Toddlers as young as two get tutors

CHILDREN as young as two are being taken to private tutors by parents desperate to make sure their offspring don't fall behind in the education system.

Despite the economic downturn, the number of parents paying thousands of pounds for extra lessons in the three Rs has tripled in the past year.

Tutor agencies across Scotland have reported a steep rise in Primary One, Two and Three pupils coming to them, amid concerns about falling standards in schools. Some agencies are even taking pre-school children as young as two in a bid to boost their educational ability as young as possible. But parents' groups and teaching unions have warned that children could be under too much pressure from the 90-minute individual lessons.

Kumon UK, a tutoring service that produces daily worksheets for children to do with parents, has begun to focus on pre-school learners due to demand.

Scottish regional manager Cheryl Brown said the firm currently had 40 children under six doing maths and 39 doing English.

She said: "We teach children from two years old upwards to count and prepare them for reading. We had quite a busy January, and December was one of the best months we've had.

"Parents are taking children out of private schools but they want something to boost their education, so 50 a month with us is much more affordable."

In the tutorials, parents are given work to go through with their pre-school children to help them learn to count and to recognise letters and words.

Most five-year-olds in private tuition receive one 90-minute session – costing on average 30 – a week, in which they learn how to read, write and count using traditional school methods.

George Hawkins, director of Step Ahead in East Central Scotland, said the number of pupils aged five, six and seven had risen from 30 in 2006 to 106 now. He said:

"Every parent wants their children to leave primary school able to read, write, count and spell. At the moment parents are not confident that it's happening.

"Teachers in the past 10 to 15 years have been asked to do far too much paperwork and we've thrown the baby out with the bath water. There is too much assessment, and there is no room for the individuality of the teacher."

Brian Muldoon, whose sons Ryan and Jack have studied with Step Ahead for a year since they were nine and seven, said the family was happy to make sacrifices for the extra education.

"For the last year my kids have had to work really hard," he said. "We have all given up the two-hour round trip travel time to the lessons, and the boys have had extra study time and homework. Obviously kids would rather kick a football than do sums, but we point out the benefits of working hard and playing hard. George befriends them and makes it enjoyable for them."

Muldoon, from Grangemouth, sent his sons to the centre to prepare them for entry to private school Dollar Academy in Clackmannanshire.

He said: "Although we were happy with their state primary school, we were worried about them falling behind at the secondary stage."

Margaret Carmichael, who oversees Scotland's 30 Kip McGrath Education Centres that tutor 2,000 children a week, said 10% of their pupils were now under the age of seven.

She said: "In some cases the numbers have tripled of children who are in Primary One, Two and Three. Parents are going to schools and being told there is not a big problem and it will work itself out, then by Primary Five they are told their child is falling behind."

But Eleanor Coner of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council warned it could be too much too soon. She said: "Parents should calm down a bit and get the child settled in school before getting anxious about their progress."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "The development of skills in literacy and numeracy has been placed at the heart of the new curriculum. We are acting to ensure that all schools deliver a curriculum that meets the needs of every child."