There has been a lot of controversy in other countries that private tutoring is putting too much pressure on students.

Mark Bray, Director of UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning, has written much on this subject. He found international teachers have been known to withhold “part of the curriculum during the day in order to sell it to their students outside school.”

He is also quoted as saying, “Educators in the mainstream should ask why tutoring exists, and endeavour to provide better services in the public sector.” Ouch!

However, he does say that the US, UK and Korea have well developed education systems so tutoring there is sought after because of high stakes testing and competition.

He notes countries like Finland, Norway and Denmark don’t have a heavy tutoring culture. I’d like to know more about their education model.

I am concerned that tutoring in North America works against everything we value in public school. The traditional teaching methods like rote practice and memorization are no longer our focus but continue to be taught in learning centres. This makes it confusing for parents and students.

de Sousa, M. (2010) http://www.unesco.org/en/education/dynamic-content-single-view/news/interview_with_mark_bray_director_of_unescos_international_institute_for_educational_plan

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