07/12/2025
One to One Versus Group 11+ tuition? Which is better?
This is a question I'm often asked. Should I be looking for one to one tuition for my child or would I be better off going for group tuition?
There seems to have been a huge influx of tutors offering group tuition. Many local tutors charge upwards of £25 per hour for around 4-6 tutees in their group - and to be perfectly honest, I think this must suit certain tutors down to the ground when they need to make a profit once they have covered their financial overheads of hiring out a hall etc. It must be a nice little earner for them! They also tend to follow each of the disciplines in a prescribed way each week to ensure all bases are covered, with no room to go 'off piste' should a child need more personalised support. There simply isn't time to focus in on the individual with group tuition. In these little academic groups, it is virtually impossible to put children with similar academic ability together - and with this sadly comes numerous issues.
Many children feel unable to match the high standards of the others. Very few feel brave enough in a group setting to advocate for themselves when they don't understand a concept or might just quite rightly need a second explanation. This is often covered up by giving the child (no, I'm really not joking!) an extra 2 hours worth of homework worksheets per week to trawl through, all hugely excessive and frankly in my opinion completely unnecessary! I have absolutely no idea what these tutors think taking this approach will do, apart from frankly taking the fun out of the process and very worryingly potentially setting the child up for anxiety issues in the future. NO child should be doing homework sheets of this nature and quantity in Year 5, even if they have their hearts set on the superselectives!!
I really do think it pays to find someone who can really get to know your child, who can really work out their strengths and weaknesses and help them to work through those weaknesses, but who will also be completely honest with you if they don't think they will cope with the 11+. I know that the last thing I would want you to do is financially commit to something that just isn't right for your child.
Group tuition may well appear to be the more cost effective option, but in the long run, from my many years of experience devoting myself to one to one tuition, I feel strongly that your child will get a much better experience in the long run and provide far less stress for your child if you go for the individualised approach.
I do very unexpectedly have a slot available for my online one to one tuition on Monday mornings before school from January onwards (the hourly lesson can start anytime from 6.45am to 7.45am to suit your school run - most choose a 7.15/7.30am start time) and is a very popular slot as it means they can still continue to do all their usual extra curricular activities, go on playdates, without inconveniencing their usual routine.
If this is of interest to you, then please do get in touch for more information as I don't expect this slot to be available for very long :-)
