• 71% of the public agree: One-to-one tutoring plays a key role in boosting children’s motivation.
• Londoners are the most convinced: 80% believe tutoring significantly improves a child’s drive to succeed.
• Generation gap evident: Only 60% of young adults aged 18-24 feel that tutoring enhances motivation.
• Mixed regional views: Support drops to 64% in the South-West, the lowest in the UK.

No Nonsense National Survey Programme 2024-25; levels of agreement to the following statement:

‘One-to-one tutoring usually helps to significantly improve a child’s motivation.’

NATIONAL FINDINGS

71% of respondents agreed that one-to-one tutoring usually helps to significantly improve a child’s motivation.

This is of little surprise.

A good tutor has the potential to not only provide academic support, but also mental support and encouragement to their student.[1]

This helps to develop a sense of self-belief in students, which drives motivation as it permits them to believe that anything is achievable and within their grasp.[2]

Through methods and styles such as positive affirmations and firm leadership, a tutor can stimulate motivation in their student, which improves students’ motivational-affective outcomes as the tutor is supporting their needs.[3]

Several studies have shown that students’ academic interest is closely linked with their intrinsic motivation for a subject.[4]

Indeed, a study on Grade 5 to 11 students showed that students who receive private tutoring displayed an improvement in school marks and motivation.[5]

This helps to explain why over 7/10 people on average in the UK believe that one-to-one tutoring usually helps to significantly improve a child’s motivation.

AGE VARIATIONS

The level of agreement was consistently high with a small range between 70-73% for all respondents aged 25 and over. However, the lowest level of agreement was noticeably lower, at just 60% for those aged 18-24.

This might be because 18-24-year olds are in a very transitionary stage of life, especially where financial independence is important, and might not see the comparatively high cost of private tutoring necessarily justifying its potential impact on a student’s motivation.[6]

Furthermore, 18-24-year-olds might view collaborative learning environments, something they will have had greater exposure to than their older counterparts, as a more effective manner for encouraging motivation, rather than isolated one-to-one tutoring sessions.[7]

Finally, 18-24-year-olds are far less likely to have children of their own and therefore might be less likely to see how beneficial tutoring is for improving a child’s motivation.

REGIONAL VARIATIONS

The highest level of agreement was from respondents in London at 80%.

This might not be a surprise as there is the greatest provision of private tutors in the capital due to wealth disparity and population density, with statistics showing that on average, over 10% more schoolchildren in London have experienced some form of private tutoring than any other area of the UK.[8]

Conversely, the lowest level of agreement from respondents was in the South-West, at 64%.

This might be explained by the coastal and rural demographics of the South-West.

This area of the UK often has smaller, community-focused schools where individualised attention might be more accessible due to smaller class sizes.

With this in mind, respondents might be less likely to acknowledge the impact of one-to-one tutoring on a child’s motivation.

 

References:

[1] Lisa Benckwitz, Karin Guill, Janina Roloff, Melike Ömeroğulları and Olaf Köller – Investigating the relationship between private tutoring, tutors’ use of an individual frame of reference, reasons for private tutoring, and students’ motivational-affective outcomes (Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education)

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Edward L. Deci – The relation of interest to the motivation of behavior: A self-determination theory perspective. In K. A. Renninger, S. Hidi, & A. Krapp – The role of interest in learning and development (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.)

[5] Christoph Mischo and Ludwig Haag – Expansion and Effectiveness of Private Tutoring (European Journal of Psychology of Education)

[6] Francis Green, Stephen Machin, Richard Murphy and Yu Zhu – The Changing Economic Advantage From Private Schools (Department of Economics, University College London and Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics)

[7] David Johnson and Roger Johnson – An Educational Psychology Success Story: Social Interdependence Theory and Cooperative Learning (Educational Researcher)

[8] Private Tuition and Social Mobility Report (Sutton Trust)