By Sheila Mckenzie-
The prime minister has called for the need to “take further” the idea of one-to-one teaching, both for pupils in need of catch-up support and those of “exceptional ability”.
Boris Johnson was speaking to the Conservatives’ virtual conference, when he expressed the desire to “explore the value of one-to-one teaching”, adding that believed such intensive teaching could be “transformational”.
The British government has already established the National Tutoring Programme, which will see schools given subsidised access to tutoring for pupils who have fallen behind as a result of the pandemic and ensuing school closures. Many pupils, especially primary school pupils, produced limited to no academic output during school closures this year, spending most of their time on mobile phones, computers, or television, instead of developing their academic base.
Children from wealthier and more ambitious families have more access to one to one tutoring to maintain the high standards needed for the good schools they often attend. The gap is ever so wider for children from poorer homes, in many cases with large noisy family environments where education is not as highly regarded as in more educated families.
One to one teaching offers pupils the opportunity to properly engage academic material and understand areas that would normally be difficult for them to understand. The prime minister said he wanted to “take further an idea that we’ve tried in the pandemic, and to explore the value of one-to-one teaching , both for pupils who are in danger of falling behind and for those of exceptional ability”.
“We can all see the difficulties, but I believe such intensive teaching could be transformational and a massive reassurance to parents. It’s in crises like this that new approaches are born,” Mr Johnson said.
How far the prime minister is willing to take the new approach remains to be seen. Thousands of children fell behind with their education during school closures, but a high percentage of such students were also not very committed or doing well prior to the closures.
The idea of one to one tuition may need to be selective to work, targeting those pupils who are normally academically strong, but have fallen behind and need the extra assistance. Setting boundaries like this would exclude weak pupils who have become weaker due to the long periods away from school, making the scheme seem unfair.
A free for all one to one tuition will extraordinary and very costly for the government, but schools and parents can only wait to see exactly what it would involve. Mr. Johnson said it is not enough after going through the experience of the pandemic to just to go back to normal, adding the country has been through too much to enable this.
The Prime Minister said the pandemic is a trigger for economic and social change. Mr Johnson said: “After all we’ve been through it’s not enough to go back to normal. We’ve been through too much.
“This thing teaches us that things of this magnitude, like wars, plagues, don’t just come and go. They can be the trigger for economic and social change”. If such economic and social change means enhancing the intellect of the children of today and the future of tomorrow through one to one tuition, it could be worth the investment.