Maths Tuition: Why It Is So Popular And So Effective

Increasingly parents are turning to private tuition to support and enhance the learning that takes place in school. According to the Institute of Education Researchers, maths is the most requested subject and '70% of all pupils who have a tutor receive tuition in maths'. A probable reason for such high demand in private maths tuition is because society in general knows that a good understanding of the working of maths is necessary, not just for entry into higher education and for employers, but also for each individual to be able to live life more successfully and understand the world around them. Maths is everywhere in our everyday living. Our understanding of maths is built up gradually, over many years, concept on concept. And, as an article in the TES suggested, if pupils miss some of the basic stages, problems in understanding maths can follow: "it has something to do with the nature of the subject." Maths is "a series of building blocks, where if you don't understand a key point, it can be difficult to grasp what follows. One-to-one tuition can help fill the gaps." (Barbara Ball; professional officer for the Association of Teachers of Mathematics) The concept of maths being a series of building blocks is a critical one. If children are unwell and miss school or simply have some lessons where they are not focused or engaged, then it is easy to fall behind or become confused and disheartened with the subject. Children and young people do best in school if their learning environment is 'high challenge, low stress.' If a young person feels behind or 'lost' with a subject like maths, it then becomes stressful and learning is not as effective. In some cases the young person can switch off from the subject completely. For this reason many pupils will often say they 'can't do maths' or 'don't like maths.' In reality what they probably mean is that they haven't grasped some of the key concepts and feel stuck, frustrated, even frightened by maths. However, with some targeted, individual maths tuition, this can easily be rectified and at Home School Tutoring we regularly have parents tell us that their children now enjoy maths because the tutor has made them realise they can actually do it and their confidence has increased. Maths does have many practical applications with everyday life and when pupils grasp this (rather than feeling maths is a string of abstract concepts), they usually begin enjoy it more. When students know that maths can be meaningful and relevant the subject begins to makes sense and the difficulties seem to slip away. Individual maths tuition is an effective way of supporting the concepts that pupils are being taught in schools and colleges. It can dramatically boost confidence and has definite impact when pupils are preparing for maths examinations at any age or level. At Home-School Tutoring, we are also sometimes asked about maths tuition for gifted pupils. Personal tuition in maths for the gifted student can be of great benefit; it is challenging, and helps keep a gifted pupil engaged with the subject instead of feeling bored and demoralised if they find something too easy.