Parents are now willing to go into debt to secure an A for their child

In what has been a year filled with funding shortages amid a recession, schools across the UK have become stripped of resources, ultimately affecting students’ academic progression. New data by The National Association of Head Teachers reveals nine out of ten schools in England are expecting to run out of money by the next school year, meaning teacher’s hours are now being cut down, student amenities are dwindling, and general uncertainty over student’s futures has cast a light on the importance of learning resources outside of school, including private tutoring. In a new nationally representative study, MyTutor, the UK’s largest online tutoring platform, has unveiled that parents are now willing to go into debt to provide their children with learning resources that would secure them an A. Private tutoring – once seen as a premium resource – is now a necessary tool to supplement children’s education, and more importantly, doesn’t need pose a strain on parents wallets.

Now, in one of the most disruptive periods in academic history, MyTutor has commissioned a nationally representative study evaluating parent’s attitudes toward spending money on their child’s education. The report unveiled that 62% of parents are facing cutbacks due to the cost-of-living crisis but their child’s education will not be one of them, further finding that parents across the UK are willing to spend an average of £1223 per term to secure their child an A. Already feeling the pinch of the looming recession, 70% of families are willing to go into debt for their child’s education according to WalletHub’s 2022 Back to School Report. The data shows that parents are actively seeking resources for their children’s education outside of the confines of the national curriculum – however, MyTutor emphasises that online tutoring should be available to families of all income brackets, launching their free online group tutorials so students can get the most out of their education.

Key stats*:
· 48% used to think tutoring was unnecessary, but now they feel it’s really valuable
· UK parents are willing to spend an average of £1223 per term to secure their child an A in school
· 62% of parents are facing cutbacks due to the cost-of-living crisis, but their child’s education will not be one of them
· 48% are now more likely to share and discuss their child’s experience of private tutoring with others
· 30% agree that 2 years ago they would never publicly discuss using private tutoring as they worried it might make their child appear less intelligent, but post-pandemic they no longer feel this is the case
· 44% will continue to invest in online tutoring for their children

Prior to the pandemic, there was an evident stigma around hiring a private tutor, and if parents were spending on it, it was kept a secret. MyTutor’s research found a third of parents who hired a tutor to help their child with their schoolwork didn’t speak about it, with one in four confessing that if directly asked about it, they would rather lie than admit to doing so. Yet amid a cost-of-living crisis, parents are much more enthusiastic to speak about their child’s learning resources, with the report unveiling that almost half of parents are more likely to share and discuss their child’s private tutoring sessions with others, and a further 44% are likely to continue to invest in private tutoring past the cost-of-living crisis.

The benefits of private tutoring are two-fold: alongside providing educational support, the one-on-one personal interaction offers pastoral support which ensures they are receiving the best learning resources, at a fraction of the cost. With parents across all income brackets willing to source learning resources to secure their child the best education possible, MyTutor has launched their free online group tutorials, alongside their private online tutoring sessions that run for as little as £20 per hour.