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The resources of PARadise

20/9/2013

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Having first-class teaching resources available on computer is essential to the running of a tuition centre. In this, and a subsequent post, I am going to introduce a couple of my most valued resources.     

At first one might think that, with everything these days being so readily searchable on the Internet, -identifying good resources for tutoring should be quite straightforward. 

But that has not been my experience. 

Most of the resources I use - and certainly the most important - have come to my notice, not from online searches (useful though these can be), but from other tutors and independent centre owners in the UK, who have tried various programs and pinpointed ones that work well and are value for money. 

Take the case of Maths - one of my ongoing successes in the provision of this subject at Tuition Canterbury is PARadise Academy - which comes from New Zealand.

Unless you are on the inside of the tutoring profession - or informed by someone who is - PARadise Academy is not going to come easily to your notice.  Like Lucy in Wordsworth's poem, it 'dwells among the untrodden ways'. The casual or occasional surfer for materials (perhaps a parent or an older student) is unlikely to stumble upon PAR in a search. The creators do not trumpet their work with exclamatory advertising or attention-grabbing devices. 

Not that there is anything lacking in confidence about the product - go to
www.parmaths.com and you will see. It simply presents an unadorned, functional screen for the already initiated.

So what is it particularly about PAR (derived from  Phil's Affordable Resources) which marks it out as different from more competitively-marketed software?
 
First and foremost, its author and progenitor, Phil Scowen, is an experienced tutor, with a long career of Maths school-teaching behind him. From the outset he has developed  programs for, and in, a thriving tuition centre - Invercargill, South Island - and therefore has  the benefit of extensive first person feedback, past and present. This also importantly informs his judgment of feedback from clients further afield (like myself).

Furthermore, he has asked the right questions, and found, by patient trial over the last decade,  effective answers: What is going to work for the various students of Maths who come to tuition?  What challenge and presentation do they want - the primary and the secondary student, the faster learner and the slower?  What is going to be most supportive, most helpful?

The answers permeate the resources - in the arrangement of topics, in the simplicity of formats, in the smoothness of gradient from early to advanced, and in the sheer depth, quantity and range of coverage. 

Finally, to answer what makes PAR distinctive, there is the exceptional responsiveness of Phil and Karl (his son, who does the programming) to requests and editorial suggestions from tuition centres abroad. 

For instance, no sooner is an imperfection or minor error in content pointed out - sometimes by a student,
who may take great pride  in the discovery, as errors are in fact few and far between -than it is put right,  and the update despatched. The same welcome reception is given to new ideas for exercises: they are promptly developed and added to the repertoire.  Clients have a direct line by email to Phil, who is scrupulous in his replies. 

Taken altogether then, PARadise Academy's Maths resources are in the true sense tailored. This is why tuition centres are increasingly investing in them - over 70 in New Zealand, Australia and the UK at a recent count. It has taken thousands of hours of work (so far)  on the part of the Scowen family - but then good tailoring must.

It is also serviceable, wears comfortably and well, and outlasts the fashions.
       
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Teacher versus Tutor

6/9/2013

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Teacher versus Tutor is a recently broadcast BBC Radio 4 documentary  (August 2013). It is an exploration of the current UK tuition industry - now claimed to be worth £1 billion per year.

Generally, when parents consider employing a tutor they  will begin asking other parents or a school teacher in the know for a recommendation. Or they may  look up tuition providers in the area who advertise  their service. Taking it from there, any arrangement becomes an experiment: which may or may not work out.

But it is quite difficult for  parents to get quality answers to more  searching questions. For instance: Does tuition make a positive difference? Is it merely neutral?  Can it even be  harmful? If a tutor doesn't have a teaching qualification, does it matter? What are the different models of tuition in the market? Are some forms of tuition more effective than others?

There simply isn't any reliable 'Which?'-type consumer survey of tuition to help parents decide what might be most appropriate or the best value.   

Within the constraints of the 30-minute radio documentary  Teacher versus Tutor  goes some way to
 address these matters. 

It samples three very different tutoring set-ups: i/ an Explore Learning centre attached to a Sainsbury supermarket in the Midlands; ii/ The Tutor Trust, a charity that employs university students and aims to 'democratize tuition' in schools in Manchester; and iii/  Laidlaw Education, a provider of specialist support with dyslectic learners in North London. 

The programme also includes interviews with school heads and teachers, the proprietor of a so-called 'supertutor' agency (fees £48 per hour), and a researcher at the Institute of Education, whose studies  show that tuition for Maths is more likely to produce a statistically measurable improvement at GCSE - ie. higher  grade - than tuition for English or Science.

Are there any tuition horror stories out there? Any serious warnings for parents?

Despite the presenter's  stress on the fact that tuition is an unregulated industry (the 'Wild West' was a repeated metaphor) with  legions of casual and unqualified practitioners, some without a 'Disclosure and Barring Service' check  (CRB in the old money), the programme did not spotlight any case of Wild Westerly goings-on.

Nevertheless parents should beware of the following:  wasting precious money on an incompetent or uninspiring tutor;  accidentally confusing a child with mixed messages   (if, for example, a different Maths method  from that taught  at school is preferred by the tutor); or creating stress and unhappiness if a child's leisure-time is curtailed for extra study. These were the main caveats.    

As for the students tracked in the sampled tutoring organizations, perhaps unsurprisingly all spoke positively of their progress, whether keeping ahead or catching up in a subject,  or overcoming a disability. 

Some teachers and parents may deplore the increasing requisiteness  of professional tuition  in modern Britain - when they or their own parents had succeeded perfectly well on schooling alone - but over the years society, education and public feeling  have greatly changed.   

If tuition helps, it is here to stay.                    
          
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    Writer

    Peter Whisson, owner of Tuition Canterbury. "I write this blog as a periodic 
    snapshot record of my 

    involvement in education - and hope that the posts may be of interest to others."

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