parents want a better standard of education for their children. While many feel that the social gap is widening, there is extra pressure on top universities to admit more pupils from ‘disadvantaged backgrounds’.
Mr Caller comments, “It’s wrong for this country to try to enforce a top-down approach to raising academic standards. We tried modularising GCSEs, but that failed to prepare students for A-Levels. Now we’re dumbing down university courses to accommodate lower expectations at A-Level, and we’re pushing children to compete in the 11+ when they’ve been unprepared for it at primary school – this is the wrong approach.”
Mr Caller believes that raising academic standards needs to happen at every age, at the same time, driven from the ground up.
Mr Caller likens the process to a bicycle chain: “You can’t increase the speed in just one part of the chain. If you try that it puts a huge strain on the other links and they’ll buckle or snap. Everything needs to speed up together. The government is finding the same problem in schools – it’s very easy to slow the whole system down; it’s very hard to speed it up again.
"There is some merit in the grammar stream approach taken by Knole Academy, as we can’t argue against the fact that we need to provide a more rigorous standard of education in this country, and that grouping children by a narrow academic ability leads to by far the best results for each pupil in that group; but it’s not enough to do it in one school, and it’s not starting early enough in the chain," concluded Mr Caller.
Please visit http://www.tutors-international.com for more information about Tutors International.
References
[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-31659499 What next for the grammar school? Sanchia Berg, 2 March 2015
[2] http://www.bucksherald.co.uk/news/more-news/the-great-grammar-school-debate-see-the-experts-arguments-for-and-against-selective-education-1-6439432 The Great Grammar School Debate: See the experts’ arguments for and against selective education, Adam King, 26 November 2014
Notes to Editors:
Tutors International is a worldwide organization providing experienced full-time private tutors to work with children of all ages and nationalities, in a wide variety of situations, including international relocation, after-school support, full-time home tuition, support for AD/HD and dyslexia, home schooling for frequent travellers, and college prep and coaching.
Tutors International was founded by Adam Caller who has tutored students of all ages. He has received specialist training in dyslexia and AD/HD and is very sensitive to children's educational difficulties. He has now turned this expertise to recruiting, training and placing other tutors with HNW and UHNW families around the world. Adam is a member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA).
Web: http://www.tutors-international.com
Andrew Knight, Tutors International, +44 1865435135, [email protected]
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